liz_marcs | I am Officially Old...Remembering V-66

It's official. I'm old. Doddering even.

Because when I saw this logo on

b0st0n, I let out an involuntary cheer.

The old V-66, aka The Poor Man's MTV.

It was called "The Poor Man's MTV" not because it sucked (it really didn't), but because if you didn't have cable this was the only way to see music videos. Damn, some of my fondest memories from my school days was doing homework up in my bedroom and tuning in to V-66 on a tiny 12-inch black & white portable television and watching the snowy transmission.

I especially remember how that stupid UHF antenna (the round antenna, not the bunny ears) would never, ever stay in one place. Every 15 minutes I'd have to fiddle with it to make the picture a little less snowy. The less snowy effect would last about 15 minutes before the white noise threatened to take over the picture again, and I'd have to repeat the process.

But calling V-66 The Poor Man's MTV isn't quite correct. It was more like your local radio station broadcasting live and direct (Max Headroom fans, see what I did there?) into your TV. They didn't just show videos from "big-ish acts." Nope. The showed videos from local bands that weren't signed to a label. They showed Alt-Music (or music that was considered Alt for the 80s). They had music shows, and sports shows, and call-in request shows...and..and...and...

Did I mention that this was all live?

So, what's with the trip down memory lane? Some local filmmakers have decided to make a documentary about the brief shining time V-66 existed. (Note: Aside from the Boston Globe sharing the happy news at the link, there's also a YouTube video showing clips from V-66.)

I'm so strangely excited about this, I can't tell you. It's like...like...someone remembered this piece of my childhood, right? A good piece. A piece that I had somehow forgotten. A piece that I share in common with a whole bunch of kids that grew up in central and southern New England that is absolutely unique to here.

And someone remembered and it makes me giddy that someone did before V-66 became a bit of Boston broadcast history that's been completely forgotten. I found a brief history of V-66 here on Wikipedia.

Less than two years? V-66 only lasted less than two years? It seems like it was a huge part of my life. Course, given the age I was at the time V-66 broadcasted, it probably was.

I know the article says that "Take On Me" by a-ha, "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama and "Raspberry Beret" by Prince were the most heavily played videos on V-66, yet strangely enough, those aren't the videos I most closely associate with my V-66 watching.

It's "State of the Nation" by Industry and "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.

God Bless teh Internets, that marvelous series of tubes, because I found both videos with a click of the mouse.

Since I don't feel like walking down memory lane by myself, I'm inviting you all to join me.

Even if you were bereft of ever experiencing the 1985 to 1986 glory that was V-66.

State of the Nation by Industry

It's My Life by Talk Talk

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So, what's with the trip down memory lane? Some local filmmakers have decided to make a documentary about the brief shining time V-66 existed.

Cool! I remember V-66 well. I wasn't *allowed* to watch it, of course. Devil's music and all that. But I sure as shit managed to anyway. Fond memories indeed.

*twirls you around*

I'm positively giddy about this. Giddy!

*ah-hem*

V-66 was, like, the coolest because I was just the right age. I think we had just gotten cable before it hit the air, but my parents had pretty tight restrictions on when we could turn on the family TeeVee.

Technically, I wasn't supposed to be watching the mini-TeeVee either (which I shared with my brother and we swapped off every week), so I had to keep the sound down really, really low.

I've got several years on you, so stop saying you're old, 'k?

V-66!!! OMG! I was living in a basement apartment and had a 15" black-and-white TV, but I loved V-66.

Good god, you just brought back a flood of memories. Mostly good ones, fortunately. :)

What really got me was seeing Sunny Joe White in the video. God, I loved Sunny Joe White. I swear, that man really was up-and-down the dial in Boston.

I remember when he got fired from KISS-108 and how it was such a huuuuuuge deal. And, God, can you believe he's been dead for so many years? That just blew my mind.

But my brain, she is blow. V-66. I haven't thought of V-66 in years.

We had a channel like that in my hometown. Of course, it was all country music videos, all the time.

Hah! Those weird UHF stations were something, weren't they? There just really isn't anything like that around any more.

Sure, there are some cable channels that try, but it's missing that local weird that made them special. Like those awful commercials from local businesses mixed up with local TeeVee announcers on the Double-Creature-Double-Feature Saturday afternoon fest mixed up with...

*sigh*

These kids today just don't know...

*resists the urge to shout get off my lawn*

I remember it too! The video I remember it playing the shit out of was Animotion's "Obsession."

I had MTV before V-66 came on the air, but it was so cool to be able to change the station!

I remember one of my babysitters making us watch it. We didn't get MTV when we first got cable so she would watch V66 by changing the channel on the TV. That station didn't come in very well on our TV so the picture and sound sucked. She wanted to watch this station you could barely see or hear on regular TV when we had Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel on cable! *shrugs* I was 9. I just didn't get it so I pouted. I didn't get into MTV and videos until the New Kids on the Block, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson era a few years later.

What?!? Don't look at me like that. I was 13! I was their target age group so it was beyond my control.

I am Officially Old...Remembering V-66

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