MTV (known as Music Television) is nationally known for playing rock videos 24/7. This cable station was just getting started in the 1980s. The first video that was aired on MTV was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. Other bands that have made music videos in the 1980s are Pat Benetar, Rod Stewart, The Who, April Wine, Styx, and many others.
The interesting thing about early MTV is the breaking of the color barrier. In the early days of MTV, African-Americans did not get very much airtime with their videos. Rick James' video of Superfreak was rejected because it did not fit MTV's format at that time. Michael Jackson also had trouble getting some airtime as well. The color barrier came to an end in 1983. Walter Yetnikoff, the president of CBS Records at the time, denounced MTV in the most profane manner possible and threatened to end MTV's ability to play music coming from the CBS record label if they didn't play music from African-Americans. After that statement, MTV decided to play Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. In order to prevent record companies from turning their backs on MTV, MTV continues to play music from all races. It's interesting how things work after being threatened by a major record company.
