Video Jukebox

Overview

Video Jukebox is an American television program that aired from 1981 to 1986 on HBO. It was a monthly series that showcased music videos from the popular recording artists of the time such as Duran Duran, Prince, Madonna, REO Speedwagon, Culture Club, David Bowie, Blondie and The Human League to name a few. A typical episode of Video Jukebox consisted of seven or eight music videos and lasted roughly 30 minutes, and the lineup changed in the middle of each month. During the late 1970s, HBO was already airing one or two music videos as filler in between their feature films and other series. These short clips also carried the Video Jukebox moniker. When Video Jukebox premiered as a half-hour series in December 1981, HBO was reaching more households than MTV, so a video that aired on Video Jukebox may have received a little more exposure than it would on MTV, a claim that would be short-lived as MTV quickly gained more cable markets by around 1983. The series had no host until September 1985, when Dennis Elsas was brought on as voiceover talent, introducing the videos that were shown on the program. Elsas served as host of Video Jukebox until its final airing in November 1986.