Viva Zwei
Viva Zwei (Viva Two) was a German music channel aired and distributed throughout Europe in Germany.The channel was launched March 21st 1995 as a second incarnation of the main channel VIVA in Germany.
Unlike VIVA,Viva Zwei was not as well known.Viva Zwei was devoted to music from lesser known bands that could use Viva Zwei to get their music heard.One of the first shows on Viva Zwei was Geschmackssache,a German TV show that fetured singers from around the world.The singer would talk about himself or herself and would show some of their favorite music videos to the viewers.The Viva Zwei logo at the time was a logo simular to the VIVA logo with a 2 (II) sign beside it.In mid 1996,the logo was changed to a logo simular of a plus sign with the word "ZWEI" beside it.
More programming started to come to the channel such as 2Rock,2Step,Fast Forward,Trendspotting,Wah²,and Zwobot.The channel started becomming a place lesser known bands got their music heared by the world,the channel,as well as airing lesser known band's music,aired music from bigger name stars such as Depeche Mode.By 2001,the channel became more popular,but it's main company,Time Warner,was losing money,even with it's popularity,Viva Zwei was not making enough money to stay on the air.So,in mid summer 2001,it was announced Viva Zwei would be shutting down.
On January 1st 2002,Viva Zwei prepared for the shutdown.Then,on January 7th 2002,Viva Zwei switched full time into Viva Plus,a channel dedicated to mainstream pop music.This was said to be a loss to the music world by fans of the old channel as well as music personalities,because this caued lesser known bands not to get their music heard.
Viva Plus was launched as a way to make money.The channel mostly aired music videos on the show called Get The Clip in alternative version such as Rock,HipHop,Party,Top List,and more.Programming from Viva Zwei was switched over to VIVA and Viva Plus.
Fast Forward,a German music talk show featuring Charlotte Roche as the host,aired on Viva Zwei from 1999-2001,it moved to VIVA in 2002,and lasted until January 2nd 2005.On Janaury 2nd,the farewell episode of Fast Forward aired without Charlotte Roche.It aired only music videos,and at the end brodcasted a message saying "Fast Forward Say Thank You" and ended showing it's usual closing sequence.
Overdrive came back on the channel Viva Plus.Overdrive ran on Viva Zwei from 1998-2002,it came back later in 2002 on Viva Plus,and it lasted there until 2007,when Viva Plus shut down.
As For 2Step and E-Beats,they were slated to have come back on Viva Plus,but the idea was cancelled later.
Viva Zwei ran on TV for 8 years in Europe,even though it was not well known to the music world,it was a big music channel to Europe and other countries,and also to it's fans.Viva Zwei clips can be found online on video websites.As for the main channel,VIVA,it still runs in Europe.
Programming From Viva Zwei (1995-2002):
- 2Dark
- 2New
- 2Rock
- 2Rock Charts
- 2Step
- 90's Backspin
- A. M.
- Airplay Charts
- Blue
- Connex
- Deep
- Downtown
- D-Tonal
- Electronic Beats
- F. M.
- Fast Forward
- Geschmackssache
- H.
- Jam
- Kamikaze
- LP Charts
- Massiv
- Minh-Khai & Friends
- Moon
- Move
- Neuigkeiten
- Noon
- Overdrive
- P. M.
- Pop
- Popp TV
- PVG
- Red
- Shockwave
- Sleepless
- Sneak Preview
- Soja
- Sunny Side Up
- Supreme
- The Flow
- Trendspotting
- Twelve
- UK Charts
- UK/US Charts
- US Charts
- Vinyl
- Vinyl-X-Tra
- Virus
- Wah²
- Zelluloid
- Zone 2
- Zwei
- Zwobot
Moderators Of Viva Zwei (1995-2002):
- Götz Bühler
- Rocco Clein
- Dirk Dresselhaus (alias Schneider TM)
- Katja Giglinger
- Simon Gosejohann
- Markus Kavka
- Ill-Young Kim
- Tanja Mairhofer
- Markus Meske
- Nils Neumann
- Minh-Khai Phan-Thi
- Charlotte Grace Roche
- Niels Ruf
- Falk "Hawkeye" Schacht
- Patrick Sommer
- Herbert
- Zwobot
Weblinks:
Tribite To Viva Zwei Website: