Date in year · 1981 · The 1980s

August 1, 1981

On August 1, 1981, mTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. The year's #1 song was "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. Antonis Fotsis, Bjørn Einar Romøren, Laura Bell Bundy would arrive in the same year.

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1

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Deaths

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Year

1981

1980s

Around 1981

The year in brief

1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1981st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 981st year of the 2nd millennium, the 81st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1980s decade.

Read the full year of 1981 →

What happened

On August 1, 1981

  1. 1981 MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

    American cable television channel

    MTV is an American cable television channel and the flagship namesake property of the MTV Entertainment Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance. Launched on August 1, 1981, the channel originally aired music videos and related music entertainment programming guided by television personalities known as video jockeys (VJs). MTV soon began establishing its presence overseas, eventually gaining an unprecedented cult following and becoming one of the major factors in cable programming's rise to fame, leading American corporations to dominate the television economy in the 1990s.

Farewells

Died on August 1, 1981

Paddy Chayefsky American playwright, screenwriter and novelist (1923–1981)
Kevin Lynch Irish Republican (1956–1981)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1981

The class of 1981

Others born in 1981

Antonis Fotsis 1981– Greek basketball player
Bjørn Einar Romøren 1981– Norwegian ski jumper
Laura Bell Bundy 1981– American actress and singer
Liz McClarnon 1981– English singer and dancer
Michael Pitt 1981– American actor, model and musician
Alexei Semenov 1981– Russian ice hockey player

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