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“ ... this new idea came along with MTV. At first I saw it as a part time job with a regular paycheck. But it wasn’t long before I was covering music news coast-to-coast and introducing videos.” — Alan Hunter

A young Alan Hunter back in his MTV days.

“ ... this new idea came along with MTV. At first I saw it as a part time job with a regular paycheck. But it wasn’t long before I was covering music news coast-to-coast and introducing videos.” — Alan Hunter

Alan Hunter, a recent transplant to Webster Groves, seems a bit too relaxed talking in the sunroom of his Helfenstein Avenue home. After all, he’s been on the cutting edge of two frenetic media revolutions.

In the first revolution, he was among the first music video jocks on a new cable television channel that Dire Straits popularized — MTV. Today, he is one of the portable XM-Sirius disc jockeys of satellite radio.

If you’re an XM-Sirius rock fan, then you know Hunter’s amiable voice from the 1980s channel and Classic Rewind. If you were an MTV fan, then you’ll recall Hunter, along with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn and J.J. Jackson — the original video jockeys.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Hunter found his way to New York City, Hollywood, Chicago and several other places after getting a psychology degree in 1979 from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

“I first went to New York to become an actor and I did some TV and a handful of Off-Broadway roles, but mostly I did struggling actor gigs — like bartending, phone answering services and waiting tables.

“Then this new idea came along with MTV,” said Hunter. “At first I saw it as a part-time job with a regular paycheck, but it wasn’t long before I was covering music news coast-to-coast and introducing videos.”

And, of course, everybody “wanted their MTV.” Many rock icons like Duran Duran, U-2, David Bowie were eager to strut their video stuff as well as their amazing audio output. Hunter was elated. He went full time at MTV.

From 1981 to 1987, Hunter did MTV celebrity music interviews with, well, everybody: The Cars, GoGos, Bangles, Bon Jovi, Boy George, Rod Stewart, Billy Idol, Cheap Trick, Cyndi Lauper and others. Throw in Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Tom Hanks for a diversion.

When he interviewed the mercurial madman Ozzy Osbourne, it was just about what you would expect. Hunter found himself completing thoughts and whole sentences for the man who was always “flying high again.”

A young Alan Hunter back in his MTV days.

When he interviewed Madonna at a dance club called the Limelight in NYC, the “Material Girl” was no-nonsense, intense, totally focused and in control. She had some things to achieve.

“When I interviewed Robert Plant, I thought I needed to introduce myself and I humbled myself, bowed, saying it was an honor to meet ‘Sir Robert.’ But he knew me from watching MTV and bowed back and called me ‘Sir Alan.’ I was in awe,” Hunter said.

During the first phase of his career, Hunter managed to do MTV, parties, concerts, get married and have two children who are now in their 30s. Before leaving MTV and finding satellite radio, there were many other stops.

However, as of 2004, he has been with Sirius-XM. Satellite Radio has allowed him to broadcast remotely from all around the country while his second wife, Elizabeth Hunter, has pursued an academic career.

Elizabeth Hunter’s last school stop was for a doctorate at San Francisco State. She was then hired by the Theatre Department at Washington University where she is doing things with Augmented Reality and a guy named Shakespeare.

Professor Hunter and DJ Hunter have two children, 11 and 13. Their education was a factor in choosing Webster Groves as a place to settle down in the St. Louis area.

“We chose Webster Groves because we heard it has great schools. We are believers in public schools,” said Hunter. “We also wanted a place where you can walk places. My wife spent eight years of her growing up in Kirkwood, so she is familiar with this area.”

In the interval between MTV and Sirius-XM, Hunter found himself on the road and eventually back in “Sweet Home Alabama” in Birmingham.

Before getting back to Birmingham, though, he found himself in Moscow and Leningrad in the late 1980s. He had an assignment covering “Rock in Russia” and following the piano man, Billy Joel, on his tour of the Soviet Union.

“I have a lot of respect for Billy Joel, said Hunter. “That was a very grueling experience. Joel was one of first to take advantage of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika policy.”

Joel also opened hearts in Russia with his song, “Leningrad,” which was about the need for peace with the threat of nuclear weapons facing both Americans and Russians in the Cold War.

Hunter moved back to his hometown of Birmingham in the mid-1990s. He started a film company called Hunter Films with his brothers. They created a multiuse entertainment facility, WorkPlay.

In addition to making films, Hunter co-founded Birmingham’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. He also launched the civic activist group, Catalyst4Birmingham, to promote the town as a filmmaking location.

“I’ve always had a soft spot for my hometown and it’s a beautiful area at the foothills of the Appalachians,” said Hunter. “They’ve built a huge stadium there where the World Games were just held.”

Hunter said he is going to keep his Birmingham connection, but he also has his fingers in a lot of other pies in St. Louis and around the country. His job with XM-Sirius Radio allows him the flexibility to do this.

“The satellite radio job is great. It’s portable. It’s flexible. I can do the shows from different locations,” said Hunter. “We MTV-VJs are working on a movie now, ‘Our Time on MTV.’ It’s about the start in the 1980s.”

“It’s great recalling the wild and woolly days with bands, concerts and parties,” added Hunter. “I am 65, so I couldn’t do all that now. But that is fine because my life is very satisfying right now.”

Hunter’s on-air work is focused on rock music of the past, but he has no gripe with today’s music scene. He is not like others around his age who look nostalgically on a Golden Age of Rock that can’t be matched.

“What has changed is there’s more music being made, so you have to search harder for the best stuff,” said Hunter. “The technology and internet have democratized the industry and there are more artists.

“The record companies used to be the gatekeepers of music and they often determined what was going to make it,” explained Hunter. “The artists had to run their gauntlet. That’s changed.”

Hunter said tech innovations mean there’s always going to be change. He should know. From MTV to satellite radio, he’s been on the cutting edge of media revolutions. 

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