If you are old enough to remember the early days of MTV, you'll no doubt be able to recite the names of the original MTV V-J's: Martha Quinn, JJ Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Adam Curry, Alan Hunter and Mark Goodman. They were the faces of a sea change in the music and television industries. For Gen-Xers they were the folks who introduced us to 80s music and covered Live Aid, one of the biggest events of our lives.

By the 90s, even though their careers kept going, most of them faded from the public eye - at least compared to the height of their MTV stints. Martha Quinn appeared in several films, co-hosted Star Search and was a regular in various commercials. JJ Jackson, a ground breaking DJ before his MTV days, also went back to continue his radio career. He passed away in 2004.

After MTV, Alan Hunter also appeared in a few films and moved back to his home state of Alabama and founded his own production company, Hunter Films. Mark Goodman, a popular DJ in Philadelphia and New York City before MTV, went back to radio. Nina Blackwood left MTV in 1986 and became the Music Reporter for Entertainment Tonight. She has also appeared in numerous music infomercials over the years and done some radio. Adam Curry, although not an original member of the first five V-J's, was an MTV mainstay from from 1987 to 1994. Now these four are taking advantage of new technologies to extend their careers.

Hunter, Goodman and Blackwood have embraced "satellite radio" - which like MTV represented a sea change when it came on the commercial scene in the late-1990s. Both XM and Sirius Radio are revolutionizing radio broadcasting and both are poised for major growth in the coming years. All three appear on Sirius' "Big 80s" channel and Blackwood hosts "Absolutely 80s" which airs seven days each week on Sirius.

Nina's producer/manager Danny Sheridan said, "Its stimulating to stretch out with new mediums. At first, we had minor concerns that our terrestrial stations might have thought the "Big80s" would be competing with our syndicated shows. But as it turns out, the satellite exposure puts Nina in even more demand. We get emails from fans outside of the broadcast signals of our stations, fans that hear Nina on Sirius or streaming on Indie 103.1, and they want to know how they can hear her on their local radio station too. The cross promotion seems to be a win for everybody."

While satellite radio is hitting its stride, former V Jay Adam Curry is at the forefront of the next sea change in music and media: podcasting.

Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. Podcasting is distinct from other types of audio content delivery because it uses the RSS protocol. This technique has enabled many producers to create self-published, syndicated radio shows.

Users subscribe to podcasts using "podcatching" software (also called "aggregator" software) which periodically checks for and downloads new content. It can then sync the content to the user's portable music player, hence the portmanteau of Apple's "iPod" and "broadcasting". Podcasting does not require an iPod, however; any digital audio player or computer with the appropriate software can play podcasts.

Thousands download Curry's podcasts and his involvement has sparked early interest in the new technology. Scores of amateur podcasters are now producing their own shows from their homes. Satellite radio is taking notice and Curry has signed on to produce and host a four-hour program the will air each weekday starting May 13 on Sirius. Curry will incorporate amateur podcasts into his show.

As we embark on this media and technological transition, its comforting to have these great names from the past guiding us into our musical futures.