Alan Caldwell Hunter (born February 14, 1957) is one of the original five video jockeys ( VJs) on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

from 1981 to 1987 (along with

Nina Blackwood Nina Blackwood is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs (along with Mark Goodman, J. J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn). She has been an actress and model. Early life and career Bl ...

Mark Goodman Mark Goodman (born October 11, 1952) is an American radio host, TV personality and actor. He is best known as one of the original five video jockeys (VJs), along with Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, J. J. Jackson and Martha Quinn, on the music ...

, J. J. Jackson and

Martha Quinn Martha Conrad Quinn (born May 11, 1959) is an American actress and Radio personality, radio and television personality, best known as one of the original video jockeys on MTV (along with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter (VJ), Alan Hunter ...

). He is a host on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius S ...

Radio's

The 80s on 8 '80s on 8 (also known as The Big '80s on 8) is a commercial-free, satellite radio station on Sirius XM Radio channel 8 and also Dish Network 6008. As a result of the Sirius/XM merger on November 12, 2008, the channel was merged with the Big '80s ...

channel and on the Classic Rewind channel. He co-owns the production company Hunter Films with his brother Hugh. He, Hugh and two other brothers also founded WorkPlay, a multipurpose office, studio and entertainment facility in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. He also hosted the

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

''Looking for Stars'' on the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

cable television channel as well as the

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...

series ''Big 80s Weekend''.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in

, in 1957, Hunter graduated from

Mountain Brook High School Mountain Brook High School (MBHS) is a three-year public high school in the city of Mountain Brook, Alabama USA. It is the only high school in the Mountain Brook City School System. The school's colors are green and gold and the athletic teams a ...

in 1975 and earned his BA in psychology in 1979 from

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webste ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

. During his senior year he got his first television acting job in the ABC Movie of the Week '' Love's Savage Fury'', starring

Raymond Burr Raymond William Stacy Burr (May 21, 1917September 12, 1993) was a Canadian actor known for his lengthy Hollywood film career and his title roles in television dramas ''Perry Mason'' and '' Ironside''. Burr's early acting career included roles ...

Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American actress, model, author, and activist. She is known for her modeling and spokesperson work for CoverGirl cosmetics starting in 1963, and her starring role in the Oscar-winnin ...

and

Michael Paré Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films ''Eddie and the Cruisers'' (1983), '' Streets of Fire'' (1984), and '' The Philadelphia Experiment'' (1984), and on the series ''Starhun ...

. After a stint as a professional actor at the

Birmingham Children's Theatre The Birmingham Children's Theatre, the professional resident theatre company at the Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama, is a professional theatres producing live theatre for young audiences. Founded in 1947, the thea ...

, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend the

Circle in the Square The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...

drama school. Afterwards, he held a series of "struggling actor" gigs: bartender, waiter, phone answering service attendant and a handful of

Off-off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

roles, finally earning a role in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's "

Fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

" for which he was paid $50 a day and got to meet Bowie. He also had a bit part (on

cutting room floor The term cutting room floor is used in the film industry as a figure of speech referring to unused or scrapped footage not included in the finished film. Outside of the film industry, it may refer to any creative work unused in the final product. ...

) in the film musical ''

Annie Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

''.

MTV

In the early summer of 1981, he bumped into

exec Bob Pittman at a picnic in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. A month later, Hunter was tapped to join the fledgling MTV, only three weeks prior to its debut. MTV went on the air August 1, 1981, at midnight in selected markets across America. Hunter was, by technical snafu, the first VJ to appear on screen, with the words "Hi, I'm Alan Hunter. I'll be with you right after Mark. We'll be covering the latest in music news, coast to coast, here on MTV Music Television." And then the other original VJs –

, J. J. Jackson,

and

– followed. During his first month with MTV, he kept his regular night job tending bar at New York's Magic Pan Restaurant Cabaret. When a customer recognized him, he determined it was time to become a full-time MTV VJ. Over the next several years Hunter's typical work week included attending concerts and parties until the wee hours and then coming back to the studio at 8:00 am for a full day of taping interviews, promos and features. Hunter was also heavily involved in the WWF-MTV collaboration, hosting ''

The War to Settle the Score The War to Settle the Score was a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on February 18, 1985. The main event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WW ...

'' live special on MTV with

Gene Okerlund Eugene Arthur Okerlund (December 19, 1942 – January 2, 2019), better known by his ring name "Mean Gene" Okerlund, was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wres ...

. He also conducted backstage interviews for the show. Hunter also narrated ''The War Continues'', a special produced by MTV that was used to help promote ''

Wrestlemania WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 37 editions followed, mos ...

'' in March 1985. As MTV became a dominant outlet for music-related content in the early 1980s, Hunter's celebrity interviews included the first MTV interviews with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

and U2, and also included

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

and

Moon Unit Zappa Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is an American actress, singer, and author. She is the daughter of musician Frank Zappa. Early life Moon Zappa was born in New York City, the eldest child of Gail (née Sloatman) and musician Frank Zap ...

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, Kasim Sultan, Crosby Stills & Nash,

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

the Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene ...

, Bob & Doug McKenzie,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

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Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

the Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

, the GoGos,

the Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

Colin Hay Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music ha ...

and

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as " Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", " Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is C ...

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrument ...

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popula ...

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen and ...

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

, Joe Jackson,

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

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, Michael McDonald,

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut ...

, Peter Wolf, Toto,

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and

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among others. In his latter MTV years, Hunter became known for his remotes and road trips in such iconic and pioneering MTV programming like ''

MTV Spring Break ''MTV Spring Break'' refers to MTV, the channel's annual spring break coverage, featuring numerous live performances from artists and bands on location. The annual tradition continued into the 2000s, when it became de-emphasized and handed off to ...

'', ''MTV's Amuck in America'' and ''MTV's Hedonism Weekend with Bon Jovi in Jamaica''.

Life after MTV

In August 1987, after six years with the channel, Hunter departed MTV as a full-time host and relocated from New York to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The same year, he traveled to Russia in September as a freelancer for the channel for a program called ''Rock in Russia''. The documentary explored the world of rock music amid President Gorbachev's

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

while following

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

on his pioneering concert tour to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1989, he appeared in the film ''White Hot''. For the years he was in Los Angeles, Hunter starred in numerous

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

pilots, like '' HayWire'' and ''Pure Insanity'', precursors of today's reality programming, as well as commercials for

Levi Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and ...

's Dockers and

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and numerous infomercials for Time-Life. In the mid-1990s he moved back to his hometown of

, to start a film company called Hunter Films, and, with his brothers, to create the multi-use entertainment facility, WorkPlay, named one of America's 40 Best Venues by '' Paste'' magazine. In 2003, Hunter Films produced the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated short film '' Johnny Flynton'' directed by

Lexi Alexander Alexandra Mirai ( ar, الكسندرا ميراي; born 23 August 1974), known professionally as Lexi Alexander, is a German-Palestinian film and television director, martial artist, and actress. She is a former World Karate Association world c ...

, and executive produced the 2006 Sundance premiered movie '' Dreamland'' starring

John Corbett John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...

Gina Gershon Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail (1988 film), Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat (1988 film), Red Heat'' (1988), ''Showgirls'' (1995), ''Bound (1996 film), Bound'' (1996), ''Face/ ...

and

Justin Long Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. Long is known for his film roles, notably appearing in '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001), ''Dodgeball'' (2004), ''Accepted'' (2006), ''Idiocracy'' (20 ...

. 2010 saw the release of the company's executive produced documentary ''

Best Worst Movie ''Best Worst Movie'' is a 2009 American documentary film about the making of the infamous 1990 horror film ''Troll 2'' and its subsequent resurgence as a cult film. Directed by Michael Stephenson, the child star of ''Troll 2'', the film was dis ...

'' and in 2011 the feature film '' Lifted'', which they co-produced and in which Hunter co-stars with

Dash Mihok Dashiell Raymond Mihok (; born May 24, 1974) is an American actor and director best known for playing Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in the Showtime drama '' Ray Donovan''. Early life Mihok was born in New York City, the son of theater actors Andrea ...

Nicki Aycox Nicki Lynn Aycox (May 26, 1975 – November 16, 2022) was an American actress and musician, known for her roles in ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'', ''Cold Case'', ''Jeepers Creepers 2'', ''Perfect Stranger (film), Perfect Stra ...

Ruben Studdard Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of ''American Idol'' and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of ...

, Trace Adkins and in which Uriah Shelton debuted. Amid his entrepreneurial endeavors, in 2005 and 2006 Hunter continued his work as a TV host working with

and

for their first original series ''Looking for Stars''. He was part of a Verizon Wireless national radio campaign for three years and since 2004 has been on Sirius XM radio's '80s on 8 channel, along with two other surviving original MTV VJs. In 2013, he and Blackwood, Goodman and Quinn co-authored the book "VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave," published by Atria Books. Hunter co-founded Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival, named by Time (magazine), ''Time'' magazine as one of the top ten "Film Festivals for the Rest of Us" and serves as its board president. He launched the civic activist group Catalyst4Birmingham and has been an integral part of promoting the film business in the state of Alabama lobbying for legislation to create film incentives as well as the creation of the Birmingham-Jefferson Film Office.Parcas hunter Hunter lives in Webster Groves, Missouri, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children. Elizabeth Hunter is an assistant professor of drama in the department of performing arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

References

External links

WorkPlaySidewalk Film Center + Cinema Sidewalk Film Festival
*
"Alan Hunter on 20 years of MTV"
(August 2, 2001). CNN. Retrieved April 3, 2006.
Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter interviewed on Stuck in the '80s podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Alan 1957 births Living people VJs (media personalities) Male actors from Birmingham, Alabama Millsaps College alumni American male television actors