prior to launch day, vice ran newspaper ads for viceland, containing only the network's name and a phone number that, when called, invited viewers to contribute answers to questions. pre-launch programming for viceland began on february 29, 2016 at 5:00 a.m. et in canada (with "bar talk", a one-hour special hosted by vice canada's head of content patrick mcguire), and on the same day at 6:00 a.m. et in the united states, broadcasting a countdown clock to the official launch later in the evening, accompanied by footage of vice executives answering the viewer-contributed calls as voice mail. the first program following the countdown was the series premiere of "noisey", following hip-hop musician kendrick lamar.