The countdown clock will come to an end Sunday for MTV's flagship series "Total Request Live," and fans of the show are struggling to say goodbye.
Damien Fahey, the longtime host of the pop culture barometer, said: "It's the end of an era for a lot of fans. A lot grew up on 'TRL' and never thought they'd see the day where it ended. It was an American institution for kids. Seeing that go away and fade out is pretty shocking to them, I'm sure."
While old fans may be stunned, after a decade-long run, the former must-see for Generation Y teenagers (and must-appear for artists) has been wilting for awhile. At its peak in 1999, "TRL" averaged 761,000 viewers a day, with 360,000 of them ages 12 to 17, according to Nielsen Media Research. So far this year, the show -- now seen at 3:30 p.m. ET -- averages 322,000 viewers a day, Nielsen said. The 12- to-17-year-old audience is only 79,000.
The end of "TRL" also illustrates the Viacom network's struggle to find a place for videos on MTV as viewers increasingly have migrated to the Internet to feed their cravings.
"It's kind of upsetting," said Annie Whitaker, 19, of Silver Spring, Md., who has been a fan of the show since its inception. "It's like for 10 years, it was a big thing to sit around the TV waiting for a video premiere from your favorite artist. Now, how will we know when there is a new video out?"
With reality shows like "The Hills" and "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" filling up most of the network's programming schedule, "TRL's" weekday afternoon hourlong time slot remained one of the few opportunities for record labels to promote music acts and one of the last outlets for MTV viewers to see music videos by their favorite artists.
"It was kind of the epicenter of pop culture," said Stephen Seebaran, a 25-year-old fan of the show from Tampa, Fla. "It's where artists had to go if they wanted to become somebody. Without 'TRL,' acts like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and the Jonas Brothers wouldn't be where they are today."
Launched in 1998 and originally hosted by Carson Daly -- who left the show in 2002 to host his own late-night show on NBC -- the program aired the 10 most popular videos as voted by viewers online or by phone.
Whitaker recalled the moment the MTV show entered her pop-culture diet. The then 9-year-old was at a friend's house, oblivious to the phenomenon that was taking place just clicks away on the remote.
