The Nostalgiaganza

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:46 pm

Rex wrote:As a kid, I was truly terrified by Emergency Broadcast System warnings. Something about that cricket they would play.

Well, they're meant to get your attention. Maybe they're not supposed to terrify little kids, but they work.

The scariest one I've heard is the tsunami warning after the Fukushima earthquake. Even the tone sounds panicky. Of course, part of this is from knowing what came next.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:38 pm

One recent evening, I turned on the local news and was bored immediately by stories of fires and weather and traffic tie-ups. I thought that I might have better luck with an older newscast, so I hit the YouTube machine.

WTAE-TV 11:00 News, February 27, 1988.
Anchors: Beth Dolinar and Tom Randles.

Okay, bear with me because this isn't as boring as it sounds. I thought that I would laugh at the misfortune of 1988 yinzers. So, imagine my surprise when almost the entire first block of programming was about actual news. And, oh, what a wonderful time 1988 turned out to be.

Michael Dukakis is in town! The Pennsylvania primary is still a couple of months away, but he's campaigning ahead of losers like Al Gore and Dick Gephardt. In other campaign news, Gary Hart is going to stay the course, despite the fact that he's running out of money and knows that he has no chance of winning. How'd that work out for you, Gary?

Republican candidate Pat Robertson announces that 'God has forgiven Jimmy Swaggart' for being a hypocritical douchebag. Oh, man, Jimmy Swaggart. I had forgotten about the 'televangelist smacked down in sex scandal' era. The National Enquirer decides not to publish its report after a prostitute failed a lie-detector test. But she might have been on drugs, which would have affected the test. Ugh. This fucking story.

Eric Delvalle, deposed President of Panama, has escaped house arrest and is missing. Middle East peace talks. Violence in the West Bank. Prince Charles is going to be here next week for a Remaking Cities conference. There's footage of a pre-conference meeting with out-of-work steelworkers. Yep, Pittsburgh in the 1980s.

The second block is an interminable weather forecast. So, that hasn't changed.

The third block is sports, and it's much longer and broader than current sportscasts. Highlights of Katarina Witt and Olympic figure skating. Olympic Hockey. Alberto Tomba flying down a hill.

Pitt basketball highlights. This 1988 Pitt basketball team is one of my favorite teams in any sport ever. Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Demetreus Gore, Darelle Porter, Sean Miller, etc. Still hurts to think about the Vanderbilt game in the NCAA tournament that year. Barry Goheen broke my heart.

Guy Junker gives the scores of every top-20, Big East, and Atlantic 10 basketball game, with occasional highlights. Oklahoma beat Colorado,134-84. Yikes. That was that great Stacy King/Harvey Grant/Mookie Blaylock team.

Now that the Olympics are almost over and players are no longer committed to their national teams, the Penguins want Kevin Stevens and Zarley Zalapski to come to Pittsburgh to make their NHL debuts soon. Yeah, that was a different era. Junker then gives us the score to every NHL game. No highlights, but don't worry, there are golf highlights!

The fourth block is light news and a long credit sequence over footage of aspiring dancers.

The only notable commercial is only notable for Pittsburghers: a ShopNSave commercial featuring the grocery chain's long-time spokeswoman, known only as The ShopNSave Lady. She skis into frame at the beginning of the commercial. Smooth!

So, this was kind of a nice surprise. There was actual useful information here. I would like to know how long this lasted, how long it took before WTAE decided to just focus on everything local to improve ratings. This was fun to watch, even tho there wasn't much of a Pittsburgh flavor to it. The next broadcast takes care of that.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:45 pm

Steel City News, WIIC-TV 11:00 News, January 19,1980. (WIIC changed its call letters to WPXI in 1981.)

Hank Baughman is seated in front of a stark black background. It's the night before the Steelers/Rams Super Bowl, and he's wearing a 'Super Steelers' button on his lapel. Any semblance of objectivity is out the window.

Two auto accidents, a couple of homicides, an auto chop-shop sting on a farm in Cranberry, a local politician accused of taking bribes, anti-abortion protests.

'A small amount of radioactive steam' leaked out of the nuclear plant in Beaver County. You're only getting to that now, 6 minutes into the broadcast? Isn't that more important than an auto accident?

The second block opens with this howler: 'Nearly everyone will be watching or listening to the Super Bowl tomorrow, and that should include the 50 Americans still being held hostage in Iran. Their captors have said the hostages would be allowed to listen to the game.' Make it local! How does the Iran hostage crisis affect the Steelers?!

It appears that this is the block about actual news. American journalists thrown out of Iran. Iranian Air Force personnel arrested for plotting a coup. American journalists also thrown out of Afghanistan after trying to cover the Soviet invasion. The US Ambassador to Russia returns to Moscow. President Carter is fighting longshoremen over sending grain to Russia. Americans in 1980 knew dark times, too.

Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas has died. 'Douglas had a passion for hiking, camping, and freedom.'

Elvis Presley's doctor had his license suspended for three months.

The third block is sports. It's brought to you by Satellite 11. WIIC is very proud of their satellite technology, so they're going to make sure you know about it.

Sam Nover is live via satellite in Newport Beach, California. He tells us that it was a quiet week, not much news to report, so the folks at WIIC edited a music video set to the Beach Boys' 'I Get Around.' Steelers and coaches being interviewed, yinzers doing yinzer things in bars, surfers, etc. It goes on for over 2 minutes. Great use of satellite technology, guys.

We're told that the Penguins/Oilers game was delayed 50 minutes because of a brawl. 8 ejections and 255 penalty minutes. No highlights. I might need to look this up.

Gimbel's department store tempting fate by selling Steelers Super Bowl Champions t-shirts before the game. That's bad form. The t-shirts sold out, tho.

The weather forecast features cars passing thru an intersection for some reason. Almost a minute of this.

The newscast ends with a segment on a bar in Trafford, where patrons shaved their heads and then had Steelers helmets painted onto them with house paint. That sounds like a terrible idea. They look great, tho.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:58 pm

Every so often, and today, thanks to bapo I've had a recurrence, I try to find the mid-80s (I guess) theme song of the WJAC channel 6 news out of Johnstown, PA. I used to fall asleep to it playing, usually on the radio as it was broadcast on a lowband FM station, because my grandparents would listen to the nightly news before bed when I stayed over (and probably when I didn't). I can hear it my head still, so would recognize it, but have never been able to find it. If it sounds like I'm asking for help googling for something, it's because I am.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 7:15 pm

I'm on the case, rass, but there doesn't seem to be much 1980s WJAC on the Internet at all. I watched a lot of WJAC as a kid, so I would probably recognize that music if I heard it. I'll look for it in between clips of old hockey fights.

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:40 pm

This needs to be your answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAmJhKGNVHw

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 9:34 pm

That Evansville clip is 29 seconds of awesome. Sounds like the theme from 'Shaft.'

I mentioned hockey fights earlier, and yes I do go back and watch those. I'm not a violent person, and I hate whenever a fight happens in hockey today. But if it's, say, pre-1990, then I feel like it's a different era, even tho a lot of those guys are running the league now.

I don't know how to explain it. Like, I want to be reminded of what the game was like when I was first watching it, but before I was a huge fan. Or maybe it's just the uniforms. Currently watching Habs/Nordiques in 1984. Poor Jean Hamel.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:11 pm

[I have a post typed up about Christine Chubbuck. I thought of posting it in the Katelyn Davis livestream thread, but I think it's best to let that thread go away. This thread is mostly about television of another era, so I guess that post can fit here. Anyway...]

In my little corner of the Internet, where the population shares an equal obsession with death and media, Christine Chubbuck is the queen. Chubbuck was a local news reporter in Florida who shot herself on the air in 1974. The broadcast was considered lost, but it was reported last year that at least one copy of the tape still exists.

A lot of people claim to have seen the video, maybe on a 'Faces of Death'-style compilation or an FBI training video back in the day. (Maybe a shared false memory, like that Sinbad/genie movie.) Others have played detective, contacting people who worked at Chubbuck's station and following every lead they could find. Her name comes up a lot, and I've been following these searches with a sort of bemusement for years.

Last year, out of the blue, two movies about Chubbuck were released. One of those movies ('Christine,' starring Rebecca Hall) was just released on DVD. Totally not coincidentally, a new video recently surfaced purporting to be the actual suicide video.

It looks convincing enough, all blurred images and distorted audio, but Chubbuck obsessives almost immediately deemed it a fake. If it is a fake, somebody went thru a great deal of effort and money to recreate the set. Still not sure of the source of the video, but it's going to be pretty shitty to find out that it's a publicity stunt for an indie movie.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Feb 16, 2017 1:57 am

bapo! wrote:That Evansville clip is 29 seconds of awesome. Sounds like the theme from 'Shaft.'

I mentioned hockey fights earlier, and yes I do go back and watch those. I'm not a violent person, and I hate whenever a fight happens in hockey today. But if it's, say, pre-1990, then I feel like it's a different era, even tho a lot of those guys are running the league now.

I don't know how to explain it. Like, I want to be reminded of what the game was like when I was first watching it, but before I was a huge fan. Or maybe it's just the uniforms. Currently watching Habs/Nordiques in 1984. Poor Jean Hamel.

There used to be a guy around here with some Link Gaetz stories.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:15 am

Once a mighty retail hub, Century III is now hauntingly empty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7ytZWmIlQ

(wasn't sure where to put this, but given the location and a half memory that bapo! posted something about dead malls at one point...)

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 9:55 am

Yes, I had a 'dying malls' thread several Swamps ago. (Ryan made a Michael Hutchence joke about my photo of Shoe Sensation.) I didn't post any photos of Century III in that thread, but I've been there. It's been a few years, but that video looks like how I remember it.

JC Penney just announced today that they're closing 140 stores, so that might be the end of that mall.

Related, I saw a commercial for the Century III Chevrolet dealership recently. They're re-using (or maybe never stopped using) their sing-songy jingle from the '90s. I was happy to hear that.

Here's one of those old commercials. This woman might have been my first commercial-actor crush.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:18 am

bapo! wrote:Here's one of those old commercials. This woman might have been my first commercial-actor crush.

That's kind of big deal!

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:33 am

rass wrote:
bapo! wrote:Here's one of those old commercials. This woman might have been my first commercial-actor crush.
That's kind of a big deal!

It's historic, right? While we're on the topic, I recently found a 1995 Burger King commercial. This woman was probably my first commercial-actor-with-short-hair crush. (She also did a MallPerks commercial that I've never been able to find.)

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:43 am

bapo! wrote:
rass wrote:
bapo! wrote:Here's one of those old commercials. This woman might have been my first commercial-actor crush.
That's kind of a big deal!
It's historic, right? While we're on the topic, I recently found a 1995 Burger King commercial. This woman was probably my first commercial-actor-with-short-hair crush. (She also did a MallPerks commercial that I've never been able to find.)

Fun Fact - That ad was the inspiration for Natalie Imbruglia's Torn video

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:52 am

Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock --> 1995 Burger King Commercial --> Natalie Imbruglia

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 10:53 am

bapo! wrote:Yes, I had a 'dying malls' thread several Swamps ago. (Ryan made a Michael Hutchence joke about my photo of Shoe Sensation.) I didn't post any photos of Century III in that thread, but I've been there. It's been a few years, but that video looks like how I remember it.

JC Penney just announced today that they're closing 140 stores, so that might be the end of that mall.

Related, I saw a commercial for the Century III Chevrolet dealership recently. They're re-using (or maybe never stopped using) their sing-songy jingle from the '90s. I was happy to hear that.

Here's one of those old commercials. This woman might have been my first commercial-actor crush.

If you had a few million, dying malls in metro areas where populations are increasing would seem to be a solid deal. Maybe that shark jumped a couple of years ago though.

Rex wrote:Amazing stuff. As a kid, I was truly terrified by Emergency Broadcast System warnings. Something about that cricket they would play.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I spent a few minutes just now thinking about what would be the quickest route out of the city for me.

Also, im a bit behind in this thread but the fastest way out of Atlanta in a possible apocalypse scenario has to be train. NS or CSX to anywhere. Jump on the back and take your chances with the conductors. Ive also considered exactly how I would drag my wife onto a moving train.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:11 am

Rex wrote:Amazing stuff. As a kid, I was truly terrified by Emergency Broadcast System warnings. Something about that cricket they would play.

On Monday, we were in heavy traffic as our car crawled through a rainstorm and slow traffic on the highway. And every half hour or so, the music on the iPhone would be interrupted by a loud emergency alert from my weather channel app. HONK HONK - FLOOD AREA IN VICINITY - HONK HONK. Truly unnerving, and not exactly helpful.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:11 am

HaulCitgo wrote:If you had a few million, dying malls in metro areas where populations are increasing would seem to be a solid deal. Maybe that shark jumped a couple of years ago though.

Didn't work too well for Tim and Eric.

If I owned a dead mall, I would build a basketball court in the lobby. Then I would turn the Build-a-Bear into a reading room. Then I would convert the Hot Topic into...a reading room, I guess. I dunno. Or I would just host raves.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:25 am

bapo! wrote:
HaulCitgo wrote:If you had a few million, dying malls in metro areas where populations are increasing would seem to be a solid deal. Maybe that shark jumped a couple of years ago though.
Didn't work too well for Tim and Eric.

If I owned a dead mall, I would build a basketball court in the lobby. Then I would turn the Build-a-Bear into a reading room. Then I would convert the Hot Topic into...a reading room, I guess. I dunno. Or I would just host raves.

And the Waldenbooks could be a place to get your teddy bear a Slipknot t-shirt

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:32 am

Random Hot Topic fact: When Kreayshawn's debut album was released in 2012, Hot Topic was the only store that sold her CDs.

(You guys remember Kreayshawn, right?)

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:33 am

My best mall moment was seeing Prince Albert (the wrestler!) in a Hot Topic at the Holyoke Mall in the late 90s.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:38 am

Ryan wrote:My best mall moment was seeing Prince Albert (the wrestler!) in a Hot Topic at the Holyoke Mall in the late 90s.

That's a pretty great logo!

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:42 am

Holyoke Mall at Ingleside Postcard, circa 1979 by The Caldor Rainbow, on Flickr

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:46 am

We used to drive there about 4 times a year from when I was 8 all the way to high school. And my itinerary never changed:

1. Get a new hat at whatever the pre-Lidz store was called
2. Get a new game at Electronics Boutique or Babbage's
3. Ride the glass elevator to the bottom floor for lunch, the arcade, and indoor miniature golf
4. Stop at Sam Goody's for cassingles
5. Fall asleep on the way home reading the instruction book for whatever game I got
6. Cut the lining out of the new hat

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:46 am

Mall lol.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:59 am

When I was a kid I could have spent like a week straight at a mall if you let me. Now I go to the mall to get my hair cut and if I get there 10 minutes early I struggle to kill the time.

Also, this:

bapo! wrote:Here's one of those old commercials.

Is uncannily similar in its use of the follow-the-bouncing-ball thing to the commercials from this chain of dealerships I remember growing up in Southern California. Did one copy the other, or was it just a coincidence?

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:24 pm

Johnny Carwash wrote:Is uncannily similar in its use of the follow-the-bouncing-ball thing to the commercials from this chain of dealerships I remember growing up in Southern California. Did one copy the other, or was it just a coincidence?

I'm going to say that your Dodge dealer ripped off my Chevy dealer. The Pittsburgh version has some flow to it.

Century 3
Chevrolet
Lebanon Church Road
Pittsburgh.

That's hype! You could easily imagine Rakim or KRS-One spitting that.

Compare that to:

Pete Ellis Dodge
(Renault and Jeep)
Long Beach Freeway
Firestone Exit
Southgate.

That's wack.

Ryan wrote:cassingles

The last cassingle I can remember buying was EMF's 'Unbelievable.' The remix was pretty bad-ass for 1990.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:40 pm

This thread is the best thread.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:45 pm

Ryan wrote:1. Get a new hat at whatever the pre-Lidz store was called

Are you being cheeky by calling the hat store Lidz, or is that how you actually remember it? I'm asking because I also thought that it was Lidz, but when I needed to buy a Blue Jays hat a few years ago, I learned that it was the much-less-fun Lids.

Was there a name change at some point? Or a merger? I swear that I can remember Lidz, but the Internet seems to be telling me that I'm imagining that.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:53 pm

bapo! wrote:
Ryan wrote:1. Get a new hat at whatever the pre-Lidz store was called
Are you being cheeky by calling the hat store Lidz, or is that how you actually remember it? I'm asking because I also thought that it was Lidz, but when I needed to buy a Blue Jays hat a few years ago, I learned that it was the much-less-fun Lids.

Was there a name change at some point? Or a merger? I swear that I can remember Lidz, but the Internet seems to be telling me that I'm imagining that.

Nope, I would have put money on it actually being Lidz. This bothers me now too.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:02 pm

Holy shit I completely forgot about the process behind getting a new MLB hat actually wearable. I'm sure I fucked up my teeth to some extent pulling those plastic strings out.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:03 pm

Ryan wrote:Nope, I would have put money on it actually being Lidz. This bothers me now too.

Maybe another shared false memory, like that Sinbad/genie movie article posted upthread. Anybody else care to chime in? Are Ryan and I crazy?

Johnnie wrote:This thread is the best thread.

I love it, too. It's like my personal playground, and occasionally a few other people show up to build sand castles with me, or something.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:29 pm

Cutting out that hat stiffener was a damn science. I got pretty good at it, but definitely cut right through a few of them.

I got to the point where I'd grab a sharp kitchen/steak knife, and lightly "saw" right near the edge of one of the panels. Just enough go break about ten strands of that hard plastic mesh. Then I'd grab a pen and work it in between the mesh and wool, breaking up the seal of glue all throughout the two front panels. Then I'd get out the scissors and cut out the outer area, then cut a slit up towards the air hole.

Just typing that made me feel all nostalgiaganzic.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:40 pm

A few years ago, I found an old corduroy Boston Bruins hat at my parents' house. I was watching a 'Project Runway' marathon and wanted to do something fashiony, so I tried to make the hat more wearable. I did a good job with it, but the first few times I wore it, I would get jabbed by little pieces of mesh that I had missed. Not pleasant.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:45 pm

I really wish they'd bring back the old corduroy hats as well as the cursive team name hats. Enough with this logo in 17 different styles shit.

Like this

not this

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:53 pm

I had a really heavy wool Celtics hat with the cursive script. (Purchased at Indiana Mall, 1986.) I loved that hat. I had mixed feelings when Supreme copied the style a few years ago and I started seeing pictures of Tyler the Creator wearing a hat that looked just like my Celtics hat.

I also bought a Clippers hat in that style. (Monroeville Mall, 1990.) The guy at the store was impressed. 'We ordered one of those, but we didn't think that we would ever sell it. Thanks for buying it!'

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:05 pm

Twenty years ago, I was at a San Jose Sharks playoff game, and one of their players scored a hat trick (anybody remember Ulf Dahlen?), so the fans rained hats onto the ice. As it so happened, somehow I got to sit in close-to-the-ice seats that night, and a Sharks script cap landed right at my feet. Rather than throw it on the ice as its owner intended, I decided to quickly stick that one in my pocket. I still have it and my daughter occasionally wears it to games.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:07 pm

That's great, but who are the Shanks?

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:14 pm

This is probably a good thread to mention that the Holyoke Mall had one of those customize-everything stores and so my friends and I would buy blank hats and get dumb shit stitched on them in that same cursive font. Or, later, this one:

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:47 pm

bapo! wrote:
Ryan wrote:Nope, I would have put money on it actually being Lidz. This bothers me now too.
Maybe another shared false memory, like that Sinbad/genie movie article posted upthread. Anybody else care to chime in? Are Ryan and I crazy?

I do not remember the Z variation of the word. Maybe it was a way the font looked in a previous logo?

I do remember that hats would slowly creep up in price over time. Go in there and the most expensive hat was $19.99. Then before ya know it, the same 5950 was $37~$40 and the quality never changed.

Also, I've never taken the mesh out of a hat. Was I supposed to do that?