In The Mix: New Wave Friday Pt 2

When MTV switched on in America on 1 August 1981, it had a problem nobody had thought through: a channel that played music videos around the clock needed a lot of music videos, and most American acts hadn’t made any. British bands had. They’d been shooting clips for Top of the Pops for years — and for the music shows down this end of the world, where overseas acts rarely toured and Countdown, Ready to Roll and Radio with Pictures ran on film instead. So MTV played what it had, and within two years the American charts looked like a British import shop. Part two of New Wave Friday is about that moment, when a genre that radio had been reluctant to touch found its way into American lounges through the television instead. It’s also about how much of it ran through this part of the world: the first video MTV ever played was directed by a Melburnian, Split Enz were on the channel’s first night, and a Radio with Pictures host went on to run MTV in Europe.

Sixteen tracks, from the Buggles to Eurythmics, and the hour keeps tripping over the gap between the screen and the shop. The Fixx went top five in America with a single that peaked at 86 at home. Thomas Dolby’s biggest record stalled at 49 in Britain, then went top ten here and in the States once people had seen a real TV scientist shouting “Science!” at him. Men at Work’s video cost about five thousand dollars; Duran Duran’s meant a flight to Sri Lanka and an elephant with other ideas. The Swingers carry the New Zealand flag with “Counting the Beat,” shot with a busload of drinkers given fifteen minutes to dance, and there’s news along the way: the Human League are in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in February, Soft Cell’s final album came out last month, and Collective Soul — yes, the “Shine” band — have just made an entire album because they wanted to sound like The Cars. And the ending writes itself. When MTV closed its music channels on New Year’s Eve last year, the British one signed off with the same song it started with in 1981.

Broadcast 9 October 2026

Songs in this episode:

0:01 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday
1:03 The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star
2:07 The Human League – Don't You Want Me
3:11 Soft Cell – Tainted Love
4:25 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday
5:29 Duran Duran – Hungry Like the Wolf
6:33 A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away)
7:37 Men At Work – Who Can It Be Now?
8:57 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday
9:52 The Swingers – Counting The Beat
10:56 Altered Images – Happy Birthday
12:00 Bow Wow Wow – I Want Candy
13:21 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday
14:11 Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science
15:15 Modern English – I Melt with You
16:19 The Waitresses – I Know What Boys Like
17:39 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday
18:29 The Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another
19:33 Collective Soul – Uh Oh
20:37 Franz Ferdinand – Audacious
21:41 Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [2018 Remastered]
22:45 NZ Net Radio – In The Mix New Wave Friday