One of them is with various music shows that air on television including Inkigayo that has been airing on SBS since December 1991 until now. There is so much progress about the show and concept that has changed to suit the times. There are also so many MCs that contributed to this show throughout time starting from celebrities, actors, actresses, and K-pop idols that have recently appeared as MCs on SBS’ Inkigayo. Without waiting any longer, let’s find out more about these popular Inkigayo MCs from 1991 until 2021!
SBS’ Popular Song (1991-1993)
SBS’ Inkigayo initially did not start their program with the current show name that many people are familiar with. This show began as a music chart show and started its program with the title SBS Popular Song from 1991 until 1993. Let’s find out more about the SBS Popular Song MCs in the session below!
Seo Sae-won, Bae Chul-su, and Kim Hee-sun
SBS’ Inkigayo started its very first episode as a show named SBS Popular Song that was a chart show that was aired in 1991. In this era, SBS’ Inkigayo had Seo Sae-won as the MC hosting the show from December 15, 1991, to December 29, 1992. After being replaced with TV Gayo 20 in 1993, the show was canceled for a few years and returned again in 1998 with a new concept. Before being replaced, there were other MCs who led the show, Bae Chul-soo and Kim Hee-sun. Bae Chul-soo who had a bubbly atmosphere and Kim Hee-seon who had a refreshing image as teenagers both joined as double MCs and attracted the attention of viewers with their changed appearances. Bae Cheol-soo revealed that Kim Hee-sun and himself were MCs for SBS’ Inkigayo in the past, stating “I was the MC of SBS’ Inkigayo, and I was there during Kim Hee-sun’s debut.” Bae Cheol-soo recalled the time, saying, “I saw Seo Sae-won in front of me, but I wanted to change to a decent person, so I did it. At that time, Kim Hee-sun was still in high school.” He continued, “When I saw Kim Hee-sun, I thought it was the chairman’s nephew at first. She was pretty, but she stayed quiet at that time.”
SBS’ Popular Song (1998-2007)
After returning with a whole new concept, SBS’ Inkigayo changed from a recorded broadcast in 2007 to a live broadcast where the singers and groups could perform on stage. It meant that the show gave more effort to boost ratings for every singer and group that made a comeback or debut. During this era, the system also changed to Take 7 where there were the 7 most popular artists of the week, and the most popular artist would receive the award for Mutizen Song. Let’s see some of the legendary MCs who hosted the show from 1998 until 2007 in the session below!
Ahn Jae-mo and Kim Min-hee
From April 23 until December 31, 2000, SBS’ Popular Song has its new MCs which were Ahn Jae-mo and Kim Min-hee. These two MCs worked together for 8 months on SBS’ Popular Song. Above all, it was quite fun to see the young days of the singers who became legends. Among them, Kim Min-hee’s performance particularly attracted attention in the MC world. Kim Min-hee stole attention with a lively MC tone that was quite different from her current image. Actually, she has a quiet image with an innocent appearance in person, but at the time, she was active as a star full of personality with a refreshing appearance, perfect body, and rebellious feelings. In particular, after the announcement of her relationship with director Hong Sang-soo, Kim Min-hee’s lively and energetic appearance, which had become difficult to meet in public, attracted the public’s attention during her career journey while becoming an MC on SBS’ Inkigayo. Netizens who saw the news enthusiastically replied with various comments such as “It’s tension in the other world,” “Ahn Jae-mo being her partner MC together, it’s hard,” “Kim Min-hee, Ahn Jae-mo’s tension while making a comment.” Ahn Jae-mo recalled his days as a music broadcast MC while appearing as a guest on MBC FM4U’s Noon Song of Hope which was broadcasted on September 4, 2019. Ahn Jae-mo said, “At that time, I was an MC for a music show for about 1 year and 6 months. I’m in the 7th season of SBS’ Inkigayo.”
Kangta and Yu-min
3 years later, there’s another iconic MC who appeared on SBS’ Popular Song. One of the rising K-pop idols, Kangta, made an appearance with Japanese-Korean actress Yuko Fueki who was also known as Yu-min. At that, time, Yu-min couldn’t speak Korean really well, but Kangta had great chemistry as her partner so she could handle the language barrier really well. Kangta and Yu-min worked as MCs for SBS’ Inkigayo from February 9 until August 24, 2003, for 6 months. In a short interview, Yu-min revealed her crush on singer Kangta in public. She did not hide her good feelings, saying, “Kangta is a very friendly person,” in an interview at the Lotte Hotel on Jeju Island. Yu-min, who met Kangta once a week while working on SBS’ Popular Song, praised him, saying, “I have a lot to learn from him who has a strong professional spirit. It’s good to be considerate of others without being burdensome. It’s only been three weeks since we’ve been on Inkigayo together, so I can’t say that we know each other well, but we feel good together.”
Andy and Ku Hye-sun
On March 20, 2006, an official from Ku Hye-sun’s agency, YG Entertainment, said, “Koo Hye-sun will be hosting SBS’ Inkigayo with Andy of Shinhwa from April 23.” Actress Ku Hye-sun replaced Han Hyo-joo as the new female MC for SBS’ live broadcast Inkigayo and worked from November 20, 2005, until April 16, 2006, before finally going off the air on April 19, 2006, to focus on acting. Producer Baek Seung-il of SBS’ Inkigayo said, “Until Goo Hye-sun starts broadcasting, some celebrities who are close to Inkigayo will be the daily MCs.” SBS’ Inkigayo, broadcasted an episode on February 4, 2007, with the MCs Andy and Ku Hye-sun sharing their regrets about leaving the show, saying, “During the process, I’ve seen a lot of great singers and performances.” Andy worked with Park Hye-won, Han Hyo-joo, and Ku Hye-sun as the MCs of SBS’ Inkigayo for one year and seven months since June 2005. Ku Hye-sun showed off her hosting skills by working with Andy since April of 2006.
