MTV News Is Shutting Down After 36 Years

It’s the end of an MTV era. The network’s MTV News division has shut down 36 years after its inception, according to multiple outlets.

The closure comes after the channel’s parent company “made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25 percent,” said Chris McCarthy, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president, in a staff memo obtained by Variety.

“This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group,” the memo reportedly read. “Through the elimination of some units and by streamlining others, we will be able to reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward.”

MTV News was first launched in 1987 with The Week in Rock, a news program hosted by Kurt Loder. The show was later renamed to MTV News, with the likes of SuChin Pak, Gideon Yago and Meredith Graves serving as correspondents covering music and pop culture over the years.

Amid MTV News’ shutdown, many pop culture enthusiasts took to social media to share their favorite memories. “If you lived in the era of Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren @ MTV News, you have lived,” one fan tweeted. “So many huge moments in pop culture: Kurt Cobain, Biggie, and 2Pac passings, Courtney Love crashing Madonna’s interview, etc.”

“I’m not exaggerating when I say that MTV News was my primary news source in my formative years,” a second Twitter user wrote, while a third added, “For millennials and Gen X folks, Kurt Loder was basically our Walter Cronkite.”