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Bidding goodbye to MTV News after 36 years
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SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
After 36 years, MTV News is shutting down.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
SONYA SAUL: Hi. Sonya Saul here with MTV News.
PFEIFFER: The channel started in the '80s. And in its heyday, it was an essential source for music interviews with guests like Madonna, Prince and Tupac. Here he is in 1992.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
TUPAC: There's no way. There's no way that these people should own planes, and there are people that don't have houses, apartments, shacks, drawers, pants.
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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
And it was home to journalists like Sway Calloway, SuChin Pak, Alison Stewart, Kurt Loder.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
KURT LODER: Hi, I'm Kurt Loder with an MTV News special report. On a very sad day, Kurt Cobain, the leader of one of rock's most gifted and promising bands, Nirvana, is dead. And this is the story...
KELLY: It was a meaningful source of the day's news for many millennials and Gen Xers - like us, Sacha - remembering the fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
SAUL: How do you feel about this situation now? Tomorrow, the wall is open. What do you think about that?
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Well, I think it's great. I'm just - I don't know - I can't believe it. I think I'm in a dream or something. I went to...
PFEIFFER: MTV News found a way to speak to young people and with them. Remember this town hall with then-President Bill Clinton in 1994?
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
LAETITIA THOMPSON: Mr. President, the world is dying to know. Is it boxers or briefs?
(LAUGHTER)
BILL CLINTON: Usually briefs.
(LAUGHTER)
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CLINTON: I can't believe she did that.
KELLY: I can't believe she did either.
PFEIFFER: (Laughter).
KELLY: Totally unforgettable moment. The staff of MTV News joins journalists from other outlets that have recently endured layoffs or closed completely, including Vice, BuzzFeed News, Vox and Gawker.
PFEIFFER: So for one last time, with nostalgic memories for people like Mary Louise and me, who were teenagers when MTV News came out.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MTV NEWS")
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: MTV News - you hear it first.
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(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN PETERSEN'S AND JONATHAN ELIAS' "MAN ON THE MOON (OFFICIAL MTV THEME)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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