Mark Goodman

Mark Goodman (born October 11, 1952, Philadelphia, PA) is a radio DJ, TV personality, and actor. He is best known as one of the original five VJs on MTV, from 1981 to 1987. He was supposed to be the first of the five to be broadcast at MTV's premiere on August 1, 1981. However, due to errors sequencing the clips, he was the last of the VJs to introduce themselves after "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles and "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar.

Biography

Early life and career

Goodman has been in the music business since the 1970s. He started in radio in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WMMR and in 1978, became the music director of the station. In 1980, he moved to New York City to work at WPLJ, the number-one rock station in New York.

Goodman is Jewish.

MTV

In 1981, Goodman left WPLJ to join the as yet unknown music video channel called MTV. As one of the five original VJs Goodman interviewed a variety of music and entertainment stars of the day. He also hosted several special shows for the channel, including The Week In Rock, 120 Minutes and the first show ever syndicated to broadcast by MTV: The Top 20 Video Countdown.