BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[MTV set to cancel TRL -- the end of an era!]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/09/16/mtv-set-to-cancel-trl-the-end-of-an-era/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/09/16/mtv-set-to-cancel-trl-the-end-of-an-era/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/09/16/mtv-set-to-cancel-trl-the-end-of-an-era/#commentsFiled under: ,

MTV, which is owned by Viacom (NYSE: VIA), is canceling one of its most iconic shows: TRL, the popular and once-influential daily top music video countdown.

TRL debuted in 1998 with Carson Daly as its host, and reached its height of relevance popularizing hits from teen-pop stars like NSYNC, Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys.

Daly left the show in 2003 to host his own late-night show and since then, a revolving door of forgettable video jockeys have emceed TRL.

The last epsiode will appear in November, according to E!

MTV will still be showing music videos when it begins more regular showings of FNMTV, hosted by Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz on Friday nights.

MTV set to cancel TRL -- the end of an era! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>MTVTotal Request LiveTotalRequestLiveTRLVIAViacomTue, 16 Sep 2008 17:20:00 EST<![CDATA[MTV's new digital direction for Total Request Live]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/02/mtv-announces-new-digital-direction-for-total-request-live/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/02/mtv-announces-new-digital-direction-for-total-request-live/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/02/mtv-announces-new-digital-direction-for-total-request-live/#commentsFiled under: , ,

I'm dating myself here, but there was a time when I would rush home from junior-high school in order to pick up the corded rotary phone and vote for George Michael videos on Dial MTV. This was before the former Wham! star's legal foibles, before the Internet, and before MTV stopped playing music videos altogether. Hosted by the big-haired and smooth-voiced Adam Curry, the show played the top-ten most requested videos of the day, as called in by viewers. Simple enough.

By the late 1990s, this concept had morphed into Total Request Live, or TRL, which ostensibly shows the most popular videos, as voted for on MTV.com. But the videos are cut down into excerpts within an inch of their lives to make time for the vapid comments of screaming fans, as well as guests promoting their latest album, movie, or reality-show venture.

The nine-year old program is showing its age of late, with average daily viewers falling from a peak of 782,000 in 1999 to 375,000 currently. (To be fair, 1999 was at the height of the Britney/Backstreet Boys/*NSYNC teen-pop explosion).

This ratings decline has forced executives at MTV -- a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA) -- to skew younger with a new digitally friendly name. The program will now be known as YouRL (a play on "URL"), a name which, according to Broadcasting & Cable, stresses personalization. The idea is that this will allow MTV to compete with such brands as MySpace and YouTube.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

MTV's new digital direction for Total Request Live originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 May 2007 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>MTVTotal Request LiveTotalRequestLiveTRLVIAWed, 02 May 2007 12:46:00 EST