September 16

1956: TCN-9 begins broadcasting. Television is the broadcasting of moving images and sound, beamed from one location as radio waves and into a specialized receiver made for the purpose and set at the same frequency as the broadcast. Early transmissions were only possible in monochrome or black and white. The first television station in the world was developed in Schenectady, New York at the General Electric facility there. They first sent programming out into the world in 1928. The methodology of the time has been totally superseded by new technology, but the idea remains the same. A station sends out signals which the owner’s receiver decodes into images and sounds.

TCN remains Sydney, Australia’s flagship TV station of Nine Network in Australia. On this day, they began broadcasting which made them the first station in Australia to begin regular transmissions. They had been testing for months prior to this with the first test run on July 13. These began with a simple still slide and went on to documentaries and dramas. The first words spoken on the station were when John Godson introduced the station and were audio-only and took place shortly before the first program aired. That first program was This is Television and that was introduced by Bruce Gyngell. He is often given credit as the first to appear on Australian TV because he was both seen and heard.

Sir Frank Packer headed Television Corporation Ltd and was issued four licenses, two in Sydney and two in Melbourne, as the beginning of Australian TV. TCN remains today, the home of the NRL coverage and national level Nine News bulletins. Nine Network (aka Channel Nine or just Nine) is a division of Nine Entertainment Co. and is a commercial free-to-air network. They are based in Willoughby, outside Sydney. They were the highest rated network in Australia until 2006 and have since been in the top two along with Seven Network. They began their second station in Melbourne, GTV-9, later that year and broadcast the 1956 Sumer Olympics. By 1959 they opened two more station, one in Brisbane and one in Adelaide.

One of TCN’s earliest programs (which in Australia would be a programme) was Bandstand launched by Brian Henderson. It lasted for 14 years and launched many careers for Australian performers. Sir Frank died in 1974 and ownership of Nine Network passed on to his younger son, Kerry, even though his brother, Clyde, had been groomed for the job. The father and son fought in the early 1970s and so ownership changed. Today, Nine Entertainment Co. is publicly traded and headquartered in Sydney. Peter Costello is Chairman and Hugh Marks is CEO. James Packer, Sir Frank’s grandson, quit the concern in 2008 and has moved outside the media industry.

Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome. – T. S. Eliot

Television is chewing gum for the eyes. – Frank Lloyd Wright

Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there – I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television. – Andy Warhol

Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye. – Bill Hicks

 

 

Wall Street Bombing

Wall Street bombing

September 16, 1920: Wall Street is bombed. JP Morgan bank, located at 23 Wall Street, was on the Financial District’s busiest corner. At noon, a horse-drawn carriage pulled up. Inside the carriage was 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast-iron sash weights. It exploded in a timer-set detonation sending the slugs through the air. The horse and carriage were blasted to bit although it was thought the driver had escaped prior to the explosion. Thirty people were killed at the scene and eight more eventually died of injuries sustained in the blast. Hundreds more were injured; 143 of them seriously. The victims were mostly young people who worked in the area – messengers, stenographers, clerks, and brokers.

There was also substantial property damage with most of the interior of the Morgan building destroyed. It was listed as $2 million in damages or about $23.5 million today. Within a minute of the explosion, William H Remick, president of the New York Stock Exchange, suspended trading in order to prevent a panic. Like other disasters in New York City, the citizens helped each other. James Saul, a then 17-year-old messenger, commandeered an undamaged parked car and was able to transport 30 injured people to a local hospital. The police arrived quickly and administered first aid when possible. They, too, took over parked cars and began ferrying the injured to hospitals.

The Bureau of Investigation (BOI, forerunner of today’s FBI), did not immediately believe the bombing was an act of terrorism. There were so many innocent people killed and the lack of a specific target, other than buildings which suffered no structural damage, was puzzling. It was thought, at first, it might be an accident. The New York Stock Exchange met by 3.30 PM and decided to open the next day. Investigators contacted businesses which sold or transported explosives. Crews cleaned up the debris overnight, allowing for business to resume the next day. The New York assistant district attorney felt the explosion might be the work of radical opponents to capitalism, noting the location of the bombing.

Investigators focused on radical groups and there were many options available. The perpetrators were never caught but it was blamed on anarchists and Communists. The Washington Post called the bombing an “act of war”. A rally to celebrate Constitution Day had been scheduled for the very intersection the following day and thousands showed up in defiance of the attack. The bombing led to the government’s increase in tracking radical groups and led to an expansion of the BOI’s role as well as gave J Edgar Hoover more power. It is assumed that Galleanists, Italian anarchists, were responsible as they had carried out a number of these attacks the year before. It was the deadliest act of terrorism carried out on US soil up to that time. It would be replaced on that horrible list by the Bath School disaster in 1927.

A culture without property, or in which creators can’t get paid, is anarchy, not freedom. – Lawrence Lessig

It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy. – William Safire

A tranquil city of good laws, fine architecture, and clean streets is like a classroom of obedient dullards, or a field of gelded bulls – whereas a city of anarchy is a city of promise. – Mark Helprin

Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress. – Isocrates

Also on this day: It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opened.
Hero – In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan saved twenty from a submerged bus.
Sublime Tenor – In 1930, Enrico Caruso last entered a recording studio.
Nancy – In 1961, a typhoon hit Osaka, Japan.
GM Starts Here – In 1908, General Motors was founded.

GM Starts Here

General Motors Corporation

September 16, 1908: The General Motors Corporation (GM) is founded. The company was founded by William C. Durant as a holding company. Initially, GM held only Buick Motor company, but it quickly added more than twenty more companies including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (known today as Pontiac). The company was founded in Flint, Michigan when Durant signed a 15 year contract in Canada with exchange of 500,000 shares of Buick stock for 500,000 shares of McLaughlin stock. Durant’s business had been located in Flint where he opened in 1886, building carriages. By 1900 he was producing 100,000 carriages per year with plants in Michigan and Canada. He was also producing springs, axles, and other components being provided to the early automotive industry. Before 1900, there less than 8,000 cars in America.

The first company brought into the GM family was Oldsmobile which happened before the end of the year. In 1909, seven more brands were added including some truck manufacturers. Rapid Motor Vehicle, the predecessor to GMC Trucks produced the first truck able to conquer Pikes Peak and did so in 1909. More companies were added in 1910 and the company attempted to buy Ford but the deal fell through. Durant lost control of the company to a bankers trust and left the firm to begin again. He joined with Louis Chevrolet and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company. With more stock trading, Durant moved back to head GM in 1916 and eventually Chevrolet joined the parent company, too.

In the next few years, GM went global with the acquisition of international brands. They also acquired Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System, the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company and its subsidiaries, as well as the Yellow Coach bus company. In the mid-1920s the headquarters moved from Flint to Detroit, Michigan. By the time the new building was dedicated as the General Motors Building in 1929, Alfred P. Sloan was president of the company. The building eventually became the Cadillac Place. In 1996, the Renaissance Center became headquarters. Buick Division headquarters remained in Flint until 1998 when it, too, moved to the Renaissance Center.

Today, GM produces vehicles in 37 countries under ten brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall, Wuling, Baojum, Jie Fang, and UzDaewoo. In 2009, they changed their name to General Motors Company. Tim Solso is chairman of the board while Mary Barra is CEO. Dan Ammann is president. They have four divisions with 23 subsidiaries in both transportation and financial services. They operate 397 facilities on six continents. They had a production output of 9,714,652 in 2013. Their revenue last year was $155.42 billion with an operating income of $4.919 billion and a net income of $5.346 billion. They have 219,000 people working for them.

The cars we drive say a lot about us. – Alexandra Paul

I know a lot about cars, man. I can look at any car’s headlights and tell you exactly which way it’s coming. – Mitch Hedberg

If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG. – Bill Gates

A car for every purse and purpose. – Alfred P. Sloan

Also on this day: It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
Hero – In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan saves twenty from a submerged bus.
Sublime Tenor – In 1930, Enrico Caruso last entered a recording studio.
Nancy – In 1961, a typhoon hit Osaka, Japan.

Hero

Shavarsh Karapetyan

September 16, 1976: Shavarsh Karapetyan goes for an unexpected swim. Karapetyan was born in the capital city of the Lori Province, Armenia. He was born May 19, 1953 and grew up to be a champion finswimmer. Finswimming is carried out while wearing fins and swimming either on the surface of the water or submerged. Races last for various distances and are further divided on the basis of breathing. Some races take place without permitting any intake of fresh air. Some use various means of respiration and breathing apparatus. Early finswimming championship races were held in France in the 1920s.

Karapetyan was the European Champion 13 times and took the USSR Champion title seven times. He was an Honored Master of Sports of the USSR and had broken ten finswimming World Records. The 24-year-old was training with his brother, Kamo. They were running beside a reservoir in Erevan (also spelled Yereven) and both men were finishing up a 12 mile (20 km) run. They heard a noise and turned to see a trolleybus sinking into the reservoir. The bus had fallen from the top of the dam wall and was disappearing into the water.

The weather had already turned cool and the waters of the reservoir were cold. The lake was 33 feet deep and the bus was 80 feet from shore. There were 92 passengers trapped inside the bus, unable to break the windows and swim to safety. Shavarsh dove into the murky waters, unable to see because of the silt stirred up by the crash. He kicked out the rear window of the bus. He began ferrying people up to the surface spending about 30 seconds per person. He brought them up and his brother, also a swimmer, helped them to the shore. They saved twenty of the passengers.

Help arrived on the scene but was ineffective. They had no air in their diving balloons. The cause of the accident remains a mystery. Survivors from the doomed bus say the driver and a passenger were arguing. The passenger wanted the bus to stop and leave him off and the driver would not make the unscheduled stop. The passenger struck the bus driver who lost control. Or the driver had a heart attack. Shavarsh was injured while breaking out the window and became seriously ill after his heroic afternoon. He never swam competitively again. Today he runs a shoe production company called “Second Breath.”

“You want to be a hero? Learn to create certainty in the face of fear.” – Tony Robbins

“Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you can tell me who your heroes are, I can tell you how you’re going to turn out in life.” – Warren Buffet

“A hero has faced it all: he need not be undefeated, but he must be undaunted.” – Andrew Bernstein

This article first appeared at Examiner.com in 2009. Editor’s update: Shavarsh Karapetyan was not immediately honored for his rescue because few knew anything about the accident. Although he pulled more than 20 people from the bus, only 20 survived and all pictures taken that day were kept at the district attorney’s office. Shavarsh received many cuts and was unconscious for 45 days following the accident. Because of raw sewage in the water, he developed sepsis and lung complications which ended his finswimming career. Fame came when the story was finally published in 1982 and his name was given. He received around 60,000 letters after the story broke in the Komosomolskaya Pravda. On February 19, 1985, Shavarsh came upon a building ablaze with people trapped inside. He entered the building to rescue them and was once again severely injured. It took a long hospital stay for his burns to heal.

Also on this day: It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
Sublime Tenor – In 1930, Enrico Caruso last entered a recording studio.
Nancy – In 1961, a typhoon hit Osaka, Japan.

Nancy

Path of Typhoon Nancy

September 16, 1961: Typhoon Nancy makes landfall at Osaka, Japan. Typhoons, cyclones, and hurricanes are tropical storm systems centered around a low pressure area and associated with numerous thunderstorms which produce strong winds and great rains. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other storms such as nor’easters, European windstorms, and polar lows. They are considered “tropical” because of the geographic region in which they start. Because of wind flow, they spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern. They not only produce wind and rain, but also create high waves and damaging storm surge effects as well as spawning tornadoes.

This particular storm system developed on September 7 near Kwajalein Atoll. It rapidly grew and by the time position fixes could be taken, Nancy was nearly a super typhoon. As the storm moved westward across the Pacific Ocean, it reached wind speeds that would make it a Category 5 storm had the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale been invented. It reached Cat 5 by September 9 and would stay at that category for the next several days. As it neared Okinawa, it took a sharp turn northward. On this day, it first struck land over Muroto Zaki and then made a second landfall on Honshū near Osaka. It traveled up the main Japanese island and continued accelerating, eventually reaching a forward speed of 65 miles per hour. It finally went out to sea and became extratropical the next day.

Before striking Japan, Nancy had already done serious damage on Guam, destroying over half of all crops due to torrential rains and high winds. Roads were also wiped out. The minor Japanese islands also suffered severe flooding and crop damage. Planes of the time measured sustained wind speeds at 215 miles per hour. Today’s technological advances leave room for debate as to the accuracy of this number. If it were true, the wind speed would be 25 mph greater than any measured with more advanced instrumentation. It is noted that Nancy was a Super Typhoon for five and a half days or 132 hours. This is a record in the Northern Hemisphere and a day longer than any other storm.

Nancy’s ferocity would have caused even greater loss of life, but early warning systems were in place. There were at least 172 people killed and another 18 were missing as well as 3,184 injured in Osaka. Hundreds of thousands were impacted by Nancy, significant property damage was left in her wake. In Japan, only Super Typhoons are named and is one of only eight named storms and is dubbed in Japan as Second Muroto Typhoon.

It is the duty of all local officials to stay as prepared as possible for the typhoon. – Annette Lu

There is expected to be further damage due to the typhoon so all agencies and ministries are joining together to respond. – Hiroyuki Hosoda

After a storm comes a calm. – Matthew Henry

Anyone who has spent a few nights in a tent during a storm can tell you: The world doesn’t care all that much if you live or die. – Anthony Doerr

Also on this day:

It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
Hero – In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan saves twenty from a submerged bus.
Sublime Tenor – In 1930, Enrico Caruso last entered a recording studio.

Sublime Tenor

Enrico Caruso

September 16, 1920: Enrico Caruso last enters a recording studio. Caruso was born in Naples, Italy on February 25, 1873. He was the third of seven children but only three survived infancy. His father was a mechanic and thought his son should follow in the family trade. Errico, as he was called as a boy, was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer at age 11. His mother also insisted on more formal education and she encouraged him in his musical ambition. She died in 1888 and her son began earning extra money for the family by singing at cafes and soirees. By age 18, he was singing at a resort and his professional musical life was only interrupted by his mandatory 45 day compulsory military service.

Caruso made his professional stage debut at the age of 22 when he appeared at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples on March 15, 1895. He appeared in the opera L’Amico Francesco. While the opera is now forgotten, Caruso was able to garner more jobs from this stepping stone. Although working, he was still poor and had only one shirt. His first publicity photo shows him wearing a sheet as a toga since that one shirt was being laundered. Finally, in 1898 he received his first major operatic role in Fedora staged in Milan.

The tenor’s career spanned 25 years. During that time, he appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera 863 times where he was the leading tenor for 18 seasons. Even though the recording industry was still quite young at the time of his premature death, there remain 260 recordings produced for the Victor Talking Machine Company (RCA Victor today). He also appeared in newsreels and even two movies. His operatic performances were held in a number of esteemed venues, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

During his last recording session, he recorded several disks over three days. His health began to wane during the end of 1920 and on December 3, a piece of scenery toppled and hit his back, over a kidney. He also developed bronchitis around this time and on December 11 suffered a throat hemorrhage, making it necessary to cancel a performance. It is now surmised that he developed a renal abscess after the December 3 accident. He underwent seven surgical procedure to drain the infective material. Before antibiotics, this condition was far more dangerous. He died of supposed peritonitis on August 2, 1921 at the age of 48.

“It was he who impressed, time and again, the necessity of singing as nature intended, and – I remember – he constantly warned, don’t let the public know that you work. So I went slowly. I never forced the voice.”

“A big chest, a big mouth, 90 percent memory, 10 percent intelligence, lots of hard work, and something in the heart.”

“In this household, I do the singing.”

“Jewish cantors employ a peculiar art and method of singing in their delivery. They are unexcelled in the art of covering the voice, picking up a new key, in the treatment of the ritual chant, and overcoming vocal difficulties that lie in the words rather than in the music.” – all from Enrico Caruso

Also on this day:
It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
Hero – In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan saves twenty from a submerged bus.

It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings

The Metropolitan Opera House

September 16, 1966: The New Metropolitan Opera House opens as part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with the presentation of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra. The Metropolitan Opera has been in business since October 22, 1883 when Gounod’s Faust was presented. The first opera house was located on Broadway in the Manhattan district of New York City.

The Metropolitan Opera House of 1883 was built by a group of NYC industrialists to compete with the Academy of Music. Some of the original investors were the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Astors who owned the “old” Met and kept box seats for their use. They rented out the building to an impresario or entertainment group who then produced the operas that were presented to the public. By 1933, the Metropolitan Opera Association was formed as a non-profit opera presenter. They purchased the opera house in 1940.

As far back as the turn of the century, the original building was considered too small for the company. However, financial concerns kept The Met where it was. Finally, the new Met was opened with 4,000 seats at Lincoln Center. The Proscenium, the archway over the front of the stage, measures 54 feet wide by 54 feet high. The main stage is 103 x 90 feet which is very similar to the old Met. However, there are additional side and rear stages that create an area that is six times greater than the old theater.

Twenty-nine operas have had their world premier at The Met, including Antony and Cleopatra. The three most frequently performed operas are La Boheme, Aida, and Carmen, in that order. Each year, more than 800,000 people attend performances while millions more experience the grandeur via radio and television.

“Every afternoon I listened to the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and when I was four, I told my mother and father that it was my destiny to sing there, that I was going to sing at the Metropolitan Opera of New York City.” – Dixie Carter

“[Even the warhorses have been exercised. Five years ago, McKenzie came out with a new staging of Swan Lake that] whipped the audience at the Metropolitan Opera House into a frenzied ovation, … a ballet for both the tired critic and the tired businessman.” – Anna Kisselgoff

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.” – Maria Callas

“Opera stars know that biology is destiny. Sometime in their 50s or early 60s, the powerful, flexible and ultimately mysterious instrument that has been the source of their artistry frays, cracks and disappears.” – Michael Walsh

Also on this day, in 1976 Shavarsh Karapetyan saved twenty people from drowning.