Mark Goodman
 | This biography of a living person includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2013) |
Mark Goodman | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 11, 1952 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Cable television and radio personality |
Mark Goodman (born October 11, 1952) is a radio DJ, TV personality, and actor. He is best known as one of the original five Video Jockeys (VJs), along with Nina Blackwood, J.J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn, on the music network MTV, working as a VJ on MTV from 1981 to 1987. He was supposed to be the first of the five to be broadcast at MTV's premiere on August 1, 1981. However, due to errors sequencing the clips, he was the last of the VJs to introduce themselves after "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles and "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar.[citation needed]
Early life, education and family[]
Goodman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Goodman is Jewish.[1][2]
Career[]
Radio[]
He started in radio in Philadelphia at WMMR in 1978 and later became the music director of the station. In 1980, he moved to New York City to work at WPLJ. Goodman was on the air the night that John Lennon was murdered in New York City in December 1980, and reported extensively on the events as the news began to spread throughout the world.
MTV[]
In 1981, Goodman left WPLJ to join the new and as yet unknown music video channel named MTV. He would become one of the five original hosts that introduced music videos and gave short music news commentaries; these hosts would be called a Video Jockey (VJ) by MTV. Goodman interviewed a variety of entertainment stars of the day. He also hosted several special shows for the channel, including The Week in Rock, 120 Minutes, and The Top 20 Video Countdown.
In a 1983 interview with David Bowie, the singer pressed Goodman on MTV playing few music videos by black artists during that time - MTV actually played few music acts that were black, Latino, Asian, or Arab at the time. Goodman's defense was that the network was thinking in terms of "narrow casting", and that they were concerned about negative reaction from their white audience at seeing artists of color prominently featured on the MTV network.
Acting[]
In the late 1980s, Goodman began an acting career that saw him working in film and TV. Goodman appeared in several films, including Man Trouble with Jack Nicholson and Police Academy 6: City Under Siege. On TV, Goodman was seen in such shows as Married... with Children, The Practice, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Vinny And Bobby, and others.
Through the 1990s, Goodman hosted several different TV shows and music specials. In particular, ”Fit TV” ran on cable for years after the final episodes were shot. Goodman receives no royalties from the show but is pleased he is still helping people learn how to eat right, exercise more, and be open to alternative methods of healing and stress reduction. Goodman also hosted the game show Illinois Instant Riches and its revamp Illinois' Luckiest from 1994 to 2001.
Return to radio[]
In 1989, Goodman returned to radio in Los Angeles on “The Edge”. Over the next 10 years, he worked at stations KROQ-FM, KMPC-FM (The Edge) and Star 98.7 in Los Angeles; Q101 and WLS-FM in Chicago; and Mix 96.9 in Phoenix.
In 1999, Goodman became senior VP of Music Programming for Soundbreak.com, an internet radio station. He developed the format, hired and trained the air staff and developed all the special programming that became available for syndication to other sites, including British Telecom Open World, As Seen In (Aaron Spelling’s site), and Newgrounds.
After the dot com crash, Goodman was offered a position on Sirius Satellite Radio on its Big 80s channel with the three original MTV VJs Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, and Alan Hunter. Since starting there in 2004, Goodman has added shows on '80s on 8 (6:00 am – 10:00 am) Classic Rewind (late 1970s to early 1990s rock) and The Spectrum.
Concurrent with his work at SiriusXM, Goodman supervised the music for several pilots for Fox as well as for the Touchstone/ABC TV show Desperate Housewives.
In the mid-2000s, Goodman was seen on VH-1 and VH-1 Classic doing interviews and hosting special programs while continuing to broadcast seven days per week on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. As of 2016, he is one of the mainstay hosts of the .
References[]
- ^ "After midnight, the (Jewish) stars come out" The Jewish Standard TimesofIsrael.com. Published December 5, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2016.
- ^ MTV's first five VJs get 'unplugged' in new tell-all Today.com. Published May 6, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2015.
External links[]
- Living people
- VJs (media personalities)
- 1952 births
- Radio personalities from New York City
- Radio personalities from Philadelphia
- Jewish American male actors
- American male television actors
- American male film actors