AN APRIL HEATWAVE HITS VH1

Among the month’s lineup of weekend specials are a star-studded Save the Music benefit concert (which will be telecast on 4/17) and new episodes of the Storytellers series featuring Green Day performing American Idiot (which had its debut on 4/2) and Bruce Springsteen in a solo setting (coming 4/23). On the movie front, VH1 will host the television premiere (including pay cable) of the acclaimed documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster on 4/17.

“It’s not like music’s gone away, but with the success of the reality shows and the ‘celeb-reality’ shows like The Surreal Life and Celebrity Fit Club, it was time to remind people that music is still an important part of what we do,” says EVP Music and Talent Rick Krim, speaking from a small theater in Red Bank, NJ, where the Springsteen special is taking place. Krim’s first concert experience was Bruce’s Born to Run tour in ’75, so he’s totally psyched.

“It so happens in April it all came together with a lot of big events, starting with bringing back Storytellers after a couple of years, which is huge for us, and to come back with Green Day and Springsteen is as good as you can get.

“We’ve decided not to continue with the Divas franchise this year and instead do a straight concert for Save the Music, which allows us to have a broader show,” Krim continues. We have a really diverse lineup, with Alicia Keys, Donna Summer, Mariah Carey, Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart, Joss Stone, John Legend and Josh Groban. Bringing it back to New York was big—in fact, this week is Save the Music Week in New York, with events going on every day.”

There are musical goodies every weeknight as well, including primetime video world premieres on Mondays from the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Keane and the Dave Matthews Band. These will air at 8 p.m.

“With all that, plus the premiere of the Metallica movie, the video world premieres every Monday night and the new long-form shows, there’s just so much great stuff that’s all come together at one time,” Krim enthuses. “We made a conscious effort to have a big event every weekend for the month of April and make a big splash with it, but the music focus will continue—it’s not just one month.”

The music-programming explosion comes at a time when VH1 has established itself as a significant vehicle for building consumer awareness of new artists. The network is proud of the job it has done with Maroon 5, Joss Stone and John Legend. This is one cable operation that knows its audience and consistently connects with it.

“Our core,” says Krim, “is 25-34, with the bull’s-eye like 28-30. We’ve come a long way from where the old VH1 was, musically speaking—the image back then being more AC. We’re now extremely contemporary musically, and we seem to have hit a real nerve combining music and pop culture. We deliver both—we deliver the celebrities and the reality situations, but also the biggest stars in music, in ways that no one else is.”