The “biggest night in music” still seems of little interest to young music fans.

Despite the fact that the Grammys serves as a pinnacle achievement for musical artists, the awards show itself doesn’t register as must-see TV for the younger generation.

“I don’t personally know many young listeners that watch it,” says Gregg Lynn, program director and on-air talent for KJO 105.5 in St. Joseph.

But it isn’t for lack of trying. This year’s nominees in key categories included many of today’s most popular artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas with performances by Pink, Lil Wayne, Green Day and Lady Antebellum and a 3D Tribute to Michael Jackson featuring popular singers Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson.

The award show also targeted youth directly with more online interaction on their Web site www.grammy.com, where visitors could use sites like YouTube, Flickr and Twitter to upload messages, images and videos supporting their favorite nominees.

Yet, through all of these steps, it didn’t strike up enough interest to get younger people, like Ryan Johnson, a 17-year-old junior at East Buchanan High School in Gower, Mo., to want to watch the show.

“There’s nothing exciting to me. Somebody wins. People are going to talk about it,” Mr. Johnson says.

Garrett Everett, 17, from Gower says he had considered watching the show, but ultimately didn’t think it’s meant for him.

“I think they do it for people in their 30s and older,” he says.

Ironically, the very technology that the Grammys used to reach out to young music fans may be hurting their viewership. With the Web providing instant access, many say they would rather find out what happened the next day by hopping on the Internet.

“Why sit through it for three hours when you can get online, read the winners and watch it on YouTube?” Mr. Lynn says.

The instant gratification of online access seems to be the route that Bobbie Sue Lawrie, a 16-year-old junior at Lafayette High School would rather take.

“Commercials, that definitely interferes and I don’t think anybody likes commercials,” Ms. Lawrie says.

While the young people we talked to say they didn’t watch the Grammys, they did admit to checking out other music awards shows like the MTV Video Music Awards or the CMAs (Country Music Awards). They say those shows put more emphasis on performances by artists they listen to and have more of a knack for producing a scandalous moment.

Tina Phillips, manager at Record Wear House, says doing something to create a little buzz might increase Grammy viewership with the younger crowd.

“They need to come up with something that’s a controversy so that they can get all the other media to talk about it,” Ms. Phillips says. “It doesn’t mean it has to be anything bad. It just has to be something to get the chatter going.”

Lifestyles reporter Blake Hannon can be reached at blakehannon@npgco.com