Paramount Erases Archives of MTV Website, Wipes Music, Culture History After 30 Plus Years

I was never really a fan of MTV, I assume because I grew up without cable TV as a teenager in the 80s, and because I was very busy with grad school and starting a family in the 90s. I didn’t really feel like I had much in common with my “Gen X” cohort (most of whom were teenagers) or their angsty, angry music. But losing 30 years of music and pop culture history? Wow.

MTV News became a force in music, entertainment, and politics in the early 90s. As the channel’s popularity soared, the News division — including the faces of Kurt Loder, Alison Stewart, Serena Altschul, Sway, and John Norris — became incredibly important especially to political campaigns. Now all those interviews — hundreds of thousands of hours with rock stars and what we now call influencers of generations — have been replaced by a link to “Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship.”

Writer Kathy Iandoli posted: “MTV.com deleting all of our articles and replacing them with schedules for TV shows that can also no longer be streamed on their site is proof that no one has any idea of what the hell they are doing right now.”

She’s not alone. There is fury among MTV.com writers past and present who now see their histories erased, along with all the music and political reporting. —Showbiz411