First episode date 1984 | ||
Similar Musi‑Video, Pepsi Power Hour, Electric Circus, Headbangers Ball, CityNews | ||
City tv toronto rocks promo 1984
Toronto Rocks was an hour-long television program presenting music videos on CITY-TV in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1980s, starting in 1984. It aired live at 4PM weekdays and was initially hosted by John Majhor. Majhor was a longtime DJ at 1050 CHUM AM in Toronto and eventually became one of Canada's first "VJs" with the development of music videos. Toronto Rocks was a predecessor to MuchMusic and MTV, and had kids rushing home from school every day to catch their favourite videos of the early 80's. During the show, Majhor played videos by a wide variety of the big name artists of the day. All the way from Michael Jackson's "Beat It", Van Halen's "Jump", Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart", to the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and other songs released in the 1980s by artists who became commercially popular during the decade. Wednesdays on the show were set aside for "Mid Week Metal Mania", where Majhor played only heavy metal videos from the hard rock and "hair bands" of the day. He also interviewed in-studio guests and had various contests and giveaways. Over 400 episodes of Toronto Rocks were aired.
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Other hosts were Brad Giffen (until 1988), Lance Chilton (1988–90) and JD Roberts also filled in for John Majhor from time to time.