# Video Killed the Radio Star. Any real life examples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186 "2017-02-06T19:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/21 "2017-02-07T02:58:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The original Def Leppard was made up of 4 good looking guys and one who was, ahem, rather homely. He was always relegated to the background, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that kind of thing contributed to his early death from alcoholism. [Steve Clark was not homely,](http://hardrockhaven.net/online/2010/12/twenty-years-ago-in-memory-of-steve-clark/) in fact he was one of the better-looking members of the band. Unless you meant [Pete Willis,](http://www.deflepparduk.com/2016newsjul116.html) who is still alive. **Supertramp** was often cited as a band which was too photogenically challenged to make the jump from radio to video. Some may disagree, but there’s probably a reason why their [music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZUE4_PtOk0) [videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfoyXfcwVU) only tangentially featured the band. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/22 "2017-02-07T03:08:59Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > I’m going to go with my standby, Christopher Cross. > > He had a smooth voice and catchy tunes. He also had a receding hairline, sweatstained armpits and paunchy belly. He didn’t survive MTV. Yes, even his Wikipedia(not much of a cite, but still) lists the MTV-generation sinking his chances. His music and look was not in line with what MTV wanted. Any fans of his? Did he maintain the quality level of his music or did he decline? I know no one who has his albums. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/23 "2017-02-07T03:26:30Z")
[quote=“nearwildheaven, post:18, topic:779186”] In this video, notice that the drummer is by far the best-looking member of the band - and guess who got the most face time and was put out in front for the video? [/QUOTE] Holy crap, it’s Kelso! ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/24 "2017-02-07T03:35:20Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > My standby is Donnie Iris, who didn’t have that MTV “look” [either](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5Arbm47IQ). > > And I think both Billy Squier and Phil Collins have groused about video killing their radio stardom. (For Squier it was one video in particular.) Whuh? Phil Collins appeared on a Rolling Stones cover unironically calling him ‘sexy’. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/25 "2017-02-07T03:44:45Z")
The most obvious actor who couldn’t make the transition to talkies was Raymond Griffith. In his heyday, he was one of the major names in silent comedy. His career ended with the talkies because he blew out his vocal chords as a child actor and could not speak above a hoarse whisper. He appeared in only one sound film (_All Quiet on the Western Front_), where he didn’t have to speak any louder, then retired from acting. John Gilbert is often cited as someone who couldn’t handle the transition. He had been Greta Garbo’s leading man, but his career collapsed with the coming of sound. However, Gilbert didn’t have a particularly bad voice; the florid dialog in his first sound film was what had the audience laughing. Given that Louis B. Mayer took a dislike to him, and he had a drinking problem, his career never overcame that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/26 "2017-02-07T03:56:12Z")
I know it was said that [Phoebe Snow](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pxkhYFpIHOM/hqdefault.jpg) was too ugly for videos. Of course, her musical style was also about as far away from MTV as you could get. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/27 "2017-02-07T06:13:34Z")
I wonder about radio acts such as Fred Allen and Fibber McGee and Molly. Allen apparently didn’t like television and his attempts failed where other radio comedians such as Jack Benny, Burns & Allen and Groucho Marx lasted longer. The husband and wife team of Jim and Marian Jordan resisted tv, figuring they had a pretty good thing on radio so why change. When they finally tried one on the late 1950s, Marian was too sick so the show was almost entirely recast and “T’aint funny, McGee”, it failed. Bret Morrison lasted the longest, 10 years, on the radio show “The Shadow” but seems to have done little in tv or films. Wiki says he was a popular cabaret singer so maybe that’s it. But at the same time he doesn’t look very photogenic to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/28 "2017-02-07T06:17:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_%27n%27_Andy) are another example of radio actors who didn’t get to play the same characters on TV because they didn’t look the part. Although they did in the 1930 movie “Check and double check” by having them in blackface. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/29 "2017-02-07T06:32:51Z")
Kate Smith was a popular singer/ radio star and she tried making a movie "Hello Everybody ". Which turned out about as well as the movie starring Liberace and the one starring Luciano Pavarotti as a romantic lead (saw that one on an airplane). Kate was plain looking and a few pounds overweight. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/30 "2017-02-07T07:28:57Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Kate Smith was a popular singer/ radio star and she tried making a movie "Hello Everybody ". Which turned out about as well as the movie starring Liberace and the one starring Luciano Pavarotti as a romantic lead (saw that one on an airplane). Kate was plain looking and a few pounds overweight. Kate Smith didn’t exactly shy away from TV in the '50s; in fact, she embraced it, and achieved a fair amount of popularity. But regarding her weight: Our TV back then had a switch that stretched out the image horizontally, supposedly to compensate for a different aspect ratio. When Kate Smith’s show came on, we kids would flick the switch, making poor Kate look _enormous._ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/31 "2017-02-07T12:47:41Z")
Linda Ronstadt. MTV started just as her youthful babe-a-liciousness started to fade. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/32 "2017-02-07T16:49:15Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Linda Ronstadt. MTV started just as her youthful babe-a-liciousness started to fade. She also changed musical directions, recording songs by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. But her albums of the 1980s went platinum, sometimes triple platinum. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/33 "2017-02-07T17:38:26Z")
Bob Bailey was the long-time star of _Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar_ on the radio. It was one of the last radio dramas, but when they moved the show to the east coast in 1960, Bailey quit the role. He was never able to put together a TV/movie career, taking a handful of bit roles before retiring from acting. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/34 "2017-02-10T23:27:08Z")
Not unlike Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino was one of the biggest stars of the silent film era, and a beloved sex symbol. However, his thick accent kept him from making the transition to talkies. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/35 "2017-02-14T19:01:16Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Not unlike Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino was one of the biggest stars of the silent film era, and a beloved sex symbol. However, his thick accent kept him from making the transition to talkies. I suspect that his dying a year before ‘The Jazz Singer’ triggered the sound era was an even greater factor in keeping him from making the transition. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/36 "2017-02-14T20:20:32Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > I suspect that his dying a year before ‘The Jazz Singer’ triggered the sound era was an even greater factor in keeping him from making the transition. Yeah, being dead will do that to ya. 😃 (of course, if they had the CGI tech back then, he could have still starred and spoke in films, ala Peter Cushing) ---
**Author:** ![Egnu\_Cledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@Egnu\_Cledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Egnu_Cledge)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/37 "2017-02-14T22:08:08Z")
I don’t know how much it hurt his career, but both of my parents recall seeing Roy Orbison on TV for the first time and being surprised by how homely he was. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/38 "2017-02-14T22:48:13Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > My standby is Donnie Iris, who didn’t have that MTV “look” [either](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5Arbm47IQ). > > And I think both Billy Squier and Phil Collins have groused about video killing their radio stardom. (For Squier it was one video in particular.) I came here to say Billy Squier, who apparently fell of the face of the music planet because the video for “Rock Me Tonight” sucked. To be sure, the video is awful. But I’ve seen worse. Mick Jagger and David Bowie “Dancing in the Street” comes to forefront of my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/39 "2017-02-15T00:21:28Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Karla DeVito](http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/37/bf/95/37bf957e1b58fe42440158a009943442.jpg) replacing [Ellen Foley](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/98/e4/be/98e4be346fb54238b8423c9e026597a9.jpg) comes to mind. You mean [Ellen Foley](http://www.photofeatures.com/ellenfoley/images/prevs/ellen-foley-04a.jpg)? That’s more what she looked like in the Paradise By the Dashboard Light days. Not like the post-\*Night Court \*era photo you linked. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/40 "2017-02-15T00:31:15Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I came here to say Billy Squier, who apparently fell of the face of the music planet because the video for “Rock Me Tonight” sucked. It certainly couldn’t have helped that he dressed and danced like Richard Simmons. I was a teenage girl at the time and even I could see that he had zero sex appeal. At least David Bowie and Mick Jagger had possessed some theatricality in Dancin’ in the Street. I have no idea what Squier thought he was projecting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186.md?page=3)