Video Killed the Mighty Juke

The Wrestling Extravaganza was a hit … a score of guys drinking, eating, cursing, swearing, cheering, laffing and enjoying 20 of the greatest athletes ever to lace up a pair of boots compete in the squared circle of the Spectrum. The juke box likely blared from time to time over the announcers although the commentary was often worth the price of admission. Immediately after the show was over Kenny would be expected to jump up from a couch and jam quarters into the juke box; however this time he likely got up and approached the TV and switched the channel to the newest of cable offerings which had debuted only hours before – Music Television or M-TV.

You see, August 1 was not just the Wrestling Extravaganza but also the day the music was born. For at midnight August 1, 1981 a new channel appeared on cable boxes all across the country. It featured nothing but music, music videos played by – not dee jays – vee jays. WE remember them well, Martha, Mark, JJ and others. It was wall to wall music with videos, often packed with scantily clad sexy vixens and outrageous behavior and spoofs. I ordered my MTV jacket. Kenny’s movement to the front of the room to the television rather than to the rear and the mighty 340 Club juke box was more than symbolic. It portended the end of a brief era. The first song that was played on MTV earlier that day was a ditty called “Video Killed the Radio Star (by The Buggles)”. It also killed the 340 juke.

For the two weeks prior to MTV’s debut the juke box netted $54.65. Over the two weeks following the debut, only $20.20 was found in the box. This despite the fact that the weekend of August 14-15 scored $9.95. The fortnight included an unheard of 5 shutouts and four other one coin days.

Oh there were still big nites – Sunday, August 23 earned $10.55 and August 30th, another Sunday, immortalized as “Boycott” made $12.40; however the trend could not have been starker. From August 1 through the end of the year saw only $170.96 in revenues or $1.12 per day. This was 72% less per day then in the time proceeding August 1.

It was morning in Amerika; it was midnight for the mighty juke