I remember the first time I heard about MTV. I was a junior in high school and there was talk of a groundbreaking new video music channel-- Music Television. I was a huge music fan and normally got my music television fix from shows like "Don Kirschner's Rock Concert", "The Midnight Special" and "Saturday Night Live". The thought of a channel devoted entirely to music and music videos was exhilarating, to say the least.

Our cable company didn't offer MTV when it first came out, but my best friend Lynda's dad's did. We would leave school at lunch time every day and drive to Lynda's dad's house (juniors and seniors were allowed to leave school premises for lunch as long as we returned in time for our next class). At the time, MTV didn't have a huge selection of videos. Everyday we would happily watch the same rotation of videos over and over-- tunes like The Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star" and Pat Benatar's "You Better Run". It was fine by us. Just the fact that such a channel existed was more than we could ever have hoped for. Who cared if they only showed five videos?

By the time my own cable company offered MTV, they had a much larger selection of videos. Every day I would come home and watch Def Leppard and Duran Duran videos. I liked MTV and I liked the perky VJ's-- Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, J.J. Jackson, Mark Goodman and ultra cute Martha Quinn. I was in music video heaven.

And then something happened in the mid-1980's. MTV changed. It wasn't a big change and it wasn't a change I even minded, but MTV, which up until now had primarily focused on only playing rock and roll music, decided to do something daring-- they aired a Michael Jackson video. The video, for the song "Beat It", didn't really count as rock and roll in my book, but it did have an appealing beat and heavy guitar riffs played by Eddie Van Halen. I liked the song and even bought Jackson's "Thriller" album, but the message was clear-- MTV was becoming more diverse.

Back then, you couldn't get any more bubblegum pop than Madonna, and along with MTV, my musical tastes were changing. Or let's just say that pop-infused stuff like Madonna's "Like a Virgin" was growing on me, as her videos were being played constantly in super heavy rotation. Suddenly I owned an eclectic mix of record albums-- everything from Black Sabbath to Cyndi Lauper.

In 1985 I went to the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia and I was exposed to even more new music. I went home and purchased Run DMC's album-- who would have thought I'd ever do that?

Over time, MTV began to air rap videos. This is where I drew the line. I didn't like rap. I could deal with the heaviest of metal (I loved MTV's "Headbanger's Ball") and the irresistible, redundant strains of pop tunes (Taylor Dayne, anyone?), but I just didn't like rap. It occurred to me that MTV was now trying too hard to please too many people and when it comes to music, that's virtually impossible. I found myself watching less and less MTV, although I did tune in every weekday for the video request show "Dial MTV".

In 1992, MTV introduced another groundbreaking idea-- a reality show that would feature seven strangers shacking up together in a New York loft apartment. The show, "The Real World" would prove to change the face of MTV forever.

I loved "The Real World". It was a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives of seven attractive, young people (model Eric Niess was my personal favorite). "The Real World' became a bona fide hit and it spawned a sister series, "Road Rules"."Road Rules" documented the adventures of six strangers living in a Winnebago and completing missions for the ultimate prize of a handsome reward.

Both "The Real World" and "Road Rules" were shown repetitively on MTV, taking away precious video air time. They went on to produce a second, third, and fourth season of each show-- and hey, they're still cranking them out (I think "The Real World" is up to season 15 or 16 by now). The reality series' became so popular, that MTV created another show called "The Real World Road Rules All Stars", which featured all star cast members from previous seasons, competing against each other for more valuable prizes.

Then, in 2000, the reality TV boom caught on all over the country. All of the sudden everything was reality. "The Real World" and "Road Rules" were still popular, but they were old hat. MTV started airing new reality shows like "Cribs", "Punk'd", and "The Osbournes". Music videos were being shown less and less unless you happened to tune in at 3 AM.

Today, MTV shows fare like "Pimp My Ride", "I Want a Famous Face", "Viva La Bam," "Laguna Beach" and "Newlyweds Nick and Jessica". To me, some of these shows lack the originality of previous MTV reality shows and even seem somewhat scripted (okay, I admit I like Viva La Bam because it's filmed in my hometown).

And while I do believe that the reality TV craze will eventually burn out and fade away, the fact of the matter is that for now, on MTV Music Television, there is nary a music video on. Luckily they have MTV2 for that.