The Age of Television is Launched!

RCA introduces television to the public

TweetShareShare In the course of human history, there are few technologies that significantly reimagine everything and move culture forward exponentially. Fire. Gunpowder. The Printing Press. The Internet. And television. The world before television–the projection of visuals into the private home–reimagined how we lived. It proved, in the end, more than just an entertainment evolution. In…

Read More

The First Family of Radio

TweetShareShare You’ve probably heard of the radio shows “The Shadow,” “Abbott and Costello,” “Amos ‘n Andy” or “Ozzy and Harriet,” but what about One Man’s Family? This popular American radio soap opera broadcasted from 1932 to 1959. Developed by Carlton E. Morse, One Man’s Family was the longest-running uninterrupted dramatic serial in the history of…

Read More

The Mouse Hits the Big 4-0!

TweetShareShare On April 27, 1981, I was a senior in high school. In six weeks I would graduate and leave home for good. At the time I was typing my papers on an electric typewriter. In graduate school I bought my first desktop computer and learned the misery of early MS-DOS computing. In the mid-1990s…

Read More

Boomers The First To Get the Point on Polio!

Jonas Salk and Polio Vaccine

TweetShareShare Polio was a feared disease in the early and mid-1900s. The crippling disease had disabled Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. But, even more so, polio was epidemic among children (who saw the lion share of the cases). In 1952 there were 58,000 new cases of poliomyelitis (with 3000 deaths). The worst part was…

Read More

New Coke Is Introduced

New Coke Debuted

TweetShareShare It was either the worst move in soda history or a brilliant marketing ploy. But on this day 35 years ago, Coca-Cola announced they were changing the formula for its historic drink. The move made sense as a new “Pepsi Generation” was slowly eating into profits (helped by clever, targeted advertisements to younger generations).…

Read More

Barbara Walters Joins ABC News

Barbara Walters Joins ABC News

TweetShareShare In the mid-1970s, television news was largely a man’s sport. And then Barbara Walters joined the ABC News anchor desk with Harry Reasoner to shatter the glass ceiling. The women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s–including the Equal Rights Amendment for women in America–was reimagining the workplace. Barbara Walters was a…

Read More

Geraldo’s Vault Comes Up Empty

TweetShareShare America tuned in, by the millions, for this true “reality television” moment. It was unscripted made-for-ratings television. Geraldo Rivera had made a name for himself as a no-nonsense commentator on American culture and politics for ABC News. He had his own talk show that drew modestly good ratings. On this date, Rivera’s image was…

Read More

Columbine Shootings Begin New Era

The Columbine Mass Shooting

TweetShareShare Today is a day that will live in infamy for the Personal Computer/Cellphone (b. 1980 – 2000) and Net (b. 1990 – 2010) generations. Also commonly known as “Millennials,” the tragic school shooting in Columbine was the beginning of several that would tattoo these generations. From a kindergarten in Sandy Hook to a high…

Read More

The American Revolution Begins!

TweetShareShare Today was the day that America had enough. A single shot set off a revolution that changed thirteen colonies into thirteen “united states of America.” It also changed the world. In a year dozens of founding fathers would gather to formally declare independence from Great Britain (July 4, 1776). The American story was just…

Read More

Baseball’s First Pitch!

TweetShareShare Although connected to British games like “rounders” and cricket, American baseball was a novelty. A boys game that men played on a “field” in the cities. It’s a game without a clock. A game of “threes” and “three squared” (bases, outs, innings, players). It’s the only game where the defense controls the ball. It’s…

Read More