Samantha Taylor (born Myroslava Lastivka Lydia Luciw in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1958) is a Canadian radio and television personality. She is perhaps best known as the host of the popular

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

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 ...

program '' Video Hits'' from 1984 to 1989.

Bio

Early life

Born to Ukrainian parents in Toronto, Taylor's family moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

when she was three years old. She began her broadcasting career while a student at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, using her birthname Myra Luciw as host of the Ukrainian students' radio program on the university radio station while also using the pseudonym Michele Michaels at a commercial station she was an intern. After graduation, Taylor worked briefly in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

before returning to Toronto in 1980, where she was hired as station

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

and part-time disc jockey for Q-107. At Q-107 she rose to become the station's music director.http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/portrait-portal/Pages/ARProfile.aspx?ArchivalRecordKey=4293196 Library and Archives Canada MIKAN Number 4385063. During that same period she also began hosting CFMT's ''Metro Music'' show, giving her the music video experience that would lead to the eventual job with CBC's ''Video Hits'' in 1984. On ''Metro Music'' she typically introduced the videos and then answered phone calls live on air from fans in the Toronto area.https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2015/11/21/retropolis-torontos-pioneering-music-video-shows.html Retropolis: Toronto’s pioneering music video shows, November 21, 2015. While later working for the CBC, Taylor also judged some episodes of the network's 1985 battle of the bands competition series ''

Rock Wars ''Rock Wars'' is a Canadian television variety series, which aired in 1985 on CBC Television."CBC opens fire with Rock Wars". ''The Globe and Mail'', February 1, 1985. A national "battle of the bands" competition, the series featured unsigned mus ...

''.Keith Sharp, ''Music Express: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Canada's Music Magazine''.

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, 2014. . p. 143.

''Video Hits'' success

In an era in which many viewers across Canada, particularly in non-urban areas, didn't have access to cable television programming such as

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 ...

and

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

, ''Video Hits'' quickly became the best bet for many viewers to see the latest hit

s.http://www.cbc.ca/allinaday/2014/10/20/celebrating-the-30th-anniversary-of-video-hits/ Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Video Hits. CBC.ca, October 20, 2014. As the show's popularity grew, Taylor came to be regarded as "Canada's coolest young lady".http://www.thesuitedelight.com/2012/04/video-hits.html CBC's Video Hits With Samantha Taylor, January 7, 2015. At its peak, the show attracted one million viewers weekly and drew higher ratings than any other music video program in Canada.

References

* Smith, Diane "Taylor Made for TV" Toronto Star, April 12, 1986

External links

*
1985 clip of Samantha Taylor on ''Video Hits''

Bociurkiw, Mykhailo "Samantha Taylor: An Interview with Canada's No. 1 V. J." (pp. 9, 14) Interview with Taylor about her life and career, her ethnic roots, and about the music industry at a time when music videos were a new art form. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Samantha 1958 births Living people Mass media people from Toronto Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications alumni Canadian video jockeys Canadian people of Ukrainian descent