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Happy Birthday MTV: 30 years later

July 31, 2011
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My dad had just celebrated his 30th birthday. At the time he was working all nighters for the first cable company in San Antonio, Rogers CATV. Tonight, he came home somewhat early with a light brown box in hand that had little black and white numbers.

The appliance was then connected to our television which was enclosed in a wood box. The first image was a snowy Home Box Office (HBO) logo. He then moved the converter box dial to the number 27, I think. A little bit before midnight this is what we saw:

That night my family fell asleep watching TV. The following morning my little brother and I almost broke our first cable box, because we couldn’t stop changing channels.

Happy Birthday MTV! You kinda died many years ago, but we still love the original idea.

MTV Celebrated the big 3-0 with a Jersey Show marathon. VH1 Classic will be airing tribute clips for the next three days.

Click on over to MTV’s not-so-happy 30th birthday: It’s a long fall from ‘Thriller’ to Snooki for more.

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  • jonstovall

    ah — our celebrated wood veneer cable box.  my mother would scold us for “changing the channels too quickly” (imagine doing a Jerry Lee Lewis on it). i thought we were hot stuff when the push button model came along too.  My brother and I were way too into Nickelodeon to be into MTV off the bat, so my earliest memories are of staying up “late” with my mom for the premier of “Thriller.”

  • Elizabeth

    OH MY GOSH! I LOVE the nostalgia of it all! Thanks Tech Tease!