MTV President Hitting All the Right Notes

Judy McGrath, the 47-year-old president of MTV and MTV 2, has one of the toughest jobs in show business. Since 1993, her charge has been translating the fleeting whims of teens and young adults into cable programming. It is the very elusiveness of these fickle folks, their utter lack of loyalty, that makes them an advertiser’s dream.

MTV stumbled and lost its hold on this audience a couple of years ago. But after some self-examination and redirection, the channel is again hitting the bull’s-eye, reaching more viewers ages 12 to 24 than any other cable network. Today, MTV and MTV 2--a 4-year-old mostly music video channel--together are worth an estimated $8 billion.

Yet McGrath, a major force behind MTV since 1981, has managed to keep a low profile, preferring that the spotlight is focused on her boss, MTV Networks chief Tom Freston.

Analysts estimate that since she took over as president in 1993, MTV’s revenue has tripled, reaching an estimated $750 million this year. It will have pretax income of nearly $400 million--making it among the top five most-profitable U.S.-based networks, along with ESPN, HBO, NBC and ABC.

MTV is more ubiquitous than any of them. It reaches 300 million households in 83 countries in Asia, China, India, Australia, Brazil, Europe, Latin America and Russia.

Although MTV prides itself on staying close to its target audience, that loyalty can easily slip away. When it did in 1998, McGrath pushed the network into new types of programming and refocused it on popular music, rather than “just what people in the building liked.” She says MTV now contributes to blockbuster record sales of such pop artists as Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.

McGrath expanded the channel beyond reality programs, such as “Real World,” into live productions that she says “let the viewers speak.” The results are some of the network’s top-rated shows: Carson Daly’s “Total Request Live,” where viewers flock daily to New York’s Times Square to see live bands; “FANatic,” which features fans interviewing their favorite music, film and television stars; and “WebRiot,” an Internet-TV music trivia game show.

Affable and plain-spoken, with a dry Irish wit, McGrath has a 5-year-old daughter whose favorite artist is Fatboy Slim. She grew up in Scranton, Pa., the daughter of two social workers.

McGrath, who loved Nirvana, adores Beck and would never miss a Neil Young concert, started her career as a junior copywriter at Mademoiselle magazine “typing recipes, and I still don’t cook.”

McGrath’s journalistic experience brought her into “an old-girls’ network” that eventually led her to MTV. Two of her colleagues, Brown Johnson, who today runs Nick Jr., and Ann Foley, now an executive with Showtime, suggested that she join them on Bob Pittman’s team at Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Co., MTV Networks’ predecessor company, to build the first-ever all-music cable channel.

“It’s a fun job,” she said. “The environment here is humorous and non-authoritarian. Frankly, I think I’m ruined for gainful employment anywhere else.”

In a wide-ranging interview at her comfortable Manhattan-based office, where she had just popped a bowl of popcorn for guests, McGrath talked about MTV’s challenges, trends in music, the merger between Viacom Inc., MTV’s parent, and CBS Corp., and the addition to the family of Mel Karmazin, chief operating officer of the new company.

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Question: How do you stay ahead of the curve and keep the channel fresh?

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Answer: You have to be 100% creatively restless every day, most of all when things are good. Everything is so good now, it’s ridiculous. It’s not just ‘N Sync. It’s Tom Green. It’s TRL. It’s DMX and Lauryn Hill. Everybody seems to be finding something they’re looking for. More people than ever are watching.

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Q: Is the pop-orientation of MTV a recent phenomenon?

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A: It was very pop in the beginning--Haircut 100 and Duran Duran. Even the Rod Stewart years were pop. The early ‘90s were the left-turn time from a pop format. It reflected the mood of the times.

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Q: So what about today’s youth culture?

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A: I think they’re open to lots of different kinds of music. They are people who live in a more diversified country, so the kids are not hung up on the old definitions and are not conforming to one kind of music. They’re remixing their own culture, if you will, and they feel like they have a lot of choices and control.

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Q: Ratings fell off dramatically for a few years and are now stronger than ever. What changed?

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A: We had held on to the angry phase in the early ‘90s for too long. We noticed we were getting high marks on taking chances with music, but getting very low marks on playing music people actually liked. So we decided, “What the hell, let’s play what’s popular some of the time too.”

I think on-air talent like Carson, who likes Rage Against the Machine and Backstreet Boys and treats them with equal but different affection, works. TRL built over time and became the centerpiece of “let’s be true to what people want to see.” It was part accident, part science. We wanted to experiment with going live because we had been so canned.

I think we just sort of upped the energy level in a smarter way. People are more forgiving if you try than if you don’t. The worst they can say is “boring.”

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Q: It must help that pop artists are so hot today.

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A: Absolutely. Around “Titanic,” it was all about Leo and Hollywood. Now, the stars of the moment are Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin. The pendulum has swung our way again. These artists are at Oscar parties, they’re on the cover of magazines. The infatuation is back on music and we’re able to capitalize on that.

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Q: What role does the Internet play in helping draw viewers?

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A: Part of this resurgence has been helped by all the convergence stuff we’ve tried. MTV.com is the No. 1 music entertainment Web site--the brand works.

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Q: Do you think most of your viewers are online while they’re watching the channel?

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A: I’m certain they are. Almost all the shows in our “10-Spot” [which runs nightly from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and whose ratings are up 50% in two years] have some sort of chat or some other application right after they air so you get instant feedback.

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Q: Do you care about going after 40-year-olds?

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A: No. I think we made that promise early on and have stuck to it, that we wouldn’t grow older as much as we loved our own selves. We’d try to always be there for whoever was growing into it.

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Q: But everyone is targeting the youth audience.

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A: Yes, everything is crowding us. Comedy Central is going into a “10 Spot” now. There’s music on all the WB shows. There’s Atom Films. There’s Pop.com. There’s millions of things.

But if you watch MTV, ‘N Sync lives here. They may visit HBO, but they live here. You can discover stuff on WB, but you can’t watch it 24 hours a day. You’re not going to see all your musicians there all the time.

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Q: So how do you stay competitive when the audience is being fractionalized so dramatically?

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A: The audience has to believe you know them.

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Q: To that end, what other programs are you considering.

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A: Here we are in Times Square, we need a late-night show, or we should have something cool musically that takes advantage of that insane personality later.

It’s kind of a working title, but we’re doing a “Jams 2000” hip-hop show this summer that will also have some convergence elements. You will be able to pick the next video in real time.

This summer we’re also going to try a real-time soap for six weeks beginning to end. It’s called “Spiderweb.” This crazy guy came in and pitched it. He acted out all the parts. It’s campy. There’s a murder. It will have a killer soundtrack. We also did a pilot called “Live Through This,” about people who are 20 whose parents were probably Fleetwood Mac and they’re on a reunion tour. Their kids are out with them working the tour. If you look at research today, young people think their parents are cool. There’s a certain interest in your parents’ music.

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Q: How important is MTV Films, your feature division, to the brand? It’s such a tough business, but do films like “Beavis and Butthead Do America,” “Varsity Blues” and “Election” really add much to the bottom line?

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A: We’re in the low-cost movie business. It’s not a business where we take big financial risks but can take creative risks. And it gives us another point of contact with our audience. All the movies pretty much say MTV.

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Q: Do you download your own music at home?

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A: I haven’t quite gotten into downloading yet. But I think Napster is brilliant. The greatest idea. If I were in college, I would not be in class.

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Q: What becomes of the generation who thinks they should get music for free?

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A: You look at an artist like Elliot Smith, who did “Something About Mary.” He’s a very quirky singer-songwriter. He has a driving Web site and a small but rabid fan base. That’s enough for him probably to make a fine living. There are going to be some great things for artists. They’ll figure out how to charge you something and yet it won’t cost so much.

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Q: Can MTV be involved in those kinds of activities, and is there any fear of over-commercializing MTV?

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A: I hope we can be involved. This is the most marketed-to generation--our audience finds advertising fun. You don’t feel that anti-commercial vibe.

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Q: Do you still get out and see new bands?

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A: Sure I do. I don’t go out every night. I probably don’t go to see the newest, most-unsigned band in the world, but you can’t be here if you don’t love music, including current music.

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Q: How will the merger with CBS affect MTV? Sumner [Redstone, Viacom chairman and chief executive] runs a very decentralized company, letting every unit have a personality and culture.

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A: This culture has stood on its own a long time through a variety of owners, and I think it’s a strong enough culture and certainly with Tom standing there in front. He convinces everyone that’s the reason these businesses work and he’s right. [The heads of MTV Network channels] have all been in this company more or less for almost 20 years. It’s sort of an anomaly.

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Q: And Mel Karmazin?

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A: The fact that Mel started at Infinity Radio and that many people who work here came from [CBS’] KROQ is a good thing for us.

Somebody gave Mel an award at one of those big dinners. I noticed that Mel sat with his radio people. He didn’t sit with Sumner or Les Moonves or Tom or [Viacom Entertainment head] Jonathan Dolgen. His table was Don Imus, Howard Stern. Those are his guys and he still has that core.

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Q: So what do you think the next trend in music will be?

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A I was with some people in the music department last night and a lot of them were talking about a new kind of rock. A new generation of solo artists. An artist like Macy Gray has a unique voice and doesn’t fit the cookie-cutter mold of what people expect from a female pop singer. There’s also a lot of buzz about this new hip-hop rock artist Keena.

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Q Looking forward, what’s your biggest challenge at MTV?

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A It’s reading the tea leaves. Finding the balance between Britney Spears and Beck. Staying popular and cool, which is the hardest thing to do. The worst thing you can do is miss the moment or stay on it too long.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Judith McGrath

Title: President of MTV

Age: 47

Born: Scranton, Pa.

Education: BA in English, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pa.

First jobs: Worked at a radio station before joining Conde Nast as a copy chief.

Career at MTV: Joined in 1981 as on-air prompt writer; took over programming, music, production and promotion in 1991; named president of MTV in 1993; executive producer of “Joe’s Apartment,” 1996.

MTV Offshoots

MTV Productions: Produces television programs, including “Tiger Woods Story” for Showtime (1998) and “Making the Band” for ABC (2000).

MTV Films: Creates and acquires films for 18-to-34-year-old audiences, including “Beavis and Butthead Do America,” “Varsity Blues” and “200 Cigarettes.”

MTV Radio Network: Joint venture with Westwood One.

Syndication: “Real World” is the first MTV show sold in syndication to television stations.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Viewer Increase

After ratings slumped in 1998, MTV reinvented itself, focusing less on leading-edge music and more on what was popular with viewers and establishing signature original programming. The number of viewers ages 2 and older who have watched the channel during the month of February, in millions.

Source: MTV Networks