Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Da-da-da, da-da-da...

Not sure of the spelling of that familiar ESPN sounder but you get the picture. 80 million of us have gotten the picture since the flagship sports television network debuted on this date in 1979...

ESPN changed the TV landscape forever when it became the first all-sports channel in history. The cable station now reaches more than 80 million homes and in 1995 became the first cable network to achieve 70% penetration...

From a limited schedule of sportscenter updates that gave us scores and recaps, ESPN now televises more than 5,100 live and/or original hours of sports programming annually. Today ESPN programming includes, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio Network, ESPN International, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com...

More interested factoids on The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network in my commentary...

1813) The nickname "Uncle Sam" appears for the first time in an editorial in the Troy (NY) Post...

1921) The first Miss America Pageant is held in Atlantic City...

1930) The cartoon "Blondie" makes its first appearance in comic strips...

1963) The Football Hall of Fame is dedicated in Canton, Ohio...

1966) "The Dick Van Dyke Show" airs for the last time on CBS-TV...

1969) "The Beatles" Saturday morning cartoon airs for the last time after debuting in 1965...

1971) "The Beverly Hillbillies" is seen for the last time on CBS-TV...

1973) Linda Lovelace introduces Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl...

1976) Paul McCartney who owns the rights to Buddy Holly's catalog commemorates Holly's 40th birthday with the inauguration of "Buddy Holly Week" in the U.K...

1977) G.Gordon Liddy is released from prison after serving a 4-year term for his involvement in Watergate...

1978) Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, suffers a fatal overdose at 31...

1979) ESPN debuts (feature story)...

1980) John McEnroe beats Bjorn Berg in a classic U.S. Open final for his second straight title...

1986) Michael Nesmith joins the original Monkees on stage for the first time since they disbanded...

1986) Berlin tops the charts with "Take My Breath Away" from "Top Gun"...

1992) Baseball commissioner Faye Vincent steps down...

1996) Tupac Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight are shot in Las Vegas after a Mike Tyson fight. Shakur will die 6 days later...

2003) Happy trails to Warren Zevon who sings his final note at 56...

Happy Birthday to...

1921) Arthur Ferrante (Ferrante & Teicher)...

1924) Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye...

1930) Jazz sax player Sonny Rollins...

1949) Gloria Gaynor...

1951) Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders...

1951) Julie (Marge Simpson) Kavner...

1954) Corbin ("L.A. Law") Bernsen...

1956) Michael Feinstein...

Commentary...

ESPN factoids:

Bristol, Connecticut, the home of ESPN is located half-way between Boston and New York, 100 miles from both cities...

The only sports guys left from the original ESPN staff are Bob Ley and Chris Berman. Berman was hired one month after ESPN debuted. The late Tom Mees who died in a tragic swimming pool accident a few years back, was also an original staff member...

Like them or not, ESPN offers something no television network had, prior to September 7, 1979. We now have exclusive channels devoted to college sports, the NFL, NBA and on and on with literally no end in sight as broadcasting will continue to become sports specific with narrow casting for interested viewers and more importantly to the broadcasters, net profits. Like it or not, get used to it...

Don't sweat petty things or pet sweaty things...