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| MTV Select | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music |
| Opening theme | MTV Select Opening Theme |
| Ending theme | MTV Select Ending Theme |
| Country of origin | Europe,Canada,Japan |
| Original release | |
| Release | 1 January 1996 (1996-01-01) – 10 September 2001 (2001-09-10) |
MTV Select was an interactive music television program airing onMTV[1] channels acrossEurope and later onMTV Japan,MTV Canada, andMTV India. The show was hosted by aVJ, and viewers were able to contact the programme (using technologies likeSMS) to request a music video from a list of songs chosen by the show's producers.[2]
MTV Select launched in 1996 after a similar seriesDial MTV aired between 1996 and 1997 onMTV Europe. Upon launchMTV Select was available across Europe onMTV Europe. As MTV began to regionalize the channel across Europe it launched regional versions of the program includingMTV Select German,[3] Italian, UK, and pan-European versions that aired on local MTV channels: MTV Germany,MTV UK and Ireland, MTV Italy and the original European channel MTV Europe. The program was created during a transitional period in MTV's history when it was moving away from music videos into other kinds of programming,[4] and it was said that the channel is "in search of a new identity".[5] Shows were increasingly being centered around recognizable personalities—UK version ofMTV Select was led byRichard Blackwood, described as MTV's "current brightest star", andDonna Air. However only a marginal increase in viewership, from 0.9% to 1.1%, was recorded in 1998 in the UK.[5] Regardless, toward the end of its runtime it was described inDigital Spy as "UK and Ireland's favourite music request show".[6]
MTV Select would later launch regional versions in Spain, France, Poland, and Romania. MTV Networks Europe eventually replacedMTV Select with the US version ofMTV TRL. Prior to MTV Select finishing MTV channels in Italy, Germany, UK and Romania already had their own versions ofMTV TRL.
MTV Select appeared on MTV Japan in 2000 and was later replaced. The show was reportedly a big hit onMTV India, where the show format was to telecast live user requests, received through phone calls ore-mails. For several years since its launch it was hosted byRahul Khanna.[7]
With the launch of MTV Canada, a Canadian version ofMTV Select aired onA-Channel,MTV Canada, andToronto One. Hosted by Amanda MacKay andBrian Adler and taped inVancouver, British Columbia, the show featured interviews with bands and singers, video requests, and a countdown of the ten songs that received the most votes at theSelect website, starting at Number 10 on Monday and ending at Number 1 on Friday. When MTV Canada was rebranded asRazer, the show was renamed969.
MTV was one of the early adopters ofSMS use during live shows. In 2001, the program was noted as one of the ways MTV hoped to capitalize on the "text messaging mania". It was said that the benefit of the interactive format, compared to the internet, is that viewers aren't dragged away from the TV.[8]
Today, most European MTVs no longer have live studio-based interactive request shows.
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