It’s impossible to overstate the impact MTV had when it launched in 1981. The bold new cable station captured the zeitgeist, putting the new medium of music videos at the forefront of pop culture. MTV also helped invent a brand-new on-air gig: the video jockey, a.k.a. VJ, with five young, charismatic hosts who introduced videos and interviewed artists.
Over the years, MTV would cycle through many different VJs before deprioritizing music video programming altogether — much to the chagrin of anyone who grew up with MTV in its earlier days. But those original VJs — Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn — remain icons of the era.
Quinn et al weren’t just the faces of MTV — they also became real-life friends, cohosting subsequent shows together, and even coauthoring a tell-all book, VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave, in 2013.
Here’s a look at what happened to the original VJs who helped make MTV so special.
Martha Quinn
Sweet and perky Martha Quinn went straight from recent NYU graduate to MTV VJ, landing the job through a connection she’d made while wrapping up an internship at the radio station WNBC. She left MTV in 1986, but came back in 1989, and ultimately stayed with the channel until 1992.
While on MTV, she dabbled in acting, playing Bobby Brady’s wife on the Brady Bunch sequel series The Bradys in 1990 and appearing in a few episodes of Full House. After she left the channel for good, she became the cohost of Star Search in 1994 and a correspondent for The Early Show in 1999. She was also a spokesperson for Neutrogena throughout the ’90s.
Like her colleagues, Quinn found a niche in satellite radio in the ’00s, hosting Martha Quinn’s Rewind in syndication in 2001 and moving to SiriusXM in 2005. At Sirius, she hosted programs like Martha Quinn Presents: Gods of the Big ’80s, ’80s on 8 and Martha Quinn Presents. She left the station in 2016, and became a host for San Francisco’s KOSF.
Quinn was also featured in a 2007 computer game, The ’80s Game With Martha Quinn, and hosted a public television show, The 80’s (My Music), in 2017.
These days, Quinn can be heard as the host of The Martha Quinn Show on iHeartRadio. The show, which debuted in 2022, airs on 35 stations in various cities.
In 2023, Quinn was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, and underwent treatment. She is currently in recovery.
In an interview, Quinn, now 65, remembered her MTV years fondly, saying, “People say to me, ‘Will you ever have a job as cool as being an original MTV VJ?’ And the answer is obviously no. When am I ever going to have the chance to be a part of something groundbreaking and revolutionary like that? And you can’t be a part of it on purpose. We didn’t know that it was going to be revolutionary at the time.”
Nina Blackwood
Nina Blackwood originally studied acting but found her calling as an MTV VJ — a job she got when she responded to an ad for the then-new channel in Billboard magazine. She stayed with the channel until 1986, and after leaving, she hosted the “Rock Report” for Entertainment Tonight and from 1986 to 1988, she was the host of the music show Solid Gold.
As the years went on, the raspy-voiced VJ moved from TV to radio, and she launched Nina Blackwood’s Absolutely 80’s in 1999. She then hosted another popular radio program, Nina Blackwood’s New Wave Nation. She also acted on occasion, appearing onstage in The Vagina Monologues in 2003.
In the ’00s, Blackwood found a new home on SiriusXM Radio, where she became the host of ’80s on 8 along with the other original VJs. Currently, she and her fellow VJs host The Big ’80s Top 40 Countdown.
Looking back at her VJ years, Blackwood, now 69, said, “I can speak for all of us when I say we didn’t think we were really cool rock stars. We all felt like normal people that had really cool jobs! I never walked around with a ‘star’ attitude. I was more concerned with doing a really good job and having credibility.”
Mark Goodman
Mark Goodman came to MTV as a seasoned radio host, having started his career with Philadelphia’s WMMR in 1978. He then moved to New York, where he became a host for WPLJ in 1980, but just a year later he left the station to be one of the original MTV VJs.
Goodman left MTV in 1987, and he hosted the shows Fit TV and Illinois Instant Riches in the ’90s. He also worked for a variety of different radio stations throughout the decade, including the popular California rock station KROQ.
Goodman was an early adopter when it came to internet radio, and he oversaw music programming for Soundbreak.com in 1999. After the dot-com bubble burst, he moved to SiriusXM, and has been with them since 2004, hosting programs like ’80s on 8, Classic Rewind and The Spectrum.
Outside of his long radio career, Goodman worked as a music supervisor for Desperate Housewives and made frequent appearances on VH1 and VH1 Classic in the aughts.
Goodman, now 71, recalled the early years of MTV as fun yet chaotic, given the demanding schedule, and spoke of the lasting bonds he made, explaining, “We started off not really knowing each other and by the time we moved from that studio the crew and the VJs were like family or Vietnam vets who’d shared the same terrifying experience. The VJs and much of the crew are still friends to this day.”
Alan Hunter
Alan Hunter studied acting, and had occasional theater roles before joining MTV. In 1980, he had a role in the music video for David Bowie’s “Fashion” a year before MTV launched. After a chance meeting with MTV’s CEO, he became a VJ, and stayed with the channel until 1987.
Hunter then relocated from New York to L.A., and acted in commercials and TV pilots. An Alabama native, he moved back to his hometown in Birmingham in the ’90s, and started a film company there, Hunter Films, as well as opening an entertainment venue, WorkPlay, with his brothers. Hunter Films produced a number of shorts and independent movies, and Hunter also cofounded the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, and has been active in the city’s film community.
In the ’00s, Hunter became a TV host for Encore and Starz, and since 2004, he’s been on SiriusXM’s ’80s on 8 with his fellow VJs. He can also be heard on Classic Rewind and other nostalgic programs on the station.
Hunter, now 67, admitted he was initially a bit intimidated by some of the other VJs who came to the job with more music industry experience, and said, “I approached it from the standpoint of a fan, and let my enthusiasm come through . . . That was the only direction I could go . . . be enthusiastic about it and take a bit of a quirkier approach.”
J.J. Jackson
J.J. Jackson was the oldest and most experienced of the original MTV VJs, having started his radio career at Boston’s WBCN in the ’60s. He then moved to the L.A. station KLOS, where he stayed for 10 years and became known as one of the few Black DJs at a rock station. After that he worked on TV as a music reporter for ABC’s L.A. affiliate channel, which led him to get the VJ job.
After leaving MTV in 1986, Jackson went back to radio, working for KROQ and KEDG in L.A, and returned to KLOS, the station he hosted for in his pre-MTV days. From 1995 to 2002, he hosted The Beatle Years, which was nationally syndicated.
Jackson passed away from a heart attack at age 62 in 2004. Looking back at his MTV years in 1998, the music industry veteran said, “I thought it would be a nice promotional tool, but I never knew it would get to be this monster thing.”
