Posts by Benjamin
Kim Stolz: Once In A Lifetime
As an MTV News correspondent from 2008 to 2012, Kim Stolz did it all: TRL Spring Break, The VMAs, Movie Awards, Choose Or Lose plus dozens of high pressure high profile interviews with big bold faced names. On this week’s You Hear It First podcast, Kim takes us on her unexpected journey from studying foreign…
Read MoreMatt Anderson: Personal & Professional
These days Matt Anderson hangs out with Andy Cohen and The Real Housewives. But in the ’90s and early aughts, Matt parlayed an internship at MTV News to a role as Supervising Producer and eventually Executive Producer of Series & Development. Growing up in Framingham, Massachusetts, it was The Divas that snapped Matt out of…
Read MoreSuChin Pak: Girl In The World
Today, SuChin Pak hosts the wildly successful Lemonada Media podcast Add to Cart alongside comedian, actress and friend, Kulap Vilaysack. From 2001 to 2010, SuChin anchored MTV News on TRL and ten to the hour every hour; hosted Video Music and Movie Award Pre-Shows and her docuseries, My Life (Translated); and narrated dozens of episodes…
Read MoreShari Scorca: Lightning In A Bottle
In 1998, Shari Scorca was in the final days of her MTV News internship and her senior year at NYU, when she nabbed a pair of tickets to the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington, DC. A freak lightning strike critically injured fans, stopped the performances cold, and pressed Shari into action. “I ended up in…
Read MoreNina Justman: The Moonman Cometh
From 1988 to 2003, Nina Justman was the MTV News’ first line of defense and offense. As Assignment Editor, she pitched reps for artist access, and took the heat when they didn’t like the story. She talked artists onto the red carpet, and begged them off. “Nobody did a red carpet like we did,” she…
Read MoreDoug Herzog: Hall Of Famer
Interviewing Doug Herzog about MTV News is a little like talking with The Pope about the Pieta; it’s just a tiny sliver of his massive scope. At one point in his four decades of broadcasting innovation, Doug oversaw MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, TVLand, Spike and Logo – in addition to previous stints at Fox and…
Read MoreMichael Shore: Master Class
Longtime MTV News Editorial Director Michael Shore’s penned his first scripts for original VJs JJ Jackson and Martha Quinn in the early eighties, his last for correspondents Sway Calloway and SuChin Pak in the early aughts. This week on “You Hear It First,” Michael regales with stories about the days Kurt Cobain died and Courtney Love crashed…
Read MoreElon Johnson: Kick It
If you caught a ten-to-the-hour-every-hour MTV News brief with Kurt Loder or John Norris sometime around the turn of Millennium, chances are it was written by Elon Johnson. These days, Elon leads development for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. But in 1999, Elon was one of a handful of MTV News Writers tasked with scripting…
Read MoreFriends & Neighbors In The Heartland
“What’s it feel like to crack open your sternum,” Neighborhood Archivist, Friend and Q&A Moderator, Tim Lybarger asked. “And share the intimate details of your life on a movie screen?” Just a few years years ago, I didn’t know that 70% of Americans experience trauma in their lifetime, or that it has a major impact on one’s physiology…
Read MoreChristina Garibaldi: Full Circle
For a particular brand of New Jersey teenager who loved The Backstreet Boys and dreamt of catching a fleeting glimpse of the quartet waving from MTV’s Times Square Studios, there may be no greater Cinderella Story than Christina Garibaldi’s. “I was a boy bander,” she says. “My dream was to be in Times Square with…
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