At the stroke of midnight on August 1, 1981, MTV employees congregated around half a dozen TV sets in Fort Lee, New Jersey. No cable operator in Manhattan yet carried the inchoate station, so ...

"Ladies and gentlemen, rock 'n' roll." Those were the words spoken by Warner Cable executive John Lack on Aug. 1, 1981, at 12:01 am when MTV — Music Television — went on air for the very first time.

Reports from late last year about the demise of MTV were overstated; but it got us thinking about the network’s legacy and ...

Ultimately, video killed the pioneer of music video channels. MTV’s music channels went dark on Wednesday, closing with the clip that introduced the world to the 24-hour station on Aug. 1, 1981 -- ...