Steve Baltin The success of MTV in the 1980s also helped propel the careers of many executives still working in music today, several of whom are featured in the A&E documentary “I Want My MTV” (read Variety‘s review), which premiers tonight (Sept.
8). Among those first employees: John Sykes, now the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and president of iHeartMedia Entertainment.“The people assembled were the best thing about MTV,” Sykes says, giving full credit to Bob Pittman, the corporate visionary who was essential in bringing MTV to life and now runs iHeartMedia as its CEO and chairman. “None of us had any experience in television — we came from the music business, from Conde Nast, from marketing firms — so that’s why MTV looked.
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