For the Ladytron song of the same name, see Witching HourWitching Hour is the third studio album by English electronic band Ladytron. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2005 by Island Records. A special edition of the album was released in 2007, containing a bonus disc of recent music videos and the documentary Once Upon a Time in the...
AMTV (logo styled
AMtv) is a television program on
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in the United States, first aired unofficially as a sneak preview on March 26, 2009, and launched officially on March 30, 2009. MTV is positioning the daily, six-hour program as its primary and only source of music videos and music-related programming.
AMTV was scheduled to air Monday through Thursday mornings on MTV (and
MTV2MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
) from 3 a.m. until 9 a.m. Eastern time (Friday from 3:00 am to 6:00 am) but as of sometime in December 2009 the AMTV video block started to air from 3AM to 8AM.
Background
AMTV signals the newest return of music programming on MTV. The channel had gone without any music video programming during the first few months of 2009, after it ceased broadcasting
FNMTVFNMTV is a music video program on MTV focused on premiering new music videos and airing viewers' instantaneous feedback from its website...
, a similar Friday night themed block that consisted of short clips of music videos. The cancellation of MTV's flagship music program,
Total Request LiveTotal Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
, in November 2008 was also seen as the end of an era for MTV, leading critics to insist MTV's music brand is "irrelevant" and to conclude that the Internet has replaced television as the preferred medium for watching music videos.
Format overview
Throughout its five hours each morning,
AMTV combines music videos with news updates, interviews, and live
music performancesA concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
. Unlike the
FNMTV morning programming block that preceded it,
AMTV features many full-length music videos, including some older videos that have been out of regular rotation for many years on MTV, in a segment called "Throwback". During the program, the channel promotes related features on its music-based web site, MTVMusic.com. The bumpers in between a video and commercial break feature songs from the 80's and 90's including Olivia Newton John's
Physical"Physical" is a song by Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, released in September 1981. The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's...
,
4 Non Blondes4 Non Blondes was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1989. The group was formed by bassist Christa Hillhouse, guitarist Shaunna Hall, drummer Wanda Day, and vocalist and guitarist Linda Perry. Prior to the release of their first album, Roger Rocha replaced Hall on...
' "What's Up", and Chumbawumba's "
Tubthumping"Tubthumping", informally known by its prominent lyric "I Get Knocked Down", is the title of a song released by the Anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba on 11 August 1997 through Universal Records and EMI Electrola. It was their most successful single, peaking at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart...
".
MTV has resurrected its
UnpluggedMTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
series by airing individual
acousticAcoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
performances during prime time hours, then placing the full episode on MTV.com and also playing many of the performances during
AMTV over the next few days. MTV has also referred to
AMTV as a "laboratory for advertising partnerships," meaning that an individual company could be the sole sponsor of the program on specific mornings, inserting its
brandThe American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
into the program in ways other than traditional TV commercials.
As of August 18, AMTV began airing weather. The video sequence which runs before commercials starts with a rooster holding an AMTV microphone, a ding, then "An Now For Weather" playing an acoustic or softer version of songs that are popular on AMTV. Forecasts are described in ways that are not usually seen with weather such as "Run for the A/C" or "Bring your umbrella?" AMTV Weather is powered by
AccuWeatherAccuWeather is an American media company that provides for-profit weather forecasting services worldwide.AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, then a Penn State graduate student working on degrees in meteorology. His first customer was a gas company in Pennsylvania. While running the...
Since mid August 2009 the music video programming on AMTV has begun to become more repetitive and predictable, less older music videos are played and only the top 15 music videos tend to be played from hour to hour.
At some point, AMTV added a top 10 countdown that started to air in the 8AM hour. The countdown ceased sometime in December 2009 but returned in its new 7AM time slot on January 6, 2010. Its previous 8AM timeslot is now reserved for re-airings of music specials such as Unplugged, Behind the Music and other live sets. In addition to the video countdown, the entire AMTV block has had its rating lowered to TV-PG from TV-14. Notably, there has been no decrease in the amount of sexual content in the videos since the adjustment. "Classic" videos have also returned to the mix and MTVMusic.com is no longer promoted on screen during videos; music.mtv.com now is displayed.
Reported by its Twitter feed on 1/12/10, the 8AM hour for AMTV will return sometime in February.
Reported by its Twitter feed on 2/26/10, AMTV will be extending its programming until 11AM ET/PT and be on Saturdays and Sundays 6AM-8AM ET/PT. The extra two hours will be video playlists or countdowns, per MTV.com's TV Schedule page. Those include, for the week of 3/1/10, re-airings of the Sucker Free Countdown and 10 Artists to Watch in 2010.
Starting 3/9/10, AMTV is scheduled to start at 1AM ET/PT but has not been announced as a permanent programming extension via Twitter, AMTV's standard avenue for such announcements. For the week of 3/8/10, AMTV aired Sucker Free Countdown (Tues 1AM), Lady GaGa Artist Collection and Beyonce: Latest and Greatest (Wednesday 1AM, 1:30AM), 10 Artists to Watch in 2010 for Thursday 1AM and Friday 1AM. These types of playlists appear daily on
MTV HitsMTV Hits is an American music video channel that debuted on May 1, 2002. The format of the network resembles that of the classic MTV before the additional of other programming to that network in the 1990s and their slow decline of music video programming...
. Also, the recently announced programming extension for 9AM and weekends at 6AM continue.
On 3/9/10, MTV.com updated its TV schedule page and shows AMTV now scheduled for Friday. AMTV now airs daily on MTV, marking the first time in a couple of year original MTV has had music videos scheduled to air daily.
On the week of 3/15/10, AMTV's Today's Top 10 became Today's Top 20 (8AM-10AM ET/PT), which showcases the top 20 videos of the day. It is still unclear how the top 20 list is determined, as no MTV web property gives this information.
Also for the week of 3/15/10, The 1AM-3AM block for AMTV that debuted on the week of 3/8/10 now starts at 2AM ET/PT. The 2AM block and the 10AM block continues to showcase special playlists.
Starting the week of 3/22/10, MTV will return AMTV to 3AM-9AM ET/PT Mon-Thurs.
The top 10 countdown (now known as the is not airing on the week of 3/29/10 in favor of themed video blocks airing at 8AM ET/PT. It is not clear if the countdown will return.
The top 10 countdown returns on the week of 4/12/10, per MTV.com.
At some point in early summer, the top 10 countdown has been dubbed the "10 on Top Mix."
In early 2011, the 10 on Top Mix moved to 7AM ET/PT while the 8AM hour of AMTV is reserved for specialized playlists.
AMTV2
Sister network
MTV2MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
debuted a similar program known as "AMTV2" AMTV2 first ran from 3AM-9AM Mondays-Thursdays. In the 8AM hour, AMTV2 used to run a top 10 countdown much like AMTV does in the 7AM hour. These videos were limited to hip hop and rock genres.
As of 3/16/10, encore episodes of Sucker Free Daily aired at 8:30AM ET/PT, ending the top 10 countdown for that week. The top 10 has not returned in the final hour (8AM ET/PT) after Sucker Free Daily was moved to 7:30AM ET/PT.
As of the week of 1/17/11, AMTV2 ended at 7:30AM ET/PT and no longer resumed at 8AM ET/PT after Sucker Free Daily. The 8AM hour was sometimes used to air music specials such as Unplugged, World Stage, or other music related series.
At some point in early 2011, AMTV2's graphics changed to reflect the new name Morning Music Buzz, though the AMTV2 graphic "bug" remains on the screen. This block airs Mondays 3AM-6AM ET/PT and Tuesdays-Fridays 3AM-8AM ET/PT.
External links