Fuse (TV channel)
Fuse is a music video-oriented television channel. Fuse has modeled itself as the premier cable channel for rock, alternative, punk, hardcore, emo, and indie music.
History
MuchMusic Canada
Fuse began in 1994 under a partnership between current owners Rainbow Media (a division of Cablevision) and CHUM (owner of Canada's MuchMusic) The network was a complete simulcast of MuchMusic Canada for the most part except for an infomercial block during the morning hours. In early 2001, non Canadian music video blocks (with MuchMusic Canada bumpers in between) began airing on the network. This was the early stages of what would later become a completely different network.
In June 2001, the network became "MMUSA" featuring both MuchMusic Canada shows, and in house produced music video programming best recognized by distinct color bars at the top and bottom of each show. Each show had a different color bar set. Many of these shows consisted of viewer submitted content from the website. As 2002 went by, the majority of MuchMusic Canada programming was removed from the network.
In late December 2002, MMUSA aired an episode of the MuchMusic Canada show Rap City. This would turn out to be the last MuchMusic Canada show aired on the network. After this aired, the network was all MMUSA programming until May 2003.
Fuse
Within early 2003, CHUM revoked Rainbow Media's license to use the MuchMusic and MMUSA name and everything else having to do with it. By April, it was announced that the network would be renamed "Fuse" with various promos and scrolls.
On May 19, 2003 just before 6 a.m. Eastern Time, MMUSA aired its final video: New Found Glory's "My Friends Over You". After the video ended the network went to commercial break. After that Fuse launched with Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong", without fanfare.
The early days of Fuse were very music intensive. They often indirectly bashed MTV for not airing music.
Format
Fuse has studios headquartered across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Fuse chiefly focuses on pop and rock music, and does have more alternative programming later at night.
The addition of such non-music oriented fare such as the animated program Empire Square, the anthology program Munchies, the sketch-comedy program The Nighttime Clap, have also brought recent charges by critics that the channel is abandoning musical diversity in a greater attempt to compete with MTV and MTV2. However, as of August 2006 the network has replaced some of these shows with a bevy of new ones, mostly non-music.
Musically speaking, Fuse is more focused on rock, alternative, punk, emo, and indie music. It used to also play heavy metal music. However, as of 2006, it has been moved to the early morning hours as Fuse no longer focuses on it. Although hip-hop/rap and pop music is played, Fuse is generally an alternative to the more mainstream MTV, which focuses heavily on hip-hop. In recent years Fuse has been instrumental in helping local bands and artists reach a wider audience.
Criticism
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Many critics and members of the original fan base feel the channel is run poorly. The channel has been criticized for going "emo" recently, as the channel now plays emo music videos regularly and endorses Victory Records. Many other critics have also criticized the changes as an attempt to compete better with MTV and MTV2 in the Nielsen ratings and feel the channel has "sold out" by sacrificing variety in order to gain more mainstream appeal. Also, during the emo music/fashion trend, many have criticized the station for being too much of a fad-based station, much as MTV was criticized for the amount of bubblegum pop played on Total Request Live in the late 1990s. Fuse has also been playing more Rap and R&B music.
At the same time, Fuse has been praised for focusing on emo as opposed to mainstream hip-hop. The rise of emo music and Fuse occurred somewhat simultaneously, and Fuse is still seen as a major catalyst for the genre.
Since Juliya's departure from Fuse, some viewers had started a petition to the Fuse program director, telling him/her to bring the metal shows back to Fuse. An answer has yet to be told to the viewers by the program director. Juliya recently stated that she would not return to Fuse and that the host would be another person named Julia who hosted the "Girls of Ozzfest" special.
VJs
Fuse (as of August 2006) has three VJs: Marianela, Steven and Alison. Each of the VJs regularly hosts a show dedicated to their chosen music field(s) and/or their style.
- Marianela is the "rap/hip-hop" representative. She co-hosted both IMX and its successor, Daily Download. After Daily Download's cancellation at the end of July, she briefly was a host on Get Malled Tour. However, after Get Malled Tour disappeared from the air in late August/early September, it is unknown if Marianela is still on the network.
- Steven focuses more on punk rock, indie rock, and alternative music. He currently hosts Steven's Untitled Rock Show. Steven Smith is currently the only remaining original VJ on the network, as the rest (Juliya, Dylan, Marianela?) have currently parted ways with Fuse.
- Alison Becker, a comedian, brings a humorous brand of hosting to The Nighttime Clap and F-List.
- Marianela and Juliya did a video book-end show called "All-Nighter" where they toured the New York Club scene and introduced videos.
Past VJs include Adonis Thompson, Fuse's VJ search contest winner, K.K. Holiday, Dennis "da Menace," Juliya, and Dylan Lane. Juliya was the channel's heavy metal representative. She hosted the programs Uranium, Metal Asylum, and Slave to the Metal. Dylan focused on pop music. He co-hosted Daily Download and also hosted the F-List.
Reception
Fuse is nominally a cable network, and is generally available only on cable and satellite TV systems. Uniquely, however, Fuse is available to residents of central and east Austin, Texas—including resident students of the University of Texas at Austin—via low-power TV station K09VR-TV.
External links