Fred Seibert's Tumblr

I produce cartoons and media networks.

It was 30 years ago today. MTV went on the air, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. And I just got the word that another new media venture I’ve been part of, the Next New Networks channel, Ben Relles’ Barely Political, just reached 1 billion views. And think of all the cartoons in between. It’s been amazing to be at the epicenter of so much great work over the years. There are a few seldom noticed heroes in the MTV saga, since most of the attention goes to the front folks, the rock bands and the VJs. So, I’d like to tip my hat to MTV’s original idea guy, John Lack, our first president, Jack Schneider, and our visionary, Bob PIttman. It’s obvious what their MTV roles had to do with my career, but the truth is, I’ve been dining out on things they taught me for all the decades since. There wouldn’t be a Next New Networks without the ideas I learned from them starting on the first day we met. Thank you gentlemen. …..Illustration by Frank Olinsky Concept by Manhattan Design Animation by Buzzco Music by Bill JohnsonProduced for MTV by Alan GoodmanAugust 1, 1982

August 1, 2011

It was 30 years ago today.

MTV went on the air, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. And I just got the word that another new media venture I’ve been part of, the Next New Networks channel, Ben Relles’ Barely Political, just reached 1 billion views. And think of all the cartoons in between.

It’s been amazing to be at the epicenter of so much great work over the years.

There are a few seldom noticed heroes in the MTV saga, since most of the attention goes to the front folks, the rock bands and the VJs. So, I’d like to tip my hat to MTV’s original idea guy, John Lack, our first president, Jack Schneider, and our visionary, Bob PIttman. It’s obvious what their MTV roles had to do with my career, but the truth is, I’ve been dining out on things they taught me for all the decades since. There wouldn’t be a Next New Networks without the ideas I learned from them starting on the first day we met. Thank you gentlemen.

…..
Illustration by Frank Olinsky
Concept by Manhattan Design
Animation by Buzzco
Music by Bill Johnson
Produced for MTV by Alan Goodman
August 1, 1982

4 notes | Comments

#MTV #MTV 30th #Barely Political #Next New Networks

MTV’s 30th has prompted a lot of web chatter. My friend Marc Myers took a conversation we had recently and turned it into a sweet piece on the MTV logo on his wonderful JazzWax blog (a lot more detail from me for you detail freaks here). Thanks Marc! MTV turned music inside out on this date 30 years ago. On August 1, 1981, the 24-hour music channel not only added a powerful visual component to rock but also helped usher in a third pop British Invasion that influenced virtually all forms of music and music videos in the 1980s. By extension, MTV created a new appetite for music sales. Before MTV, rock, pop and soul were radio and record affairs. For a visual look at your favorite artists, you had to turn to album covers and fan magazines. MTV forced stars to become larger than life personalities, dancers and actors. Music videos for MTV may have killed the radio star but they also sparked an employment boom for video directors, choreographers, cameramen, tape editors, hair and makeup artists, costume designers, and graphic designers. When most people think of MTV in the ’80s, what comes to mind first is the channel’s cartoony logo and endless clever ways in which the letters M, T and V were displayed. The person largely responsible for the logo was Fred Seibert [pictured in 1981], a creative director then and now a television and film producer who owns Frederator Studios in New York. Thirty years ago Fred had a vision for the network’s brand and inspired artist Frank Olinsky to solve the challenge. Today, on the anniversary of MTV’s start, I asked Fred to recall the story of the logo’s birth, a fabulous tale he told me over lunch recently. (Get the rest of Marc’s piece here.) At my MTV office, 1981. Photograph by Alan Goodman.

August 1, 2011

MTV’s 30th has prompted a lot of web chatter. My friend Marc Myers took a conversation we had recently and turned it into a sweet piece on the MTV logo on his wonderful JazzWax blog (a lot more detail from me for you detail freaks here). Thanks Marc!

MTV turned music inside out on this date 30 years ago. On August 1, 1981, the 24-hour music channel not only added a powerful visual component to rock but also helped usher in a third pop British Invasion that influenced virtually all forms of music and music videos in the 1980s. By extension, MTV created a new appetite for music sales. Before MTV, rock, pop and soul were radio and record affairs. For a visual look at your favorite artists, you had to turn to album covers and fan magazines. MTV forced stars to become larger than life personalities, dancers and actors.

Music videos for MTV may have killed the radio star but they also sparked an employment boom for video directors, choreographers, cameramen, tape editors, hair and makeup artists, costume designers, and graphic designers. When most people think of MTV in the ’80s, what comes to mind first is the channel’s cartoony logo and endless clever ways in which the letters M, T and V were displayed.

The person largely responsible for the logo was Fred Seibert [pictured in 1981], a creative director then and now a television and film producer who owns Frederator Studios in New York. Thirty years ago Fred had a vision for the network’s brand and inspired artist Frank Olinsky to solve the challenge. Today, on the anniversary of MTV’s start, I asked Fred to recall the story of the logo’s birth, a fabulous tale he told me over lunch recently.

(Get the rest of Marc’s piece here.)

At my MTV office, 1981. Photograph by Alan Goodman.