It all began with the "DJ," or disc jockey who selected and played music on the radio. It then evolved into the "VJ," or video jockey who disseminated the latest music videos on MTV. Now, the network has taken it a step further to the "TJ," or Twitter jockey, who will do, well, something.
MTV programming and news is often trending on Twitter, and there are several MTV-like handles distributing miscellaneous content that have no affiliation with the media giant. With the recent selection of the first-ever TJ, fashion blogger Gabbi Gregg, MTV plans to control and capitalize on their presence in the Twitterverse. Gregg was selected in a contest with the help of viewers, and was awarded a one-year contract and $100K salary. She will move to New York City, work at MTV headquarters, and tweet about MTV. Although, not only is the network somewhat unsure of how they will use their new hire, but this seems to be yet another move away from the founding principle of the station for the sake of remaining trendy.
It begs the question: What happened to the "M" in "MTV?"
When the cable station first got its start back in the eighties, Michael Jackson had only recently invented the concept of the music video. While the music video itself caught on in a big way, MTV began to realize that it couldn't survive on music-related content alone, but instead needed programming to get viewers tuning in at scheduled intervals throughout the week. "The Real World" was the network's first attempt at original programming, as well as classics like "Daria" and "Beavis and Butthead." Throughout the nineties, there was a near-equal balance between music- and non-music-related content. But now, in the second decade of the millennium, the music seems to have disappeared altogether. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw a music video that I didn't seek out on YouTube.
MTV has the unique challenge of appealing to the most fickle, easily-bored demographic on the market. Is this new TJ their way of keeping up with their rapidly-changing audience? And more importantly, in the eyes of this audience, has MTV become a distributor of reality television instead of an authority on music? I think MTV has an opportunity to get back to its roots by ensuring their TJ becomes an authoritative voice on music, not just fashion and pop culture.
