Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Simply '70s: The tornado of '75


Thirty-six years ago this month, it was Omaha's turn to be devastated by a major tornado.

It wasn't a good year. What became known hereabouts as "the tornado of '75" followed by four months (almost to the day) what became known hereabouts as "the blizzard of '75."

Both extreme-weather events became Omaha touchstones for "just about as bad as it gets around here."


ABOVE is a 1985 TV report on the 10th anniversary of the great storm -- the F-4 twister, not the paralyzing blizzard. We'll call that the "short version" of what befell Omaha on May 6, 1975.


THIS IS what we'll refer to as the "long version" of Omaha's tornado horror story, produced back in the day by the City of Omaha.



IF YOU really got into those 16-millimeter Encyclopedia Britannica educational films in grade school and junior high, you'll love this. Lots of useful information, but it's kind of like a filmstrip, only without the "Booong!"



Monday, March 14, 2011

Simply '70s: News for the hard of hearing


In October 1973, Broadcasting magazine reported on how Boston's public-television station would begin captioning the nightly network news for the hard of hearing.

This lasted a while, but a couple of years later NBC came up with a better method of making TV news accessible for those with hearing difficulties.


The new technique certainly beat slaving over a hot Vidifont keyboard for hours and hours every night, and it offered the possibility of real-time translation -- as opposed to every newscast being delayed for hours while being captioned.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Simply '70s: Life is a rock . . .


. . . but the radio rolled me.



Gotta turn it up louder, so my DJ told me . . .



Life is a rock but the radio rolled me . . .



At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie . . .


Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me. . . .

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Simply '70s: Cult of the spectacular crash


This spectacular wreck at the 1975 Indianapolis 500 explains a) why people watch auto racing, and b) why Charlie Sheen got a million Twitter followers in one day.

Any questions?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Simply '70s: (Sp)AM America


Before ABC had Good Morning America to wake up its segment of the television audience, it had a little something called AM America.

And on this April 25 back in 1975, Saigon had been surrounded by the North Vietnamese army . . . and Stephanie Edwards wasn't faring too much better amid a Monty Python offensive in the ABC studios in New York.

The boys were plugging their new film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail as, no doubt, the American breakfast-time audience consumed "ham and jam and Spam a lot."

Monday, January 17, 2011

Truth > fiction? Almost always.

One of these clips is not like the others . . .
One of these clips just doesn't belong,


Can you tell which clip is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which clip was not like the others?
Did you guess which clip just doesn't belong?


If you guessed this clip is not like the others,
That's it's not from A Mighty Wind,

If you guessed Bill Daily was taping a pilot,
Lincoln . . . '75 . . . KOLN,

Then you're absolutely . . . right!

With profound apologies to Sesame Street

Friday, January 14, 2011

Simply '70s: Two shows are Beta than one


It's like . . . a time machine!

Watch what you want when you want to watch it!

It's magic, I tell you! Like Star Trek or something, this Betamax machine is. The wonders of modern electronics never cease to amaze in 1975.

What will they think of next?
And it only costs $2,295!

Now if I only
had $2,295.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Simply '70s: The sounds of '75


Nineteen seventy-five.

That was the year the final results were tallied . . . and we didn't Whip Inflation Now. This despite getting nifty little orange-and-white buttons at the supermarket the year before.

The first full year of the Ford Administration, though, was one that saw us glued to the radio, even though the price of both glue and radios was up.

On the other hand, after the initial audio-visual investment, hanging on every funky note played by folks like Billy Preston -- once known as "The Fifth Beatle" -- was free.



1975 ALSO was the year the Bee Gees were back. Big. With a new upbeat, funkier sound. Little did we know they'd end up being royalty in this new music people were calling "disco."


THERE WAS the lovely Yvonne Elliman, too. Wasn't she the gal who did "I Don't Know How to Love Him" on the "Jesus Christ Superstar" soundtrack?

Anyway, she was on
Soundstage with the Bee Gees. Here. she's doing her killer cover of Blind Faith's "I Can't Find My Way Home."


MEANWHILE, over on "Loose Radio" (or KQ-98 . . . or WRNO . . . or WNEW . . . or . . . well, you get the picture) there was this little thing by Lynyrd Skynyrd that, soon enough, would be a battle cry -- and the song we bugged the crud out of disc jockeys requesting late at night.

This performance was from the
BBC series, The Old Grey Whistle Test.

All together now . . . FREEEEEEEEE BIIIIRRRRRRRRRD!