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KGW

KGW

KGW-TV, "Northwest Newschannel 8" is an NBC affiliate serving the Portland, Oregon area. It signed on December 15, 1956 on channel 8 as an ABC affiliate. Its transmitter is located in Portland. The station was an extension of KGW-AM 620 radio. The Oregonian newspaper created KGW-AM by purchasing an existing transmitter from the Shipowners Radio Service. The U.S. Department of Commerce licensed the station, and it began broadcasting on March 25, 1922. The Oregonian applied for and received an FCC permit for KGW Television in 1947, but later returned it in order to focus on its core newspaper business. North Pacific Television, Inc. acquired KGW-AM and KGW-FM in the early 1950s. The group was owned by a group of five Portland businessmen and Seattle businesswoman Dorothy Bullitt. Bullit's KING Broadcasting owned a 40% stake in the venture. KING eventually gained full control of the stations. In 1992, the Bullitt family sold KING Broadcasting (which also included KING-TV in Seattle, KREM-TV in Spokane, KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho and KHNL-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii) to the Providence Journal Corporation. Belo Corp purchased "ProJo" in 1998, gaining control of all the former KING Broadcasting stations.

Reporters and anchors

Past and present employees of KGW include Tracy Barry, Shannon Brinias, Colin Cowherd, Ann Curry, Joe Donlon, Tina Kim, Bill Lagattuta, John Stossel, and Matt Zaffino.

External links

- [http://www.kgw.com/ KGW official website]

References

- [http://www.kgw.com/about/history_kgw-tv/history.html Station History Page]
- [http://www.iinet.com/~pdxhistory/html/radio.html PDXHistory of KGW Radio]
- [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5679 HistoryLink essay on Ancil Payne]
- [http://kptv.home.comcast.net/Articles/Newspaper/newspaper.htm Oregonian Article on Portland Radio History] Category:NBC network affiliates

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is now part of the media conglomerate NBC Universal, and supplies programming to more than 200 affiliated U.S. stations. NBC Universal is a unit of General Electric. The last U.S. network holding company to legally abandon the name behind its acronym, in 2003 the corporate name was shrunk from "National Broadcasting Company, Inc.", as it had been from 1926, to NBC Universal, Inc. following a merger with Vivendi Universal's Entertainment division in 2004. (ABC still occasionally uses American Broadcasting Company or Companies for some copyrights and on-air branding.) Control of the network passed to GE in 1986 following the purchase of NBC's original parent, RCA. Since this acquisition, the President and CEO of NBC has been Bob Wright.

History

Bob Wright]

Radio

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio network went on the air with twenty-four affiliated stations on November 15, 1926. It was owned by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), itself set up in 1919 to control Guglielmo Marconi's American patents; RCA in turn was owned by General Electric Company (GE), the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the United Fruit Company and American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T). In a time of consolidation in the radio business, RCA had bought New York station WEAF from AT&T. RCA shareholder Westinghouse had a competing facility in Newark, pioneer station WJZ, which also served as originating station for a loosely-structured network. As NBC took over responsibility for these stations, WEAF and its affiliates became the NBC Red network; the WJZ group was dubbed the NBC Blue network. WEAF had been a laboratory for AT&T's Western Electric, which manufactured transmitters and antennas. AT&T's long-distance and local Bell operating divisions were developing technologies for transmitting voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, via both wireless and wired methods. So AT&T's creation of station WEAF in 1922 offered a research-and-development center for these activities. WEAF put together a regular schedule of programs of all types, and created some of the first broadcasts to incorporate commercial endorsements or sponsorships. An immediate success, and created links with other stations to offer coverage of sports or political events. WEAF's first efforts in what would become known first as "chain broadcasting" and later as "networking" tied together Outlet Company's WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island with AT&T's WCAP in Washington, D.C. (named for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company division of AT&T). RCA also saw an advantage in sharing programming, and after getting a license for station WRC in Washington, D.C. in 1923, attempted to transmit audio between cities via low-quality telegraph lines (since AT&T refused outside companies access to their high-quality phone lines.) The effort was poor at best, with the uninsulated telegraph lines incapable of good audio transmission quality and very susceptible to both atmospheric and man-made electrical interference. In 1925 the management of AT&T decided that WEAF and its network was not compatible with AT&T's goal of providing phone service, and offered to sell the station to RCA, whose business was set manufacturing. When RCA bought WEAF, it gained rights to rent AT&T's phone lines for network transmission. For $1 million, RCA got WEAF and a Washington sister-station, WCAP. It closed WCAP, and created a wholly-owned division called the National Broadcasting Company (it was actually owned 50% by RCA, 30% by General Electric, and 20% by Westinghouse). WEAF and Westinghouse's WJZ and the two networks were operated side-by-side for about a year, but in 1927 NBC formally split the two networks: the NBC Red Network offered entertainment and music programming; the NBC Blue Network carried many of the "sustaining" or non-sponsored programs, especially news and cultural in nature. Legend has it that the color designations originated from the color of the push-pins early engineers used to designate affiliates of WEAF (red pins) and WJZ (blue pins). At various times in the 1930s there were other color designations, with the NBC White, Gold, and Orange networks operating in various configurations in the south, the midwest and on the west coast. The famous three-note NBC chimes came about after several years of trying different musical note combinations. The three note combination (G-E-C; not related at all to RCA's original stockholder General Electric-and as such NBC was basically controlled by GE, since GE held a 30% share combined with RCA's 50%) came from WSB in Atlanta which used it for its own purposes until one day someone at NBC in New York heard the WSB version of the notes during a networked broadcast of a Georgia Tech football game and asked permission to use it on the national network. NBC started to use the three notes in 1931, and it was the first ever audio trademark to be accepted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. An alternate jingle was also used that went E-G-C-C, known as "the fourth chime" and used during wartime (especially in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing) and other disasters. The NBC chimes were mechanized in 1932 by Richard H. Ranger of the Rangertone company; their purpose was to send a low level signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by the various switching stations manned by NBC and AT&T engineers, and thus used as a system cue for switching different stations between the Red and Blue network feeds. Because of fears of offending commercial sponsors by cutting their programs off in mid-sentence, the mechanized chimes were always rung by an announcer pushing a button; they were never set to an automatic timer, although heavy discussions on the subject were held between the Engineering and Programming departments throughout the 1930s and 1940s. NBC became the primary tenant in the brand new Rockefeller Center project in 1936. It would serve as the home of radio operations, some RCA corporate operations, and RCA-owned RKO Pictures. From its creation in 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had studied the monopolistic effects of network broadcasting on the industry, and found that NBC's two networks and their owned-and-operated stations dominated audiences, affiliates and advertising dollars in American radio. In 1939 the FCC ordered RCA to divest itself of one of the two networks; RCA fought the divestiture order, but divided NBC into two companies in 1940 in case an appeal was lost. The Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." and the NBC Red became "NBC Red Network, Inc." 1940 With the loss of the final appeal before the United States Supreme Court, RCA sold the NBC Blue Network, Inc. for $8 million to Lifesavers magnate Edward J. Noble in 1943. For his money Noble got the network name, leases on land-lines and the New York studios, two-and-a half stations (WJZ in Newark/New York, KGO in San Francisco, and WENR in Chicago which shared a frequency with "Prairie Farmer" station WLS), and about 60 affiliates. Noble renamed the company "The Blue Network, Inc." but wanted something more memorable. In 1944 he acquired rights to the name "American Broadcasting Company" from George Storer and the Blue Network became ABC. "NBC Red" reverted to being simply "NBC" when Blue was sold. In the golden days of network broadcasting, 1930 to 1950, NBC was the pinnacle of American radio. Home to many of the most popular stars and programs, NBC stations were often the most powerful, or occupied clear-channel frequencies so that they were heard nation-wide. Such well-known stars as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen and Fred Allen called NBC home, as did Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony. As television became more popular in the 1950s, many NBC radio stars gravitated there, and by 1960 the radio network's schedule was much reduced. By the late 1960s, there was little more to NBC Radio than news bulletins and news-related features. Since the 1986 acquisition of RCA, NBC has been GE's most consistently profitable division. In compliance with FCC rules, NBC Radio was sold following the sale to GE, to Westwood One. While the chimes and an hourly newscast still appear on radio at certain times on weekdays, the NBC Radio Network as a programming service ceased to exist in 1989, and became a brand-name on material produced by Westwood One.

Television

For many years NBC was closely identified with David Sarnoff, who used it as a vehicle to sell consumer electronics. It was Sarnoff who ruthlessly stole innovative ideas from competitors, using RCA's muscle to prevail in the courts. RCA and Sarnoff had dictated the broadcasting standards put in place by the FCC in 1938, and stole the spotlight by introducing television to the public at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. While rivals CBS and DuMont also offered color broadcasting plans, RCA convinced a waffling FCC that its color system should prevail, and in 1953 the FCC agreed; the NBC network was to begin offering color programming within days of the FCC's decision. The first NBC show to air all episodes in color, Bonanza, began in the fall of 1959. By 1963, most of NBC's schedule was in color; without television sets to sell, rival networks followed more slowly, CBS in 1965 and ABC in 1966. In 1983, NBC began its new fall season with nine new series. All nine of them were eventually cancelled before completing a year. This is the only time that a network's entire line of new series has failed to be renewed. It was estimated in 2003 that NBC is viewable by 97.17% of all households, reaching 103,624,370 houses in the United States. NBC has 207 VHF and UHF affiliated stations in the U.S. and U.S. possessions. It is also seen throughout Latin America and the Caribbean via cable and satellite using the WNBC feed.

Evolution of the NBC logo

NBC has used a number of logos throughout its history, early logos were similar to the logo of its then parent company, RCA, but later logos included stylized peacock images.

NBC News

While CBS has received more attention from historians discussing broadcast journalism history, NBC's news operation was equal to it. From 1956 through 1970, the television broadcast team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley consistently exceeded the viewership levels attained by CBS News and its main anchor Walter Cronkite. The pair, together with fellow correspondent Frank McGee, distinguished itself in the coverage of American manned space missions in the Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Project Apollo programs, during an era when space missions rated continuous coverage. (An entire studio, Studio 8H, was configured for this coverage, complete with models and mockups of rockets and spacecraft, maps of the earth and moon to show orbital trackage, and stages on which animated figures created by puppeteer Bil Baird were used to depict movements of astronauts before on-board spacecraft television cameras were feasible. Studio 8H is now the home of the NBC entertainment program Saturday Night Live.) The dominance ended when Huntley retired, to only die from cancer in 1974. The loss of Huntley, along with a reluctance of RCA to fund NBC News at the level CBS was funding CBS News, left NBC News in the doldrums. NBC News did not recover viewership levels until after GE acquired RCA. NBC News got the first interview from two Russian presidents (Putin, Gorbachev) and was the only American eye-witness of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In the second Iraq war, NBC News and main anchor Tom Brokaw covered the war like no other television company, in part owing to the willingness of GE to fund it. NBC News correspondent David Bloom pushed through the GE and U.S. Department of Defense bureaucracies permission to construct a mobile news vehicle that could transmit live video broadcasts from the battlefield. The "Bloommobile" brought satellite images and videos (clear, detailed) into homes of America and Europe, live and one-on-one. Bloom did not live to accept the accolades after the armed conflict; he died of natural causes unrelated to combat during the final phase of the fighting. NBC News also benefits from the GE corporate structure by having the ability to take reports from its cable counterpart MSNBC.

External links

- [http://www.nbc.com/ NBC Television official site]
- [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/nationalbroa/nationalbroa.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications - NBC History]
- [http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/international/us_nbc.html Screen captures of NBC logos past and present, as well as footage of vintage promos]
- [http://www.nbcumv.com/broadcast/ NBC press releases and photos on NBC Universal Media Village]
- Category:Companies based in New York City Category:General Electric subsidiaries NBC television network Category:United States television networks ja:National Broadcasting Company nb:National Broadcasting Company

December 15

December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 16 days remaining.

Events

- 533 - The Battle of Ticameron begins
- 687 - St. Sergius I becomes Pope
- 1256 - Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran.
- 1791 - The United States Bill of Rights is passed
- 1891 - James Naismith introduces basketball.
- 1913 - Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1914 - The Battle of Łódź ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
- 1939 - Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia
- 1945 - General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan
- 1947 - All India Muslim League meeting in Karachi resolved to split itself into two separate organizations for Pakistan and India.
- 1960 - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Fabiola Fernanda María de las Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón
- 1961 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolph Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish holocaust
- 1965 - Gemini program: Gemini 6A is launched
- 1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN
- 1994 - Netscape Navigator 1.0 is first released
- 1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
- 1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling
- 1997 - A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85
- 2002 - BBC 7, digital radio station is launched in UK

Births

- 37 - Nero, Roman Emperor (d. 68)
- 130 - Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor (d. 169)
- 1242 - Prince Munetaka, Japanese shogun (d. 1274)
- 1567 - Christoph Demantius, German composer (d. 1643)
- 1610 - David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist (d. 1690)
- 1634 - Thomas Hansen Kingo, Danish poet (d. 1703)
- 1648 - Gregory King, English statistician (d. 1712)
- 1713 - Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (d. 1802)
- 1719 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1742)
- 1802 - János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1860)
- 1832 - Gustave Eiffel, French civil engineer (d. 1923)
- 1852 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1908)
- 1859 - L. L. Zamenhof, Russian initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
- 1860 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1904)
- 1861 - Charles Duryea, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1878 - Hans Carossa, German writer (d. [[1956]{

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company. Corporate headquarters are in New York, while programming offices are in Burbank, California, adjacent to the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) and the Walt Disney Company corporate headquarters. The formal name of the holding company is ABC, Inc, although the company still uses on some on-air copyrights American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., which also was the holding company's name until 1985. It is the last of the Big Three networks to still make on-air use of ether its original name or a variant of it.

History

Creating ABC

From the organization of the first true radio networks in the late 1920s, broadcasting in the United States was dominated by two companies, CBS and RCA's NBC. Prior to NBC's 1926 formation, RCA had acquired AT&T's New York station WEAF (later WNBC, now WFAN). With WEAF came a loosely-organized system feeding programming to other stations in the northeastern U.S. RCA also took control of a second such group, fed by Westinghouse's Newark station WJZ (now WABC (AM), New York.) These were the foundations of RCA's two distinct programming services, the NBC "Red" and NBC "Blue" networks. After years of study the FCC in 1940 issued a "Report on Chain Broadcasting." Finding that two corporate owners (and the co-operatively owned Mutual Broadcasting System) dominated American broadcasting, this report proposed "divorcement," requiring the sale by RCA of one of its chains. NBC Red was the larger radio network, carrying the leading entertainment and music programs. In addition, many Red affiliates were high-powered, clear-channel stations, heard nationwide. NBC Blue offered most of the company's news and cultural programs, many of them "sustaining" or un-sponsored. Among other findings, the FCC claimed RCA used NBC Blue to suppress competition against NBC Red. Since the F.C.C. did not regulate or license networks directly but had influence only by means of its hold over individual stations, it said, "No license shall be issued to a standard broadcast station affiliated with a network which maintains more than one network." NBC argued this indirect style of regulation was illegal and appealed to the courts, but the F.C.C. was upheld, so the Blue network had to be sold. The task of selling of NBC Blue was given to Mark Woods; throughout 1942 and 1943, NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their assets. A price of $8 million was put on the assets of the Blue group, and Woods shopped the Blue package around to potential buyers. One such, investment bank Dillon, Read made an offer of $7.5 million, but Woods and RCA chief David Sarnoff held firm at $8 million. What the Blue package contained was: leases on land-lines and on studio facilities in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles; contracts with talent and with about sixty affiliates; the trademark and "good will" associated with the Blue name; and licenses for three stations (WJZ in New York, San Francisco's KGO, and WENR in Chicago - really a half-station, since WENR shared time and a frequency with "Prairie Farmer" station WLS.) Edward Noble, owner of Life Savers candy and owner of the Rexall Drug chain, was interested. The asking price of $8 million would prove to be the selling price. In order to complete the station-license transfer, Noble had to sell a New York station he owned, and F.C.C. hearings were required. Another stumbling block was Noble's intention to keep Mark Woods on as president, which led to the suggestion that Woods would continue to work with (and for) his former employers. This had the potential to derail the sale. During the hearings Woods was asked if the new network would sell time to the AFofL; Woods responded "No". When Noble was questioned on similar points, Noble hid behind the NAB code to avoid answering. Frustrated, the chairman advised Noble to do some rethinking, which apparently he did, because on October 12, 1943 the sale was approved. The new network sold air time to organized labor. Known until mid-1944 as "The Blue Network," the company was re-christened American Broadcasting Company. This set off a flurry of re-naming; to avoid confusion, CBS changed the call-letters of its New York flagship from WABC to WCBS; seeing a trend, RCA re-named its New York flagship as WNBC. In 1953, ABC's New York flagship WJZ took on the abandoned call-letters WABC. The new ABC radio network began slowly; with few "hit" shows, it had to build an audience. Noble sprang for more stations, among them Detroit's WXYZ; one of the founding stations of the Mutual network, WXYZ was where The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston, Sky King and other popular daily serials originated. With this purchase, ABC instantly acquired a bloc of established daily shows. Noble also bought KECA (now KABC) in Los Angeles, to give the network a Hollywood production base. Counter-programming became an ABC specialty, for example, placing a raucous quiz-show like Stop the Music against more thoughtful fare on NBC and CBS. ABC also abolished a long-standing ban on pre-recorded programming; advances in tape-recording brought back from conquered Germany meant that the audio quality of tape could not be distinguished from "live" broadcasts. As a result, several high-rated stars who wanted freedom from rigid schedules, among them Bing Crosby, moved to ABC. Though still rated third, by the late 1940s ABC had begun to close in on the better-established networks.

Enter Leonard Goldenson

Faced with huge expenses in building a radio network, ABC was in no position to take on the additional costs demanded by a television network. To secure a place at the table, though, in 1947 ABC submitted requests for licenses in the five cities where it owned radio stations; by coincidence, all five applications were for "Channel 7." On April 19, 1948 the ABC television network went on the air. For the next several years, ABC was a television network mostly in name. Except for the largest markets, most cities had only one or two stations. The FCC froze applications for new stations in 1948 while it sorted out the thousands of applicants, and re-thought the technical and allocation standards set down in 1938. What was meant to be a six-month freeze lasted until 1952, and until that time only 101 stations were licensed to broadcast. For a late-comer like ABC, this meant being relegated as a secondary affiliate in many markets. By 1952, it had only fourteen full-time affiliates, of which five were company-owned. Further, without the high-powered radio names that propelled NBC and CBS, ABC and fellow start-up DuMont commanded little affiliate loyalty. Divorced from Paramount Pictures at the end of 1949 by Supreme Court order, United Paramount Theaters was a company with plenty of money and nowhere to spend it. Cash- and real estate-rich, UPT head Leonard Goldenson immediately set out to find investment opportunities. Barred from the film business, Goldenson saw broadcasting as a possibility, and approached Noble about buying ABC. Since the transfer of station licenses was again involved, the F.C.C. set hearings. At the heart of this was the question of the Paramount Pictures-UPT divorce: were they truly separate? And what role did Paramount's long-time investment in DuMont Laboratories, parent of the television network, play? After a year of deliberation the FCC approved the purchase by UPT in a 5–2 split decision on February 9, 1953. Speaking in favor of the deal, one commissioner pointed out that UPT had the cash to turn ABC into a viable, competitive third network. Shortly after the ABC–UPT merger, Goldenson approached DuMont with a merger offer. Though it had been a pioneer in television broadcasting and was especially creative in programming, DuMont was in financial trouble. Under Goldenson's proposal, DuMont would get $5 million in cash; guaranteed advertising time for DuMont television receivers: the merged network would be called "ABC-DuMont" for at least five years; and DuMont staff would have a secure future. However, DuMont's nervous minority shareholder Paramount Pictures vetoed the sale, afraid of reviving anti-trust charges. By 1956, the DuMont network had shut down.

The 1960s

After its acquisition by UPT, ABC at last had the means to offer a full-time television network service. By mid-1953 Leonard Goldenson had begun a two-front campaign, calling on his old pals at the Hollywood studios (he had been head of the mighty Paramount theater chain since 1938) to convince them to move into programming. And he began wooing station owners to convince them that a refurbished ABC was about to burst forth. In some markets, like Seattle, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, he convinced long-time NBC and CBS affiliates to move to ABC. His two-part campaign paid off when the "new" ABC hit the air in October, 1954. Among the shows that brought in record audiences was "Disneyland," produced-by and starring Walt Disney. MGM, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century-Fox were also present that first season. Within two years, Warners was producing ten hours of programming for ABC each week, mostly interchangeable detective and western series. While ABC continued to languish in third place in national ratings, it often topped local ratings in the larger markets. With the arrival of Hollywood's slickly-produced series, with their emphasis on those old standbys sex and violence, ABC began to catch on with younger, urban viewers. As the network gained in the ratings, it became an attractive property, and over the next few years ABC approached, or was approached-by GE, Howard Hughes, Litton Industries, GTE, and ITT. ABC and ITT agreed to a merger in late 1965, but this deal was derailed by FCC and Department of Justice questions about ITT's foreign ownership influencing ABC's autonomy and journalistic integrity. ITT's management promised that ABC's autonomy would be preserved; while the merger was approved by the F.C.C, the Justice Department was not convinced, and the deal was called off on January 1, 1968. As had happened at NBC and CBS, from the mid-1950s ABC's radio audience gravitated to television. By the early 1960s, the radio network schedule consisted of a few long-running serials, Lawrence Welk's musical hour (simulcast from television), and Don McNeill's daily "Breakfast Club" variety show. ABC made a last-ditch effort to retain the radio audience by filling the schedule with talk-shows, but gave in after a few years. In 1968, ABC's remaining programming service was split in four parts, offering customized news and features for pop-music-, news-, or talk-oriented formats. Later, that plan was further broadened to offer seven formats, and ABC returned to programming by offering its more popular local talk shows to national audiences. During this time of expansion, ABC revised its corporate name to American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Success at Last

Despite its relatively small size, ABC found increasing success with television programming aimed at the emerging "Baby Boomer" culture. Producer Roone Arledge helped ABC's fortunes with innovations in sports programming, creating Wide World of Sports and Monday Night Football. By doing so he helped to make sport into a multi-billion-dollar industry, and was rewarded by being made head of ABC News and Sports. By the early 1970s, ABC was showing signs of overtaking CBS and NBC. Broadcasting in color from the mid-1960s, ABC started using the new science of demographics to tweak its programming and ad sales. ABC invested heavily in shows with wide appeal, especially situation comedies, but also offered big-budget, extended-length miniseries, among them QB VII, and Rich Man, Poor Man. The most successful, Roots, based on Alex Haley's novel, became one of the biggest hits in television history. Combined with ratings for its regular weekly series, Roots propelled ABC to a first-place finish in the national Nielsen ratings for the 1976–1977 season— this was a first in the then thirty-year history of the network. Since 1984, the entire family of ESPN networks and franchises have been owned by ABC (80%) and the Hearst Corporation (20%). ABC's dominance carried into the early 1980s. But by 1985, veteran shows like The Love Boat had lost their steam; a resurgent NBC was leading in the ratings. ABC relied on that staple of programming, the situation comedy. During this period ABC seemed to have lost the momentum that once propelled it; there was little offered that was innovative or compelling. Like his counterpart at CBS, William S. Paley, founding-father Goldenson had withdrawn to the sidelines. ABC's ratings and the earnings thus generated reflected this loss of drive. So it was not a total surprise when in 1985 ABC was taken over by media company Capital Cities Communications; the corporate name was changed to Capital Cities/ABC. In 1984-85, ABC began the transition from coaxial cable/microwave delivery to satellite delivery via AT&T's Telstar 301. ABC maintained a West Coast feed network on Telstar 302, and in 1991 scrambled feeds on both satellites with the Leitch system. Currently, with the Leitch system abandoned, ABC operates clear feeds on Intelsat Americas 5 and Intelsat Americas 6, in addition to digital feeds on both satellites.

Acquisition by Disney

In 1996, The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC, and renamed the broadcasting group ABC, Inc., although the network continues to also use American Broadcasting Companies, such as on TV productions it owns. ABC's relationship with Disney dates back to 1953, when Leonard Goldenson pledged enough money so that the "Disneyland" theme park could be completed. ABC continued to hold Disney notes and stock until 1960, and also had first call on the "Disneyland" television series in 1954. With this new relationship came an attempt at cross-promotion, with attractions based on ABC shows at Disney parks and an annual soap festival at Walt Disney World. The fomer president of ABC, Inc., Robert Iger, now heads Disney. Despite intense micro-managing on the part of Disney management, the flagship television network was slow to turn around. In 1999, the network was able to experience a brief resurgence with the hit game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. However, many analysts said that WWTBAM became overxposed, appearing on the network sometimes five or six nights during a week. ABC's ratings fell dramatically as competitors introduced their own game shows and the public grew tired of the format. In 2004, ABC was able to find its niche in dramas such as Desperate Housewives and Lost, which were both popular among viewers and critically acclaimed. Currently ABC is the United States' second-most watched network. Borrowing a proven Disney formula, there have been attempts to broaden the ABC brand name. The short-lived ABC Cable News began in 1995; unable to compete with CNN, it shut down in 1997. Undaunted, in 2004 ABC launched a news channel called ABC News Now. Its aim is to provide round-the-clock news on cable, the internet and mobile phones. A 2003 Nielsen estimate found that ABC could be seen in 96.75% of all homes in the United States, reaching 103,179,600 households. ABC has 10 VHF and UHF owned-and-operated television stations and 191 affiliated stations in the U.S. and U.S. possessions. Since the 1950s, ABC has split "live" production between east- and west-coast facilities; ABC Television Center West in Hollywood, (once the Vitagraph film studios) accommodates sets for the daily soap operas; and the ABC Television Center East, once clustered around a former stable on West 66th Street, and now split between several soundstages in the same New York neighborhood. (ABC's corporate headquarters and news studios are located on the north side of West 66th, while its soap facilities are across the street and the stage for The View are further west on 66th near the Hudson River.) ABC's west coast corporate offices are located in Burbank, CA adjacent to the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) and the Walt Disney Company corporate headquarters. On the radio side, ABC radio stations have become more conservative. After passing up the rights to syndicate Rush Limbaugh, ABC Radio Networks now syndicates conservative talk show hosts such as Sean Hannity, John Batchelor, Larry Elder, and Mark Davis. Radio & Records Magazine early in 2005 said that Disney/ABC would sell its radio stations and radio-network operations. For major media conglomerates, this has become a chess game which allows them to swap stations in order to end with more television affiliates. Speculation is that the buyer for the ABC radio networks is Westwood One, a Viacom unit that in recent years has taken over distribution of the remains of the NBC, Mutual and CBS radio networks. Thus in sixty years the radio business comes more-or-less full circle, but now with one owner instead of two.

ABC identity

Viacom.]] Before its early color transmissions, the ABC identity was a lowercase 'abc' inside a lower case 'A'. That logo was known as the "ABC Circle A." The logo was modified in the fall of 1962 when ABC started using the current "ABC Circle" logo (designed by Paul Rand) with ultra-modern (for its time) lower case 'abc' inside. The typeface used is a simple geometric design inspired by the Bauhaus school of the 1920s; its simplicity makes it easy to duplicate, something ABC has taken advantage of many times over the years (especially before the advent of computer graphics). It does not correspond to a particular font; however, several common geometric typefaces (including Avant Garde and Horatio) are close, and a recently developed typeface is inspired by it. A variation of ABC's logo is used by Brazilian TV network SBT.

ABC1

Launched September 27, 2004, ABC1 is a British digital channel on Freeview's digital terrestrial service (except Wales), owned and operated by ABC Inc. Its current schedule is a selection of past and present American shows, mostly from ABC, and is offered 24 hours a day on the digital satellite and digital cable platforms, and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the digital terrestrial platform, Freeview.

Notes on Sources

- Barnouw, Erik. The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States, 1933-1953. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
- Goldenson, Leonard, and Marvin J. Wolf. Beating the Odds: The Untold Story Behind the Rise of ABC. New York: Scribners, 1991.
- Kisseloff, Jeff, The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920-1961. New York: Viking Press, 1988.
- Sampson, Anthony. The Sovereign State of ITT. New York: Stein and Day, 1973.
- Sobel, Robert. ITT. New York: Truman Talley - Times Books, 1982.

External links

- [http://www.abc.go.com ABC website]
- [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/silvermanfr/silvermanfr.htm A bio of Former President Fred Silverman]
- [http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/international/us_abc.html Screen captures of ABC logos past and present, as well as footage of vintage promos] Category:ABC television network Category:United States television networks Category:Walt Disney Company subsidiaries ja:American Broadcasting Company

March 25

March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). There are 281 days remaining.

Events

- 708 - Constantine is consecrated Pope.
- 1300 - Dante descends to the Inferno in The Divine Comedy
- 1306 - Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.
- 1409 - The Council of Pisa opens.
- 1634 - The first settlers arrive in Maryland (led by Lord Baltimore).
- 1655 - Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens.
- 1655 - Protestants take control of Maryland at the Battle of the Severn.
- 1802 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and United Kingdom.
- 1807 - The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing slavery in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1821 - Greece declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence.
- 1865 - The "Claywater Meteorite" explodes just before reaching ground level in Vernon County, Wisconsin. Fragments having a combined mass of 1.5 kg are recovered.
- 1865 - American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union in a bloody battle.
- 1894 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C..
- 1901 - At the five-day "Week of Nice" race in Nice, France, Mercedes wins its first racing victory.
- 1911 - In New York City the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
- 1918 - The Belarusian National Republic was established.
- 1924 - Greece proclaims itself a republic.
- 1931 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
- 1939 - Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes Pope Pius XII.
- 1941 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers.
- 1947 - A explosion in a coalmine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
- 1949 - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
- 1955 - United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.
- 1957 - The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
- 1960 - In London, United Kingdom, Jacqueline Boyer wins the fifth Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Tom Pillibi".
- 1965 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. complete successfully their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery.
- 1969 - During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
- 1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of Operation Searchlight of Pakistan Army against East Pakistani civilians.
- 1972 - In Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Vicky Leandros wins the seventeenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Après toi" (After you).
- 1975 - Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.
- 1979 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
- 1990 - In the Bronx, New York City, a fire at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.
- 1992 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station.
- 1995 - Ward Cunningham opens the first wiki, the WikiWikiWeb.
- 1996 - An 81-day-long standoff between the antigovernment group Montana Freemen and law enforcement near Jordan, Montana, begins.
- 1996 - The Labour Party is founded in Turkey.
- 1996 - The EU's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (BSE).
- 2004 - Air Holland files for bankruptcy in response to unproven allegations of marijuana abuse by their pilots.

Births

- 1252 - Conradin, Duke of Swabia (d. 1268)
- 1297 - Arnost of Pardubice, Archbishop of Prague (d. 1364)
- 1345 - Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt (d. 1369)
- 1347 - Catherine of Siena, Italian saint (d. 1380)
- 1404 (baptism) - John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (d. 1444)
- 1479 - Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow (d. 1533)
- 1539 - Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1612)
- 1541 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)
- 1593 - Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
- 1643 - Louis Moréri, French encylopedist (d. 1680)
- 1661 - Paul de Rapin, French historian (d. 1725)
- 1699 - Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (d. 1783)
- 1767 - Joachim Murat, French marshal and King of Naples (d. 1815)
- 1863 - Simon Flexner, pathologist (d. 1946)
- 1867 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, (d. 1957)
- 1868 - William Lockwood, English cricketer (d. 1932)
- 1873 - Rudolf Rocker, German anarchist (d. 1958)
- 1881 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)
- 1881 - Mary Gladys Webb, English writer (d. 1927)
- 1884 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950)
- 1886 - Athenagoras, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 1972)
- 1901 - Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1906 - A.J.P. Taylor, British historian (d. 1990)
- 1908 - Helmut Käutner, German actor and film director (d. 1980)
- 1908 - David Lean, English film director (d. 1991)
- 1911 - Jack Ruby, American killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (d. 1967)
- 1914 - Norman Borlaug, American agricultural scientist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1918 - Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d. 1995)
- 1920 - Patrick Troughton, British actor (d. 1987)
- 1920 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner
- 1921 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- 1925 - Flannery O'Connor, American author (d. 1964)
- 1926 - László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)
- 1926 - Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (d. 1999)
- 1926 - Gene Shalit, American film critic
- 1928 - Jim Lovell, astronaut
- 1929 - Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Gloria Steinem, American author
- 1938 - Hoyt Axton, American musician and actor (d. 1999)
- 1939 - Toni Cade Bambara, American author (d. 1995)
- 1940 - Anita Bryant, American entertainer and activist
- 1942 - Aretha Franklin, American singer
- 1942 - Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
- 1943 - Paul Michael Glaser, American actor
- 1946 - Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
- 1946 - Maurice Krafft, French vulcanologist (d. 1991)
- 1947 - Sir Elton John, English musician
- 1952 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
- 1956 - Matthew Garber, British actor (d. 1977)
- 1960 - Idy Chan Yuk-Lin, Hong Kong actress
- 1962 - Marcia Cross, American actress
- 1964 - Lisa Gay Hamilton, American actress
- 1965 - Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
- 1965 - Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper and president of the Bulgarian olympic committee
- 1966 - Tom Glavine, baseball player
- 1967 - Matthew Barney, American media artist
- 1967 - Debi Thomas, American figure skater
- 1969 - Dale Davis, American basketball player
- 1971 - Cammi Granato, American hockey player
- 1974 - Lark Voorhies, American actress
- 1976 - Juvenile, American rapper
- 1976 - Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer
- 1976 - Gigi Leung, Hong Kong singer/actress.
- 1982 - Danica Patrick, American race car driver
- 1989 - Alyson Michalka, American actress

Deaths

- 752 - Pope Stephen II
- 1005 - King Kenneth III of Scotland (in battle)
- 1223 - King Afonso II of Portugal (b. 1185)
- 1345 - Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b. 1281)
- 1458 - Marqués de Santillana, Spanish poet (b. 1398)
- 1558 - Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer
- 1603 - Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1526)
- 1609 - Olaus Martini, Swedish Archbishop of Uppsala (b. 1557)
- 1620 - Johannes Nucius, German composer
- 1625 - Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (b. 1569)
- 1712 - Nehemiah Grew, English naturalist (b. 1641)
- 1736 - Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect
- 1738 - Turlough O'Carolan, Irish harper and composer (b. 1670)
- 1751 - King Frederick I of Sweden (b. 1676)
- 1801 - Novalis, German poet (b. 1772)
- 1860 - James Braid, Scottish surgeon (b. 1795)
- 1914 - Frédéric Mistral, French poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- 1918 - Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)
- 1951 - Eddie Collins, baseball player (b. 1887)
- 1957 - Max Ophüls, German-born director and writer (b. 1902)
- 1958 - Tom Brown, American musician (b. 1888)
- 1969 - Max Eastman, American writer (b. 1883)
- 1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. 1906)
- 1980 - Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b. 1915)
- 1980 - Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (b. 1901)
- 1980 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913)
- 1988 - Robert Joffrey, dancer, teacher, and choreographer (b. 1930)
- 1991 - Marcel Lefebvre, French Catholic leader (b. 1905)
- 1992 - Nancy Walker, American actress (b. 1922)
- 1995 - James Coleman, American sociologist (b. 1926)
- 1995 - Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian basketball player (b. 1948)
- 1999 - Cal Ripken, Sr., baseball manager (b. 1936)
- 2000 - Helen Martin, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2002 - Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

- The Annunciation - this date is nine months before Christmas Day.
- One of the four Irish Quarter days in the Irish calendar.
- Traditional date of the start of the new year in England and Wales, until the Calendar Act of 1752 (called Lady Day - see above).
- Maryland Day
- Greek Independence Day.
- Good Friday in 2005, 2016

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/25 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/25 Today in History: March 25] ---- March 24 - March 26 - February 25 - April 25 -- listing of all days ko:3월 25일 ms:25 Mac ja:3月25日 simple:March 25 th:25 มีนาคม

Seattle, Washington

:This article is about the city. For the Suquamish chief, see Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, nearly 108 miles (174 km) south of the United States–Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat. Seattle was founded in the 1850s named after Chief Seattle, or Sealth. As of 2004, the population estimates of the city given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 571,480, however, in 2005, the city has an estimated population of 573,672 and a metropolitan population of almost 3.8 million. It is sometimes referred to as the "Rainy City", the "Gateway to Alaska", "Queen City", and "Jet City" (due to the heavy influence of Boeing). Its official nickname is "the Emerald City". Seattle is known as the birthplace of grunge music, and has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption. Seattle was also the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization and anti-globalization demonstrations. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Seattle ranks 36th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.

History

Founding

Most of the Denny Party, the most prominent of the area's early white settlers, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They relocated their settlement to Elliott Bay in April 1852. The first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed on May 23, 1853. The city was incorporated in 1869, after having existed as an incorporated town from 1865 to 1867. Seattle was named after Noah Sealth, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, better known as Chief Seattle. David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the city founders, was the primary advocate for naming the city after Chief Seattle. Previously, the city had been known as Duwamps (or Duwumps)—a variation of that name is preserved in the name of Seattle's Duwamish River.

Major events

Duwamish River, the Downtown Seattle skyline, and Mount Rainier (to the right).]] Major events in Seattle's history include the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which destroyed the central business district (but took no lives); the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the current layout of the University of Washington campus; the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the country; the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair; the 1990 Goodwill Games; and the WTO Meeting of 1999, marked by street protests. On February 28 2001, a state of emergency was declared after the Nisqually Earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, rocked the region. Damage was moderate, but served as a reminder that the coastal Pacific Northwest — and the area around the Seattle Fault, in particular — is under a constant threat of earthquakes.

Economic history

Seattle has a history of boom and bust, or at least boom and quiescence. Seattle has almost been sent into permanent decline by the aftermaths of its worst periods as a company town, but has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild infrastructure. company town, is the result of a public vote on the "Libraries for All" bond measure approved by Seattle voters on November 3, 1998.]] The first such boom was the lumber-industry boom covering the early years of the city (it was during this period that Yesler Way became known as the first "Skid Row", named after the timber skidding down the street to be milled), followed by the construction of an Olmsted-designed park system. Arguably the Klondike Gold Rush constituted a separate, shorter boom during the last years of the 19th century. Klondike Gold Rush Next came the shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century, followed by the unused city development plan of Virgil Bogue. After World War II the local economy was marked by the expansion of Boeing, fueled by the growth of the commercial aviation industry. When this particular cycle went into a major downturn in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading, "Will the last person leaving Seattle — Turn out the lights." Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company announced a desire to separate its headquarters from its major production facilities. Following a bidding war in which several cities offered huge tax breaks, Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's commercial airplanes division; several Boeing plants including the Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, and Boeing 787 factories; and BECU, formerly the Boeing Employees Credit Union. The most recent boom centered around Microsoft and other software, Internet, and telecommunications companies, such as Amazon.com and RealNetworks. Even locally headquartered Starbucks held investments in numerous Internet and software interests. Although some of these companies remain relatively strong, the frenzied boom years had ended by early 2001.

Geography and climate

Geography

Starbucks Seattle is located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound, Seattle faces the Olympic Mountains; across Lake Washington beyond the Eastside suburbs are the Issaquah Alps and the Cascade Range. The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so. Some of the hilliest areas are quite near the center, and Downtown rises rather dramatically away from the water. The geography of Downtown and its immediate environs has been significantly altered by regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial island, Harbor Island, at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway. The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Today, a ship canal passes through the city, incorporating Lake Union near the heart of the city and several other natural bodies of water, and connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Opportunities for sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are close by and accessible almost all of the year. An active geological fault, the Seattle Fault, runs under the city. It has not been the source of an earthquake during Seattle's existence; however, the city has been hit by four major earthquakes since its founding: December 14, 1872 (magnitude 7.3); April 13, 1949 (7.1); April 29, 1965 (6.5); and February 28, 2001 (6.8). See also Nisqually Earthquake. Seattle is located at 47°37'35" North, 122°19'59" West (47.626353, −122.333144)¹. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²). 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of it is land and 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 41.16% water. See also: Seattle neighborhoods, List of Seattle parks, Bodies of water of Seattle

Climate

Seattle's climate is mild, with the temperature moderated by the sea and protected from winds and storms by the mountains. The "rainy city" receives an unremarkable 35 to 38 inches (890 to 970 mm) of precipitation a year, less than most major Eastern Seaboard cities, e.g., New York City averages 47.3 inches (1200 mm), but Seattle is cloudy an average of 226 days per year vs. 132 in New York City. Most of the precipitation falls as drizzle or light rain because Seattle is in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains. Average low temperatures range from the mid/upper 30s (just above 0 °C) at night in winter to the mid/upper 70s (mid 20s °C) for summer highs. Seattle's hottest temperature ever recorded was 100 °F (37 °C) on July 20, 1994 and the coldest temperature ever recorded was 0 °F (-17 °C) on January 31, 1950. 80 miles (130 km) to the west, the Hoh Rain Forest, in the Olympic National Park, records an annual average rainfall of 142 inches (3600 mm), and the state capital, Olympia, south of the rain shadow, receives 52 inches (1320 mm). Snow falls on occasion, but rarely sticks very long. Sunnier "California weather" typically dominates from mid-July to mid-September, arriving later and leaving earlier than in Portland, Oregon, to the south. The [http://www.komotv.com/weather/faq/convergence_zone.asp Puget Sound Convergence Zone] is an important feature of the Seattle area's weather. In the Zone, air arriving in the area from the north meets air flowing in from the south. Both streams of air originate over the Pacific Ocean; airflow is split by the Olympic Mountains to Seattle's West, then reunited by the Cascade Mountains to the East. When the air currents meet, they are forced upward, resulting in convection. An active Convergence Zone results in rain at the very least (snow in the Cascades), and sometimes more severe weather such as thunderstorms and hail. Usually the Zone forms north of Seattle in the Edmonds/Lynnwood area, but depending on the relative strengths of the winds it can range as far south as Pierce County or as far north as Skagit County. Serious exceptions to Seattle's raininess can occur during El Niño years, when the marine weather systems track to the south, affecting California instead. During the drier summer months, the region's water comes from its mountain snow packs, so El Niño winters not only produce substandard skiing, but can result in water rationing and a shortage of hydro-electric generated power the next summer.

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census of 2000, Seattle had a population of 563,374 and in all the Greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is home to almost 3.8 million people. The population today is approximately 73.40% Caucasian, one of the highest percentages of Caucasians for a major American city. The city also has one of the nation's highest percentages of multiracial ancestry: 4.70% claim ancestry from two or more races. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] According to the 2000 U.S. census, 13.71% of Seattleites are Asian Americans, 8.44% are African Americans, 1.10% are Native Americans, 0.50% are Pacific Islanders, and 6.84% are from other non-Caucasian backgrounds. The median income for a household in the city is $45,736, and the median income for a family is $62,195. Males have a median income of $40,929 versus $35,134 for females. The per capita income for the city is $30,306. 11.8% of the population and 6.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.8% are under the age of 18 and 10.2% are 65 or older. Seattle has seen a major increase in legal and illegal immigration in recent decades. The foreign-born population increased 40% between the 1990 and 2000 census. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] Although the 2000 census shows only 5.28% of the population as Hispanic or Latino of any race, Hispanics are believed to be the most rapidly growing population group in Washington, with an estimated increase of 10% just in the years 2000 to 2002. [http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/Census/20030918/103142.shtml] It is estimated that 1.25% of the population is homeless, and that up to 14% of Seattle's homeless are children and young adults. Many people in Seattle are involved with social causes; among the larger local groups nonprofits dealing with poverty and related issues are the Fremont Public Association [http://www.fremontpublic.org], the Asian Counselling and Referral Service [http://www.acrs.org/index.htm], and the Seattle Indian Center [http://www.seattleindiancenter.org/]. In September 2005, King County adopted a "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness", one of whose near-term results is a shift of funding from homeless shelter beds to permanent housing. [http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/news/2005/0905/Ten_Year_Plan.htm] In 2005, Men's Fitness magazine named Seattle the fittest city in the U.S.

Government and politics

fittest neighborhood. Rescued from Eastern Europe, some argue that the statue is a leftist political statement instead of historical art]] Seattle is a charter city, with a Mayor-Council form of government, unlike many of its neighbors that use the Council-Manager form. Seattle's mayor and nine city council members are elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions. The only other elected office is the city attorney. All offices are non-partisan. The city government provides more utilities than many cities – either by running the whole operation, such as the water, sewer, and electricity services, or by handling the billing and administration, but contracting out the rest of the operations such as trash and recycling collection. In most neighboring cities, for example, electricity is provided by either a private company such as Puget Sound Energy, or a county public utility district. See the Utilities section for more details. As with most U.S. cities, the county judicial system (courts and jails) handles felony crimes — the Seattle Municipal Court deals with parking tickets, traffic infractions, and misdemeanors. Seattle does not have its own jail, contracting out inmates it convicts to either the King County Jail (which is located downtown), the Yakima County Jail, or (for short-term holdings) the Renton City Jail. In 2004, there were only 24 murders in Seattle, the fewest since 1965. Violent crime has declined by nearly 42% since 1994, to a rate of approximately seven per 1,000 people. Auto theft has increased about 44% in the same period; the SPD has responded by almost doubling the number of detectives in the auto theft detail, and is starting a "bait car" program. A Money magazine table, using 2001 statistics, ranked Seattle 18th highest in crime rate in the U.S., with 80.5 crimes per 1,000 citizens. Seattle's politics lean famously to the left compared to the U.S. as a whole, although there is a small libertarian movement. Only one precinct in Seattle, located in the famously exclusive Broadmoor area, voted for Republican George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. In partisan elections, such as for the State Legislature and U.S. Congress, most elections are won by Democrats, with Greens getting more votes than in many other cities.

Official nickname, flower, slogan, and song

In 1981, Seattle held a contest to come up with a new official nickname to replace “the Queen City”, which had been used since 1869 and was also the nickname of Cincinnati, Toronto, Buffalo, Bangor, Maine and Charlotte, North Carolina. The winner, selected in 1982, was "the Emerald City". Submitted by Californian Sarah Sterling-Franklin, it referred to the lush surroundings of Seattle that were the result of frequent rain. Seattle has also been known in the past as the "Jet City" though this nickname, related to Boeing, was entirely unofficial. (This nickname is made reference to in the song "Jet City Woman" by Seattle progressive metal band Queensrÿche.) Seattle's official flower has been the dahlia since 1913. Its official song has been "Seattle the Peerless City" since 1909. In 1942, its official slogan was "The City of Flowers"; 48 years later, in 1990, it was "The City of Goodwill", for the Goodwill Games held that year in Seattle.

Seattle mayors of note

Among Seattle's notable past politicians is Bertha Knight Landes, mayor from 1926 to 1928. She was the first woman to be mayor of a major American city. Another, Bailey Gatzert, was mayor from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, narrowly missed being the first Jewish mayor of a major American city (Moses Bloom became mayor of Iowa City, Iowa in 1873), and has been the only Jewish mayor of Seattle so far. See List of mayors of Seattle for a list of Seattle's mayors going back to 1869. See also: Current leaders of Seattle, Washington

Sister cities

Seattle is internationally partnered with a number of sister cities to promote global cooperation, cultural exchange and economic collaboration. See List of Seattle sister cities for a complete list.

Economy

Five companies on the 2004 Fortune 500 list of the United States' largest companies, based on total revenue, are currently headquartered in Seattle: financial services company Washington Mutual (#103), insurance company Safeco Corporation (#267), department store Nordstrom (#286), Internet retailer Amazon.com, (#342) and coffee chain Starbucks (#425). Many Seattle residents work for companies based outside of Seattle proper. Airplane manufacturer Boeing (#21) was the largest company based in Seattle before its 2001 move to Chicago. Because several production facilities remain in the region, Boeing is still a major Seattle employer. Other Fortune 500 companies popularly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chain Costco Wholesale Corp. (#29), the largest company in Washington, is based in Issaquah. Microsoft (#46) is based in Redmond. So was the cellular telephone pioneer McCaw Cellular, which in 1994 became AT&T Wireless (#120), before being absorbed in 2004 into Cingular. Weyerhaeuser, the forest products company (#95), is based in Federal Way. And Bellevue is home to truck manufacturer PACCAR (#250) and international mobile telephony giant T-Mobile's U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile USA. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by the biotechnology industry. Major redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the region, joining current biotech companies such as Corixa, Immunex (now part of Amgen), and ZymoGenetics. The effort has public support and some financial backing from Paul Allen. See List of companies based in Seattle for a more detailed compilation. In 2005 Forbes magazine ranked Seattle as the most overpriced city in the US based on median home prices and median incomes.

Education

Seattle has an educated population: of Seattle's population over 25, 47% (vs. a national average of 24%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 93% (vs. 80% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent. In fact, Seattle has the highest percentage of college graduates of any major U.S. city. In addition to the obvious institutions of education, there are significant adult literacy programs and considerable homeschooling. Like most urban American public school systems, Seattle Public Schools have been subject to numerous controversies. Seattle's schools desegregated without a court order, but continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a demographically divided city (the south part of town being much more ethnically diverse than the north). The schools have maintained high enough educational standards to keep white flight (and middle-class flight in general) to a minimum, but some of the area's suburban public school systems — not all of them in wealthy suburbs — have consistently higher test scores. Notably, Seattle schools seem to be failing their minority students, as high academic standards are not realized uniformly by all racial groups in many of the city's secondary schools. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: four of the high schools are Catholic, one is Lutheran, and six are secular. Postsecondary education in Seattle is dominated by the University of Washington, with over 40,000 students, making it the largest university in the Pacific Northwest. Most prominent of the city's other universities are Seattle University, a Jesuit school, and Seattle Pacific University, founded by the Free Methodists. There are also a handful of smaller schools, mainly in the fine arts and business and psychology. Seattle is also served by North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges.

Culture

Landmarks

North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges have both caug