Carchidi's Friday-night video show, which airs locally on Channel 38, is a kind of backyard insurgency dedicated to music, especially new music. Recently, the Canadian-American partnership MuchMusic has been pushing into the US market. Then there's the Box, a Miami -based cable station that plays only viewer requests. And the Nashville -based Z music channel, which plays only upbeat music. Perhaps the best way to understand MTV's changes is in evolutionary terms.
Advertisers are willing to pay a premium, in other words, for prime placement in The Real World .
In some sense, MTV has become the perfect beast for its media environment. MTV's flashy, compressed, sexy style puts everything up front, encouraging the wandering viewer at least to pause. Add to this the still-lively MTV logo shorts, which remind viewers that the station is cool. And, finally, there is the occasional news item or public-service piece, providing the perfect veneer of credibility in a cynical age. It's a beast, at 15, with an ever-growing appetite for pop trends to sell its product.