The man who’s molding Logo, the new network for gays and lesbians, grew up in rural Illinois, attended Oral Roberts University and counted that cheesy keyboard solo on “Freeze Frame” as his big moment during gigs with his college band the Ozones.

At first glance, Brian Graden hardly seems too hip for the room.

But the 42-year-old Graden is one of television’s busiest and most imaginative executives, already responsible for the programming on MTV, VH1 and CMT – and now Logo, which debuts today.

Long in the works, Logo will initially be seen in about 10 million homes with digital cable. Unlike Here and Q, two pay-per-view, gay-oriented networks already operating, Logo will be available in homes that do not specifically order it.

Films such as “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Philadelphia” and documentaries will fill many of Logo’s first hours. The network also has a scripted series, “Noah’s Arc,” about a homosexual black man and his friends in Los Angeles, a reality series about opening a gay bar and the stand-up comedy series “Wisecrack.”

A gay man himself, Graden had hoped to help out with Logo even before he was appointed its president.

Graden’s job requires a comfort with Wall Street and Hollywood, two sides of his personality presaged by his educational choices. He went to Oral Roberts with fellow band members in an ill-fated attempt to keep the Ozones alive, then later earned an MBA from Harvard University.

Brian Graden, president of MTV Programming, addresses a meeting of the Television Critics Assn. in Los Angeles. Graden is the executive behind MTV's new Logo network for gays and lesbians.

Seeking an internship one summer, he wore his best suit to an interview with colorful TV executive Stephen Chao. Chao said he’d hire Graden as long as he never wore a tie again, and spent the interview quizzing the young man on what he watched on TV, the music he listened to, the movies he saw.

“I came to understand that that’s the essence of what you’re hiring, the essence of what matters,” he said.

Graden now appoints teams at MTV Networks that are immersed in the lifestyles of the audiences they are trying to reach.

He moved to MTV in 1997, and was the executive behind a dizzying array of hits, including “The Osbournes,” “Pimp My Ride,” “Jackass,” and “The Newlyweds.” Graden has managed not only to stay on top of MTV’s here-today, gone-tomorrow ethos but expand his authority so that he has put between 200 and 300 programs on the air.

“It’s one of those things that’s increasingly gratifying, to see an executive who truly approaches television from a creative point of view without ignoring the business of all of it,” said television producer Michael Davies, whose credits include “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

It would be unusual to get country music fans, rappers and fans of Britney Spears or old Jackson Browne videos to agree on much of anything, yet Graden is the man overseeing the mix of networks that appeal to each one.

Logo may be his biggest challenge yet.

“I don’t envy his position,” said Paul Colichman, founder of Here, which offers primarily edgy material oriented to gays and lesbians in about 45 million homes.

Graden said his job is to serve the target gay and lesbian audience and not worry about cultural critics who may look over his shoulder.

Potential viewers have told Logo that it’s important to reflect their community’s diversity, he said. So there will be documentaries telling what it’s like, for instance, to be a 22-year-old Latino homosexual or a lesbian couple that has been together for decades.