V-66 rocks on – Fans Create a Documentary of New England ’80s Music Video Station
V-66 was born in the year 1985, before everyone had cable TV and after Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” redefined the marriage of music and video.
It was the poor teenager’s MTV – created in a suburban office park at 111 Speen St. and available 24 hours a day to anyone with a TV set and rabbit ears – that created a two-fingered hand sign, hairsprayed DJs, and goofy slogans like “Wacky in Waltham” and “Jumpin’ in Jamaica Plain.”
Practically every born-and-bred New Englander of a certain age (30 to 60) has burned into their brain three songs they played over and over again. “Take On Me” by a-ha, “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama and “Raspberry Beret” by Prince.
Now a team of fans who grew up to be filmmakers are creating a documentary, “Life on the V: The Story of V-66,” to be shot in the next few months and scheduled to premiere early next year for the 25th anniversary of the channel’s debut.
