8B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005
The moonman has landed again, this time on college campuses By Paige Worthy, Jayplay writer
Before Britney's "Ooop! ...I Did It Again," there were the Bugles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and Run-DMC's "Walk This Way." Before shows like Newlyweds; Nick and Jessica and My Super Sweet 16, there were Singled Out, Beavis & Butthead and Daria. Most of us were a twinkle in our parents' eyes when MTV first went on air in 1981, but a lot of us grew up on it. Now, in 2005, we are the neglected children of MTV, and teens and twens' have become the new favorites.
But in October 2002, MTV acquired CTN, the College Television Network, and began transforming it into what is now known as mtvU, a spin-off dedicated entirely to college students and their interests. Since its official launch in January 2004, mtvU has spread to more than 700 campuses nationwide, including Kansas State University, Wichita State University and, soon, the University of Missouri-
Columbia. Stephen Friedman, general manager of mvU, says it's available for free to any university that requests it, thanks to advertising from big companies such as Procter & Gamble. Campuses can include it on their residence-hall cable networks and in common areas such as student unions and cafeterias (Mrs. E's, anyone?). It hasn't come to the University of Kansas yet because we haven't asked for it. Ahh, the power of student voice.
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with the power of music. MtvU seems to fill the void MTV has created for us in the past few years. Music videos are the network's foundation, and the video playlists—with names like Dean's List, their version of TRL, The Cut and Freshman Videos—are created almost exclusively from college playlists and independent labels. The network airs videos for a majority of the day; all hours of the night—"Music videos to keep you jamming while you're cramming"—and nearly every daytime programming slot,
Jayplay 03.17.05
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