NEW YORK — It's early evening in a midtown Manhattan studio, and several dozen teenagers have assembled for music television's daily ritual: a broadcast of their top-voted music videos.
The lucky fans who make up the studio audience are sprinkled about the set like pieces of decor. Unlucky ones stand on the street in gloves and scarves, peering through the studio's enormous windows, angling for screen time or a glimpse of today's musical guest, rock group Brand New. Two perky VJs banter with the band, chitchat with the audience and occasionally announce videos. Applause abounds.
"TRL"?
No -- this is "IMX."
To translate for the pre-music-video generation, "TRL" is "Total Request Live," MTV's after-school video countdown, which regularly attracts gushing fans to the station's flagship studio in Times Square.
"IMX" is "Interactive Music Xchange," a relatively new program on the upstart Fuse TV, which likes to think of itself as the anti-MTV.
Like Fuse itself, "IMX" -- which counts down videos but also allows viewers to "buy" and "trade" them via the channel's website -- is subtly distinct from MTV. Its VJs are as cheery as onetime "TRL" personality Carson Daly but much cheekier, quick to render judgment -- sometimes harsh -- on the videos they air.
"TRL," lording over Times Square, welcomes A-list celebrity guests; "IMX," across the street from Madison Square Garden, welcomes a fair share of acts -- including Thrice and Switchfoot -- unlikely to headline that arena.
And while "TRL's" studio sits stories above the street and the fans gathered there, "IMX's" is ground-level and fan-friendly.
"You can see everything, and they sometimes let us in," says one "IMX" fan, 17-year-old Alexandra Rylkiewicz, who's carrying a guitar case and has come to ogle Brand New. " 'IMX' is so much better than 'TRL,' " she gushes. "They actually play videos -- whole videos."
It's a retro concept, one that Fuse is banking on: a music video channel made from the ingredient MTV has long relegated to side dish -- videos themselves. Not simply high-gloss, high-cost extravaganzas but quirky, low-budget efforts such as Electric Six's "Danger! High Voltage," whose idea of special effects is well-placed light bulbs.
"We're the first alternative voice and choice for music lovers," says Mark Juris, CEO of Fuse, formerly the MuchMusic channel. "And we've democratized music by giving viewers control."
