Yesterday the New York Daily News printed something I’ve often wondered myself: what ever happened to the MTV VJs.

When MTV came on the air in 1981, my family was the first in the neighborhood to get the 24-hour-a-day music channel. Having four older brothers, my parents caved early and our obsession began.

The original MTV VJs were practically family to me since I watched them daily and they were part of my youth. Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn and J.J. Jackson had to have the coolest jobs in the world and I wanted to be them.

The job description of an MTV VJ then and now varies greatly. For instance, an MTV VJs primary responsibility in the 80’s was to introduce music videos. Eventually they branched out and began hosting programs and reporting the news, but the music channel’s talking heads have entertained and informed for nearly three decades. See where your favorites ended up.

THEN: An Albany native, Martha Quinn was hired as one of MTV’s original VJs despite her limited experience (a few television commercials). However, Quinn gained fame quickly, and Rolling Stone magazine would later name her ‘MTV’s Best-Ever VJ.’

NOW: Quinn married musician Jordan Tarlow in 1993. They have two children and live in Malibu.

THEN: Kurt Loder, a journalist who worked for Rolling Stone in the early and mid-’80s, joined MTV in 1987 as an anchor on ‘The Week in Rock,’ which eventually became ‘MTV News.’ Over the years, the show expanded from music and entertainment reporting to include political coverage and other timely issues important to its audience.

NOW: Loder still hosts ‘MTV News’ and is the channel’s most enduring and well-known face.

THEN: Adam Curry joined MTV as a VJ in 1987, after hosting music programs in the Netherlands, where he was raised. On MTV he hosted the heavy metal show ‘Headbangers Ball’ as well as ‘Top 20 Countdown.’ Curry also registered the MTV.com domain in the early Internet days of 1993 and developed it himself; MTV later sued him for rights to the domain name, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement.

NOW: Curry became an Internet entrepreneur and has been instrumental in popularizing and promoting podcasting. He is the co-founder of the pocast network Mevio. He’s also continued to host radio and TV shows in Europe.
THEN: Comedian Colin Quinn got his first big break as the co-host of MTV’s trivia show ‘Remote Control’, from 1987-1989. The MTV-style game show featured contestants seated in recliners, questions in the form of skits, and appearances from other up-and-coming comedians like Adam Sandler.

NOW: Quinn is best known for his years on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ during which he served as the host of the show’s ‘Weekend Update’ segment. He’s also hosted ‘Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn’ on Comedy Central.

THEN: Kari Wuhrer appeared on ‘Remote Control’ in 1987, when she was just 20 years old.

NOW: Wuhrer moved on to TV and movies, receiving one of her biggest breaks playing Capt. Maggie Beckett on the show ‘Sliders’ from 1997-2000. She recently appeared on the ABC Family series ‘Lincoln Heights.’

THEN: Like Adam Curry, Downtown Julie Brown – who hails from Britain – got her start as a host on the European music channel Music Box. After arriving on MTV in 1988, she hosted the dance music program ‘Club MTV’, and was also a correspondent for ‘MTV News.’

NOW: Post-MTV, Brown has been a correspondent on ESPN and a host on E! Entertainment Television. She also appeared on the British version of ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!’

THEN: Flame-haired comedian Julie Brown – not to be confused with Downtown Julie Brown – was the host of the ‘Just Say Julie’ show from 1989-1992, in which she adopted a Valley girl persona and poked fun at stars like Madonna, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Brown also starred in movies like ‘Earth Girls are Easy.’

NOW: You can spot Brown as a commentator the E! network, where she’s offered her insight on specials like ‘50 Most Outrageous TV Moments.’ She also co-wrote and appeared in the Disney Channel movie ‘Camp Rock’ in 2008.

THEN: Ed Lover (top l.; bottom l.) and Doctor Dre (top r.; bottom r.) were the hosts of the music channel’s groundbreaking hip-hop show, ‘Yo! MTV Raps’, beginning in 1988.

NOW: Dre, who’s now a radio personality, took part in the ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ 20th anniversary roundtable in 2008. Lover is also a radio host, currently on New York’s Hip-Hop Radio Power 105.1 FM.

THEN: Fab 5 Freddy (real name Fred Brathwaite) hosted the weekend version of ‘Yo! MTV Raps.’ The former graffiti artist was also instrumental in the early days of New York’s hip-hop scene, hosting parties and forging collaborations with downtown artists and musicians including Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Afrika Bambaataa.

NOW: Freddy is a respected hip-hop historian who’s also had some movie appearances, including 2007’s ‘American Gangster’ with Denzel Washington, and as a wedding guest in 2008’s ‘Rachel Getting Married.’

THEN: Pauly Shore was an MTV host from 1989-1994, introducing videos and joining in the fun on MTV’s Spring Break shows. He also had his own show, ‘Totally Pauly,’ which made his particular brand of Valley dude-speak a pop culture phenomenon.

NOW: Shore has left a legacy of some of the worst, yet cultishly beloved, movies of the ’90s, including ‘Encino Man,’ ‘Son In Law’ and ‘Bio-Dome.’ He staged a minor comeback in 2003 with the mockumentary ‘Pauly Shore Is Dead,’ in which he fakes his own death to revive his lagging career.

THEN: Once a college football player, Dan Cortese became the host of ‘MTV Sports’ in 1992. At the beginning of the ’90s extreme sports craze, the show provided a look at skateboarders, snowboarders and other athletes from around the country.

NOW: Cortese went on to acting gigs on TV shows like ‘Melrose Place,’ ‘Veronica’s Closet’, ‘Seinfeld’ (in which he played Elaine’s boyfriend, dubbed ‘the mimbo’) and ‘What I Like About You.’

THEN: Daisy Fuentes, MTV’s first Latina VJ, joined the network in 1993 after serving as a host on the Spanish-language music show ‘MYV Internacional.’ She was a host of the fashion and modeling series ‘MTV’s House of Style,’ among other correspondent gigs. Spokesmodeling contracts, TV roles and even her own CNBC talk show, ‘Daisy,’ soon followed.

NOW: Fuentes still models for companies like Revlon and Pantene, and has her own clothing line at Kohls. Her workout game for the Nintendo Wii, Daisy Fuentes Pilates, was released this year.

THEN: Karen Duffy – aka Duff – was a model before she joined MTV in the early ’90s. Though she was one of the network’s most popular faces, her career slowed down when she was diagnosed with the chronic inflammatory disease sarcoidosis in 1995.

NOW: Duff wrote a humorous autobiography about her illness, ‘Model Patient: My Life as an Incurable Wise Ass,’ in 2000. She hosted TLC’s parenting show ‘House of Tiny Terrors’ in 2006.

THEN: Bill Bellamy continued the tradition of comedians as MTV hosts, introducing videos on ‘MTV Jamz’ and ‘MTV Beach House’ in the mid-’90s. As a funnyman, Bellamy got his start on Russell Simmons’ ‘Def Comedy Jam,’ and is credited with coining the phrase ‘booty call.’

NOW: Bellamy broke into films, appearing in ‘Love Jones’ and ‘Any Given Sunday’ among others. He had a guest stint on the short-lived TV show ‘October Road’ in the 2007-2008 season.

THEN: On the 1998 show ‘Wanna Be a VJ,’ 18-year-old Jesse Camp beat out 4,000 contestants to win a ‘TRL’ hosting gig (thanks to some help from an Internet hacker, who stacked the decks by casting thousands of votes). Though he built up some mystique by claiming to be a homeless street kid, that story was later disproved.

NOW: Camp fell off the map after the debut album from his band, Jesse Camp & the 8th Street Kidz, flopped. He made a rare appearance for the final episode of ‘TRL’, ‘Total Finale Live’, in November 2008.

*My sister Patty tried out for MTV’s ‘Wanna Be a VJ’ and lost to Jesse Camp. I still hate him for that.