Some people just seem to have talent oozing out of their ears, and Yevgen Stupka, General Director with the all new MTV Ukraine, is one of them. Starting out as a musician, he moved on to producing and promoting Ukrainian bands, and his total addiction to music landed him one of the best jobs in the Ukrainian pop world.

Now Yevgen Stupka is sitting at the top of the tree, but his start in music wasn't so easy. After graduating from Glier Music School in Kyiv he hoped to carry on his studies at the Culture and Art Institute (now Poplavsky University) but was refused a place. However, a few days later he was invited to study music technology at the world famous Berklee School of Music in Boston. "Every musician wants to hitch their wagon to a star, and that's exactly how I felt getting accepted to the school in Boston," Stupka explains. During his studies he won the coveted Best Student award and completed the four year course in only two. By this time he was already an accomplished producer and it was a simple decision for him to continue his work back in Ukraine. "It was a feeling of patriotism and my love for Ukraine that brought me back. I had the idea that I was going to do something different here - break all the stereotypes and take a different approach to music," he explains. On arriving back in Kyiv he immediately started putting his dream into practice setting up the Stolytsia Recording Studios where he planned to make the best music in the country. "I wanted to create a studio where musicians were free to create the sort of music they were passionate about," says Yevgen.
As a very successful producer of many of the country's top acts, he felt he'd reached a plateau and it was time to try his hand at something new. It was then he saw a recruitment advertisement in a popular Kyiv newspaper for the General Director of MTV Ukraine. "At first I thought it was some kind of joke, but decided to give it a go. After five rounds of interviews I was given the job," he says. This was only 6 months ago and already the channel is broadcasting and the crew is completely involved in the process. The idea of the new channel is to promote Ukrainian music, find new talent and provide the viewing public with quality entertainment. Yevgen is sure the channel will be a hit saying: "We don't want to show just glamourous videos. The idea is to show people they can control their lives. Our country has never had a channel like this before." In order to attract a young audience the channel is recruiting a number of celebrities such as author Irena Karpa who is going to present the news. Stupka had been aware of the fiery writer for sometime and he came to the conclusion that the most important programme on the channel should be hosted by someone with her sort of wit and style.
Stupka has many plans for the channel but the idea is to keep the channel fluid and adaptable while reflecting the ideas of MTV world and acquainting Ukrainians with world music. "We want to show quality pop music, but the programmes will vary in style and content. Without adapting to country specifics we wouldn't be able to survive and so we will make the channel full of personality," Stupka says. Reality TV shows are very popular in the MTV World, and Stupka thinks the Ukrainian version will benefit from such shows. Looking to the future, Stupka intends to expand the MTV coverage here in Ukraine. "I think this is not a problem for us. The audience is looking for something new, and we hope to provide them with that. We are going to provide the Ukrainian public with interesting material and there will always be surprises. The main idea we want to promote is your are free to think and do with your life whatever you want, and Ukrainians will get the message soon!"

Anastasiya Skorina