A new MTV Asia VJ will be announced Saturday night (July 31) in Kuala Lumpur at the MTV World Stage concert.
The winner will be chosen from five finalists from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. He or she will join the ranks of famous predecessors such as Mike Kasem, Nadya Hutagalung and David Wu.
Malaysian finalist Kylie Chapman, 25, says: "I've always idolised VJs. They look so fun and approachable on TV, I feel like I can relate to them."
Her rivals for the gig are Singaporean Holly Grabarek, 20, Indonesians Ali Agus Ardie, 24, and Alice Yu, 21, and Filipino Dawn Balagot, 20.
But winning the gig is no longer a sure platform to greater heights in show business. For one thing, MTV, once a buzzword describing an entire generation of youth hooked on the power of music videos, has lost its cachet in pop culture with the migration of eyeballs to content-sharing websites such as YouTube.
Undergraduate Herman Teo, 24, says: "I suppose VJs are just pretty versions of DJs, back in the old days when MTV was the only thing on TV for teens. But nowadays, there are so many other things to do, such as going on the Internet."
Others feel that idolising VJs is a phase that people grow out of.
Carmelita Leow, 23, a fresh graduate, says: "I'm not sure if the current batch of teenagers love it (MTV), but I think that has passed for me. I feel that MTV is a phase and everyone outgrows it after a while."
Former MTV VJ Max Loong, now an actor and a host, agrees that music channels on cable TV reached their peak in the 1990s and have been on a decline since.
He says: "Online communities and websites such as YouTube are now the platforms for most young people to watch the latest music videos.
"Because of that, the networks lost out on ratings and started airing more and more reality shows, therefore leaving less air time to the VJs."
According to Dr Chung Peichi, assistant professor at the National University of Singapore's Communications and New Media Programme, MTV's shift to reality programming is necessary for it to regain viewership.
"Reality television shows in MTV often feature stories among young people. The content reflects interesting phenemenon that may appear popular among the teenage audience," she says.
There is hope yet for these aspiring VJs, as Chung adds: "While YouTube does provide a chance of publicity for many independent artists who are not contracted to the music labels, MTV may still be the major music distribution channel over web TV and other converging television viewing platforms."
Grabarek has a simpler answer for why she could make a difference to MTV: "I think that I know enough about music culture and I'm at a good age. I will be able to draw audiences from the younger crowd as well as the older generation."
