MTV news anchor and VJ Kurt Loder spoke to HPU students on topics ranging from 9/11 to his opinions on Eminem at a question and answer forum on Oct. 10 at the Hawai‘i Loa campus.

In an effort to have an organized discussion, ASHPU members passed out note cards and pens so students could write down their questions. Dr. John Hart, assistant dean of Communication who was integral in getting Loder to speak at HPU, reviewed the questions and selected ones to ask Loder.

Hart told the audience that Loder’s career didn’t begin with MTV. “Kurt Loder is not famous because he’s on MTV. He’s on MTV because he’s famous,” Hart said. Loder worked as senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and wrote the biography of Tina Turner I, Tina before being asked to join MTV.

Loder explained his jobs were gotten out of “luck,” and working with MTV had not been a goal. Loder, an Ocean City, New Jersey native, never graduated from college. While serving in the army and stationed in Europe, he took a two-month-long journalism course and worked for a European newspaper. After the army, he moved to a heavy metal magazine called Circus, and that led to Rolling Stone.

When asked how he obtained what is considered the coolest job ever, Loder said, “Somebody called me up and asked me if I wanted to be on TV, and I said yes. I knew nothing about television. There is a lot more money in TV than print.”

Loder still occasionally contributes to Rolling Stone, and is the longest running VJ in MTV’s history, at 14 years. When asked what he does to secure his job at MTV, he replied, “You can always be replaced. No one is indispensable.” He admitted that of all the VJs he has seen