Alan Hunter in his MTV heyday, and today
If you’re a Gen-Xer, the name Alan Hunter likely sounds very familiar to you. If not the name, the voice for sure. And as I begin this interview, it’s not lost on me just how long it has been. With the very recent death (sort of) of MTV, and the 40th anniversary of LIVE AID, these milestones date us, but oh how lucky we were to be a part of that generation.
I came across a funny quote this week. “When your kids want to know how the ’80s were, take away their cell phones and internet.” We didn’t know better. We didn’t mind stretching the phone cord to its rubbery limits to get a little privacy, and we never imagined that we could learn something without our trusty Britannica, find our way without a paper map, or tell our favorite artists just how much we adored them without pouring out our hearts in a handwritten letter to their fan club. But we had MTV, something this generation will never really know.
Yep, those were the days. A new wave that ushered in Duran Duran, big hair, and brightly colored clothing and screamed, unapologetically, these are the ’80s! And days of coming home from school to enjoy a snack in front the television with our favorite Video Jockeys on MTV. Alan Hunter was one of the five original VJs that we came to know so very well.
Currently, he can be found on Sirius XM’s 80s on 8 and living right here in the Lou. I bumped into Hunter at the Evolution Festival, and he graciously granted me an interview. Our conversation begins with a little philosophical banter about luck and the number 777. Like Taylor Swift and 13, it seems 7 might just actually be a lucky number.
The Arts STL: I noticed your email has the number 777 in it. Was that intentional?
Alan Hunter: Absolutely. We [he and his wife Elizabeth] were married on July the 7, 2007 and 37777 was an old address of ours. Aside from that being a lucky Vegas number. It’s just—it’s just big in our lives and I’ve kept it all this time.
I feel like you could be the poster child for fate. You were studying to be an actor, but you bumped into producer Bob Pittman at a picnic…..and you were the first VJ to appear on MTV because the tapes got mixed up. I think the universe had other plans for you.
You mean there’s a lot of things that happened in my life that were fate or fated to be?
Don’t we all ride on the winds of fate? It’s kind of luck, but it really is being in the right place at the right time. Whoever [it was that] said you have to be ready when luck comes knocking, I think that’s very true.
I’ve told my children that your dad had an interesting, wild beginning to his career, at an early age, but I did haul my ass to New York to go to drama school, to wait tables, to starve, to pay my dues, because I wasn’t gonna make my life in the entertainment business in Birmingham, Alabama. You’ve gotta get yourself to where it’s happening. In the ’80s, it was happening in New York or Los Angeles.
Where do you think it’s happening now?
I guess it depends on what you want to do, but it’s happening in every dark basement, in every house in America. If only I had the skill set to be an influencer.
The ’70s and ’80s were such defining eras in music, do you think that music has all begun to blur together or it is just me?
I do think there is a certain homogenization with any form of entertainment. It’s all derivative of something else. There’s just so much of it that there’s going to be more bland when there are so many outlets. It’s hard to make something unique. So then the entertainment that does rise above is going to be pretty good.
Do you have a favorite ’80s video or is that like trying to name a favorite child?
Yeah, I have I have list of 10, you know, that’s rotating all the time, but obviously I have to talk about this a lot on my SiriusXM show, I’ll come out of “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads and say that that’s probably one of my top three videos of all time. Every video for all of us is most likely connected to a very sentimental time in your life.
I mean, I think videos that aren’t all that great are people’s favorites. And some videos that are amazing, the song doesn’t mean anything or made no connection to people.
So it’s a combination of all those things. So yeah, it’s all connected, for me, it’s all emotional. “Once in a Lifetime” was early MTV, I had this amazing job that I just fell into, and there was that amazing fun video from Dave Byrne, who to this day is one of my favorite artists.
Peter Gabriel made some of the great ones. “Shock The Monkey” is one of my early favorites. And of course, you know, “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” were groundbreaking.
Ultravox “Vienna”—[they] made some of the prettiest videos early on.
I’d certainly say “Girls on Film” from Duran Duran was also an early favorite because of how groundbreaking it was early on. Then there’s the Bruce Springsteen video, “Brilliant Disguise.” It was a very simple black and white video, one shot, and its simplicity is what I loved about it but I also love the song. There’s rap videos from Run DMC and, of course “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith and Run DMC…and not [just] because it was a groundbreaking video but because it was a great song. So there’s seven. (Again, the number seven.)
You attended LIVE AID. Was it as awesome as I imagined?
Yeah, I think Live Aid was just that. It was the most awesome thing I had done or any of us had ever done at MTV.
In 1985 we’ve been on the air for about four years. And we had attracted, you know, 20-30 million people to the cable network of having fun, being youthful and enjoying music and videos and partying, not yet quite going to Daytona Beach for spring break, that started the next year, and I started that, sadly.
But I think, when Band Aid came along with Bob Geldof and they sang “Do They Know It’s Christmas” overseas, that started the ball rolling in 1984 for thinking about things beyond your own backyard. So, wisely, the USA for Africa people hooked up with MTV and said, “Why don’t we take your huge audience and pied piper them into social consciousness?”
It wasn’t quite that lofty, it’s just, this sounds like an amazing day of all of these artists, but it was MTV saying we want to broadcast what we think would be a very important social event to help people in Africa who are starving, what young kid, you know, in the mid-’80s was thinking about anything but going on a date, and you getting a gig or something.
It was tough to put serious ads on MTV in between ads for Skittles and scrunchies because it seemed a frivolous time, but the ’80s were much richer than that. There was so much great music that happened in the ’80s, and it was an interesting time culturally in the United States.
So it made sense that we would go to (the sister event) in Philadelphia and broadcast live for 17 hours while our cohort, JJ Jackson, was at Wembley in London. I don’t think we understood how big it was gonna be, no doubt—[in the] middle of the day, Led Zeppelin reunited, and I “had to” interview Robert Plant and Phil Collins backstage. It was like, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe where I am!” It was, you know, backstage in Philadelphia, it was when we were hosting the event 20 yards stage left of these historic happenings.
When we were off of our sort of live duty, we all swapped throughout the day. We’d go backstage to the encampment where it was just trailer after trailer and had Jack Nicholson and some sports star and Tina Turner and Mick Jagger, and we’d just walk down the aisle saying hello and talking, or you might put a microphone in front of their face.
And at times, it was many pinch-me moments that day.
You got a sense of the size of it but we didn’t understand the gravity and importance of it until the end of the day, and they started racking up the money from the phone lines.
You hosted the VMAs in 1986. What do you think was the most shocking moment?
The VMAs actually started in 1984 and we were there around the edges from that point on. The first hosts were Bette Midler and Dan Akroyd. Strange we thought but fun to have two big stars in the house.
One of the most iconic moments in VMA history was Madonna’s live performance that first year of “Like a Virgin,” where she slithered down that big wedding cake and rolled around the floor in that unwieldy wedding dress. I was there that afternoon in Radio City Music Hall for rehearsal and sound checks and witnessed Madonna rehearsing that very bit, struggling with the dress and conferring with wardrobe people. And from the middle of the auditorium, standing with a few other MTV producers and execs, we witnessed Madonna have a wardrobe malfunction – the top of her dress flopped down, exposing what my eyes couldn’t believe had been exposed. Did we just see what we saw? She didn’t miss a beat, gathered herself up, and went on with the rehearsal.
So, you moved to St. Louis after your wife, Elizabeth took a job here. What’s your favorite thing about the city?
Wow, St. Louis. Four years here, I’m still getting to know St. Louis. Once I see IKEA, I know where I am. If I’m around Soulard or Tower Grove, I tend to get lost.
I come from a lot of foodie towns: Birmingham, Chicago, and New York. St. Louis is a foodie town. We have our favorites right in our backyard [in Webster Groves]. Olive and Oak, and Perennial that we can walk to. And Louie’s [in Clayton] is a favorite, but we can never get in there. Good for them that they’re always busy.
I like the character of the people of St. Louis. They seem to have a sweet quality about them. It’s a bit like an onion, every day I feel like I learn something new about it. The city has a lot of green space, and Forest Park is a gem. It’s like Birmingham, it’s still trying to move forward. It’s got heart but has some issues that they are still working on. But working hard to move forward.
Do you get out to many live shows?
I’ve missed too many shows that have come through here. I mean, you know, people think I go to all the shows. It’s like, well, sometimes I’m not here and sometimes I have things to do. And sometimes I’ve seen the band.
I’m kind of like a lawyer in that I don’t wanna do a whole lot of law work when I’m not at work. It’s weird to say, I’m a music lover and always will be. I mean, I went to the Symphony the other night to the Chuck Berry show, which, you know, was good.
My favorite show, probably in the past three or so years was Tears for Fears. That was a great show. I thought that their album Tipping Point and then the tour to follow that that I’ve been singing that praise for a number of years now.
They were just excellent. We did a big Zoom town hall with Roland and Kurt on Sirius XM a couple of years ago around that time. I just think they’re amazing.
Do you get recognized?
I depends. I mean, we’ve all grown a little older in four decades but I will say, once they find out who I am, they say, “Oh my God, what are you doing here?” People recognize me more for my voice than anything. And that’s because of Sirius XM. And my voice was on in the background through the ’80s and is burned into people’s brains. So for that, I’m sorry.
Steve Leftridge of the Riverfront Times interviewed you in 2023 and called you an old friend. Does that feel weird or do you get it?
Unlike movie stars, us five original VJs—Martha, Mark, JJ, Nina, and I—were more like friends to our viewers. We lived with them 24/7, getting them off to school and work, there when they got home after. There with them late at night and still on sometimes when the sun came up. We were the backdrop for people’s everyday lives. So when people met us back in the day or now, they don’t freak out so much as they just want a hug. Like dear old pals. It has been a very real, down-to-earth form of celebrity for all of us. Something I’ve been able to enjoy all these years. And sometimes makes it easier to get into a restaurant!
How do you feel about St. Louis-style pizza?
This is a very delicate question. Imo’s is like politics, you love it or you don’t. I have lived in Chicago and New York and I know good pizza. And I think Imo’s is just not my vibe. I mean, no shade on Imo’s, it’s a cultural icon and you love it or you don’t. I’m not a lover.
We had a pretty hearty laugh about it. Steve was right. He is like an old friend. | Laura Tucker
Catch Alan Hunter weekday mornings on Sirius XM Classic Rewind and weekday afternoons on 80s on 8. For current schedules, visit siriusxm.com.
