5 Things We Learned From Original MTV VJ, Martha Quinn
Original MTV VJ, Martha Quinn, knows a thing or two about bringing new music to fans. She’s been doing it for 40 years.
Quinn stumbled into her role at MTV in 1981, already equipped with a unique set of skills she had no idea would land her the job of a lifetime. While she was a student at NYU, she did TV commercials, giving her on-screen experience. In school, she worked at the radio station, WNYU.
“I was comfortable both being on camera and talking about music. It was total synchronicity, as The Police would say just about a year later,” Quinn told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. While visiting her friends at WNBC (her earlier internship), her former supervisor suggested she audition for a new cable music channel, MTV. Quinn went down to her audition, unaware of what was going on, and managed to pass.
Quinn joined original MTV VJs Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, and J. J. Jackson until 1986. However, MTV rehired her in 1989, and she left for good in 1992.
In the early 2000s, Quinn joined her fellow original MTV VJs on SiriusXM after taking 10 years off to raise her kids, Annabelle and Ryder. “But even still, being on the radio didn’t feel strange; maybe my college days kicked in for me, back when I loved being on the radio because I didn’t have to memorize any lines or put on make-up!” Quinn said.
She has been on the radio ever since. In January 2022, she began hosting The Martha Quinn Show for iHeartMedia, which plays across over 35 iHeartMedia stations.
Ahead of National Radio Day on August 20, Quinn talked to Showbiz Cheat Sheet about some of her fondest memories of being an original MTV VJ and working in radio. Here are five things we learned from the music expert.
5. Martha Quinn did not think U2 would take off
As an original MTV VJ, Quinn played a lot of music videos, some from veterans like David Bowie and Van Halen and others from newer artists. However, she had doubts about one new artist she and the other VJs showed the world. Quinn told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that she didn’t think U2 would do well. Her initial opinion of the Irish rock band later embarrassed her.
Quinn recalled, “When we started playing ‘I Will Follow’ from U2’s ‘Boy’ album, one of my VJ cohorts J.J. Jackson (who, by the way, was one of the first DJs in the U.S. to really get the power of Led Zeppelin while he was at WBCN) told me U2 was gonna be big.
“I remember totally disagreeing with him and saying something like, ‘They’re good, but they’re no Kajagoogoo’ or something to that effect! So yeah, I was wrong no doubt!”
4. She could clone Paul McCartney if she wanted
While working at MTV, Sirius XM, and now iHeartMedia, Quinn has interviewed many celebrities, including a Beatle, Paul McCartney. Quinn told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that she’s a massive Beatles fan. Getting to interview Paul “was a dream come true for me,” she said.
“I came into my musical consciousness with the Beatles,” Quinn explained. “They are deeply ingrained in my DNA having two older brothers who played Beatle albums, and as a kid going into New York City to Beatle Fests, and being an actual member of the Beatles fan club.”
Paul made her feel very comfortable. However, the interview became one of her most memorable for one hilarious reason.
“Probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever done in my life happened at that interview,” she recalled. “After he had signed my ‘White’ album and my husband’s copy of ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ we said goodbye and he left the room with his wife, Linda.
“Once they had gone, I looked down where he was sitting, and his cup of tea was still there. It was still half full. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t care if I get a bacterial infection if I get it from Paul McCartney, that will be OK with me.’ And I picked up that cup, and I drank that tea right then and there in the capital records recording studio in Hollywood.
“After I drank the tea, I took the cup, and I put it in my purse. I looked around and saw no one was looking, so I took the saucer, and I put it in my purse. And I looked around and saw no one was looking at me and I took the spoon and put that in my purse too! I have all three at home on my kitchen shelf, and they have never been washed. So, if the world needs to clone Paul McCartney, I might be able to provide some DNA.”
3. Quinn flirted with Prince
The music professional also told Showbiz Cheat Sheet about her time interviewing Prince. His Purple Highness was intimidating to the strongest characters, but not to Quinn. She flirted with him.
“Interviewing Prince was a trip; he was very elusive yet captivating,” she explained. “In his music, he made no secret of the fact that he was very much about sensuality, and that came through in person as well; I can attest to that.
“At one point during our conversation in Sheridan, Wyoming, for the premiere of his movie, ‘Under The Cherry Moon,’ I asked, ‘Prince, how do you feel?’ And he hilariously said, ‘With my hands Martha.’ But there was something about his tone that made me say without missing a beat, ‘Care to give me a demonstration?’
“And you can see in the video that I was only half kidding; I was practically one step away from giving him the key to my hotel room!”
2. She wasn’t able to connect with Cher
There haven’t been many celebrities Quinn couldn’t connect with in her career. However, it has happened, and Cher was one of them.
“The Cher interview I always felt badly about,” she recalled. “I had been hired by Geffen Records to interview her for a press package for an album she had coming out. I wasn’t able to connect with her, so I don’t think I provided the interview they needed.
“Years later I saw her being hounded by paparazzi, and I fantasized about throwing myself in front of them, and yelling at them to stop bothering her, to maybe get a second chance at bonding with her.”
On the other hand, there was a celebrity who should’ve been hard to connect with that wasn’t. Quinn said Bob Dylan wasn’t hard to bond with or intimidating.
1. Quinn had a mic drop moment, her favorite memory of her career
While Quinn has tons of stellar memories in her career, she was able to pinpoint her favorite. The best memory of her career involves a mic drop moment.
“I can tell you the exact moment that I look to as my favorite moment ever, one of those moments where everything came together and worked,” Quinn recalled.
“It was at the Concert for Knebworth, over in England in 1990. Downtown Julie Brown and I were the MTV hosts for the show. Julie had a big platform with the canopy and make-up artists and attendees, while I was outside in the crowd in the rain. Literally wearing a yellow slicker. I looked like I should be walking home from school.
“The concert finished and there was a frenzy amongst the producers of, ‘OK they’re coming to you right now what are you going to say??’ I was at one with the universe that night, and I told everybody, ‘Don’t worry I got it, I got it.’
“The camera turned on, and I wrapped up the whole show with my final line being, ‘And Pink Floyd finished with a light show, that could be seen… on the Dark Side of the Moon.’ It was a total mic drop moment. It may seem like a little thing, but it felt great.”
After working behind the mic for almost 20 years, Quinn is a driving force in radio. However, as National Radio Day approaches, she reflected on the people in the business that continue to inspire her. Names like Casey Kasem and Howard Stern.
The music industry would’ve been bleak without Quinn’s presence on the small-screen and then on America’s airwaves.
