Media/Music - Rant: MTV2

I was 10 years old when MTV first came out. My love for music kept me glued to the TV for the next 4 years. Their was so much new music even though some of it was weak and/or weird. I began to sour on them when they started to fill time in with game shows, the Real World, and other programming that stole time from what I thought was their purpose; to play videos like a radio station plays songs. I know there were many who thought like me. Then I heard the hype for M2 (later MTV2) that was supposed to be what we lost with MTV. Eventually they became so similar that I have to hit "Info" on my remote to remember which was on. MTV2's redeeming factor for me was "Subterranean ", an hour dedicated to playing the latest and best indie music videos. Given the poor state of FM radio and the fact that I don't want another bill to pay (satellite radio), SubT was the place where I was finding 90% of all of the new music I liked. My wife and I don't agree on a lot of TV programming, but this is one we watched together every Sunday night. Living in Phoenix, our TV schedules get shifted twice a year due to Daylight Savings time. This moved the show from 9pm to 10pm. Fine. We normally watched the 10pm news on channel 12, but watched Fox 10 @ 9 so we wouldn't miss SubT. When the clocks changed, I was looking forward to having it back on @ 9. So what does MTV2 do? Move SubT to midnight and put WonderShowzen (Muppets on Crack) on @ 9. The first thing I tried was going to MTV2's website to send a email complaint, only to find that they have no way available on their website to email them. This really sucks because now if I want to watch SubT I either have to wait until midnight and live on 5 hours sleep, buy a TiVo for one show, or buy a VCR to replace the broken one I haven't needed or missed for 3 years. I'd rather spend the extra $$$ on XM or Sirious, but most likely won't. Luckily, I can always fall back on my favorite classic bands until I find a new program to replace SubT. And MTV/M2 continue it's sad slide from music pioneer to another low-brow whoopie cushion channel.

**Update** (4/23/06) Subterranean is back on @ 10pm. I guess this blogging stuff really makes a difference, eh? We'll see if it sticks. I was minutes away from pulling my VCR out of the hall closet.