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Introduction:
Night Tracks was a music video show that appeared on late night weekends on TBS Superstation (Turner Broadcasting System in Atlanta, Georgia USA). It made its debut on Friday, June 3, 1983 and the first video shown was "Family Man", by Daryl Hall & John Oates. I can still recall that fantastic moment like it was yesterday. At first Night Tracks was only 12 hours each weekend, but later expanded with another hour on Saturday nights with its Top 10 (Top 20 in 1990) CHARTBUSTERS music video countdown show in 1984. In 1985 Night Tracks expanded its Friday night lineup with Power Play. This would be the peak period with up to 14 hours of Night Tracks programming (unless it was delayed and abbreviated by Atlanta Braves Baseball, NBA Basketball games, etc.) until Spring of 1989 when it and TBS Superstation unfortunately gradually started cutting down on the hours and quality of the shows. A last ditch effort was made by first sampling an Alternative format in the Spring of 1991 and later ditching the Pop/Soft Rock format to a full time Alternative and Rap format in August 1991. That proved to be a dud and its last show aired on the last weekend of May 1992. Since the demise of Night Tracks, have you noticed that eMpTyV doesn't use that Exclusive logo as often on new music video acquisitions? That was because Night Tracks and other music video shows were its competition! After the competition were all eliminated, eMpTyV execs must have felt that they could slack off and degrade itself by showing mostly Alternative, Rap, or no videos with shows that has nothing to do with music. Now eMpTyV has finally revamped their lineup so where are the old competitors? Remember those music video shows like USA Network's NIGHT FLIGHT, the syndicated NEW YORK HOT TRACKS (similar to Night Tracks), AMERICA'S TOP 10 with Casey Kasem, and Friday Night Videos? Now you know what I mean! Please don't let eMpTyV get away with this music video monopoly in America. You say there's VH1? That's also owned by the parent company of eMpTyV. Same goes for eMpTyV 2 which is presently carried on very few cable systems. eMpTyV has given me a bad impression.
If any Night Tracks fans are still out there, here's your chance to let TBS Superstation know that Night Tracks needs to be revived in order for the Viacom ruined eMpTyV Networks to have some competition. Also, eMpTyV was once owned by Warner AMEX but was sold to Viacom in 1986. Today, AOL Time Warner is the parent company of TBS Superstation. It's time to convince them to reenter the music video broadcasting business. Reviving Night Tracks and completely restoring its old timeslots would be a good start.
To me, watching music videos from any other source is like eating a sandwich without using Miracle Whip.


Notes and Trivia:
If I was Pope John Paul II back when Ted Turner made the insulting Pope Jokes in 2001, I would have forgiven him if he would have brought back Night Tracks!

First Night Tracks giveaway: Shalamar "Dead Giveaway" (08/1983)


Here's a little trivia. Can you name two music videos from movie soundtracks that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a starring role in those movies and a cameo appearance in the music videos?
The answer is... (You can watch the two music videos so check them out!)


I find it very surprising that TBS Superstation does not mention a hint of Night Tracks on its web site as a part of 20 years of broadcasting history while it mentions Tush, the variety show that Night Tracks replaced (Yes, I remember that show.).
I haven't seen all 20 clips of TBS Superstation's greatest moments, but I am willing to bet the house that Night Tracks is not in there. If that is the case, and since TBS Superstation started its 21st year on December 17, 1996, I would like to take the liberty of adding a 21st greatest moment which is


Night Tracks' history (06/1983 to 05/1992= 9 years) was almost 3/5 of TBS Superstation's (12/1976 to 05/1992= 15½ years) by its cancellation in 1992 and even by the 20th Anniversary, it was still 45%. Compare this with National Geographic Explorer which celebrated its 10th Anniversary in late 1996 which makes it over 50% SO WHY ARE THEY TREATING NIGHT TRACKS AS IF IT NEVER EXISTED?

TBS Superstation now has '80s Night on Friday Nights where they play movies from the 1980s. I think they should also play music videos from the 1980s straight from the Night Tracks archives. I mean, why not? Nobody seems to have any national '80s retro music video shows at the moment.


Night Tracks The Revival Dream Blog

(Unfortunately, I haven't been updating it for a while and I have dreamed about Night Tracks. But I've come to the realization that the record labels are no longer giving away music videos to TV stations and cable networks. Instead they are now demanding royalty payments each time a music video is aired. That is why MTV and VH1 have turned to mostly reality programming. If they do air music videos they have to take frequent and longer commercial breaks to cover the royalty payments. This change in policy was the death knell for many music video shows such as Night Tracks, Friday Night Videos, New York Hot Tracks, America's Top 10, etc. I also realize that music video shows will never see a successful revival due to the cost of airing them in today's market as opposed to the 1980s where virtually every TV station was airing them for free. This is also probably why MTV and VH1 have turned to airing reality programming. It probably was also the reason why
The Tube Music Network only lasted about 4 years before it folded in 2007. Now all you see during late night hours on most TV stations and cable networks are infomercials. Perhaps the only way is thru the World Wide Web and hope that people like me taped Night Tracks and upload them to sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion.)

I have dreamed about Night Tracks many times at night since 1991 but I can't remember all of the exact dates. From now on, I am going to publicly post every Night Tracks dream in as much detail as I can recall. Here's my latest dream:


Previous dreams:

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Last modified on Thursday, July 16, 2009.