Bill Roedy

Well, I think it's on two levels, Simon, personal and then also business. Personal, because I had come from L.A. and the creative community, being with HBO, I encountered the AIDS pandemic very early in the 80s and, of course, knew many people that fell to the disease tragically. By the time I got to MTV, we...

And we didn't start this because they were already doing it in the U.S., but I realized that as we were guests of other countries, we had to do something that was good. Getting back to doing good is good for business. And by the way, the strategy very early with MTV Europe, I tried to simplify it. Access to all homes, be in every household, creative, aggressive, relentless distribution.

And we didn't start this because they were already doing it in the U.S., but I realized that as we were guests of other countries, we had to do something that was good. Getting back to doing good is good for business. And by the way, the strategy very early with MTV Europe, I tried to simplify it. Access to all homes, be in every household, creative, aggressive, relentless distribution.

And we didn't start this because they were already doing it in the U.S., but I realized that as we were guests of other countries, we had to do something that was good. Getting back to doing good is good for business. And by the way, the strategy very early with MTV Europe, I tried to simplify it. Access to all homes, be in every household, creative, aggressive, relentless distribution.

Number two, as we've talked earlier, respect and reflect local culture. And number three, fully one third of the legs supporting the stool was doing something good. So we did a whole host of campaigns. We did voting in countries that never had democratic voting before, like, for example, Russia. We'd engage in voting campaigns. They were called Rock the Vote, Choose or Lose.

Number two, as we've talked earlier, respect and reflect local culture. And number three, fully one third of the legs supporting the stool was doing something good. So we did a whole host of campaigns. We did voting in countries that never had democratic voting before, like, for example, Russia. We'd engage in voting campaigns. They were called Rock the Vote, Choose or Lose.

Number two, as we've talked earlier, respect and reflect local culture. And number three, fully one third of the legs supporting the stool was doing something good. So we did a whole host of campaigns. We did voting in countries that never had democratic voting before, like, for example, Russia. We'd engage in voting campaigns. They were called Rock the Vote, Choose or Lose.

The concept of doing something beyond our, oh, I don't know, mainstream of programming wasn't totally new because every location had a different priority. But I wanted to get one. that unified the entire audience around the world. And we did lots of research and it turned out to be HIV AIDS. And in the 90s, the pandemic just got out of control, unfortunately. 98 was probably the peak.

The concept of doing something beyond our, oh, I don't know, mainstream of programming wasn't totally new because every location had a different priority. But I wanted to get one. that unified the entire audience around the world. And we did lots of research and it turned out to be HIV AIDS. And in the 90s, the pandemic just got out of control, unfortunately. 98 was probably the peak.

The concept of doing something beyond our, oh, I don't know, mainstream of programming wasn't totally new because every location had a different priority. But I wanted to get one. that unified the entire audience around the world. And we did lots of research and it turned out to be HIV AIDS. And in the 90s, the pandemic just got out of control, unfortunately. 98 was probably the peak.

So from a business point of view, it made perfect sense. And I connected it with my personal experience, again, in LA and in the US. And why did it make perfect sense? Well, because it was such a big concern of our audience. Why was that? Because it was the same demographic. 18 to 25 was the hardest hit demo for the AIDS pandemic. And likewise, it was our core audience for MTV.

So from a business point of view, it made perfect sense. And I connected it with my personal experience, again, in LA and in the US. And why did it make perfect sense? Well, because it was such a big concern of our audience. Why was that? Because it was the same demographic. 18 to 25 was the hardest hit demo for the AIDS pandemic. And likewise, it was our core audience for MTV.

So from a business point of view, it made perfect sense. And I connected it with my personal experience, again, in LA and in the US. And why did it make perfect sense? Well, because it was such a big concern of our audience. Why was that? Because it was the same demographic. 18 to 25 was the hardest hit demo for the AIDS pandemic. And likewise, it was our core audience for MTV.

So we did everything. It didn't happen overnight, but we grew it into this multimedia campaign that turned out to be the largest in history, really. And we had 30 second PSAs all the way to 90 minute documentaries. And it just grew and grew and grew. I established a relationship with one of my many mentors, Peter Piot, at the United Nations, who was head of UNAIDS. He made me the ambassador.

So we did everything. It didn't happen overnight, but we grew it into this multimedia campaign that turned out to be the largest in history, really. And we had 30 second PSAs all the way to 90 minute documentaries. And it just grew and grew and grew. I established a relationship with one of my many mentors, Peter Piot, at the United Nations, who was head of UNAIDS. He made me the ambassador.

So we did everything. It didn't happen overnight, but we grew it into this multimedia campaign that turned out to be the largest in history, really. And we had 30 second PSAs all the way to 90 minute documentaries. And it just grew and grew and grew. I established a relationship with one of my many mentors, Peter Piot, at the United Nations, who was head of UNAIDS. He made me the ambassador.

It wasn't me. It was me delivering the channels around the world. He made the wonderful comment that MTV can save more lives than doctors, not to be dismissive of doctors, of course, but just because of our scale. And our distribution and our trust and our brand and our straightforward talking to our audience could make an impact.

It wasn't me. It was me delivering the channels around the world. He made the wonderful comment that MTV can save more lives than doctors, not to be dismissive of doctors, of course, but just because of our scale. And our distribution and our trust and our brand and our straightforward talking to our audience could make an impact.

It wasn't me. It was me delivering the channels around the world. He made the wonderful comment that MTV can save more lives than doctors, not to be dismissive of doctors, of course, but just because of our scale. And our distribution and our trust and our brand and our straightforward talking to our audience could make an impact.

And it became, as you mentioned, a gateway to my career following media, which was global health.