This summer, MTV celebrated its 30th year on air. The television station “Music Television” or “MTV” has aired music videos of the hottest music artists from the beginning on Aug. 1, 1981.

Since then, MTV’s programming has greatly evolved. The first music video ever shown on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. From showing music videos non stop, to annual award shows such as the Video Music Awards (VMAs), and the Movie Awards, to broadcasting from spring break in tropical places such as Panama City in Florida and Cancun, Mexico. MTV has had documentaries, most notably the “True Life” series in the early 2000s.

In the past five years, MTV began to show scripted shows such as “Awkward” and “My Life as Liz.” They also have created two successful series about teen motherhood called “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom.”

“I watch ‘16 and Pregnant’ to see the challenges the girls go through,” junior Shania Doppelmayer said.

Today MTV shows only a few music videos.

In March 2009 a six-hour block of music videos, called “AMtv,” from Monday through Thursday began. A three-hour block of music videos is shown on Friday. They are the most recent return of music programming on the station.

Junior Baylie Caires said, “ I only watch MTV when they show music videos. Ever since they began airing different shows, I haven’t really watched much.”

In the past 30 years, MTV has been first in announcing major events taking place in the music industry. The VMAs are famous for jaw-dropping moments in pop culture history, such as Madonna’s opening performance of “Like A Virgin” on the 1984 VMAs and Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for winning “Best Female Video” during the 2009 VMAs.

MTV has influenced pop culture and revolutionized the music industry by setting trends and keeping teenagers informed on new music.