Week of April 15, 1983

President Reagan declares that the United States is not trying to overthrow the

Nicaraguan government and says his Administration is only attempting to sever

the supply of arms from Nicaragua to leftist guerrillas in U.S. backed El Salvador.

A suicide driver’s explosive-laden truck blows up in front of the U.S. embassy in

Beirut, killing 29 and injuring 100. President Reagan denounced the bombing as

“a vicious, cowardly act” and vowed that it will not disrupt his efforts to achieve

peace in the Middle East. A high-ranking CIA analyst was one of the victims.

Auto maker John Z. DeLorean is in critical

need of cash to rescue him from the brink of

financial ruin while he awaits trial on cocaine

trafficking charges. This according to his

attorney Howard Weitzman. DeLorean was

arrested lat October on charges of

conspiracy to smuggle 220 pounds of

cocaine into the U.S.

Chrysler Corp announces that it earned

$172.1 million in the first quarter, the highest

quarterly profit in the No. 3 auto maker’s history and a solid comeback from its

brush with bankruptcy some two years ago.

Playing in Las Vegas -

Sammy Davis Jr. - Aladdin

Diana Ross - Caesars Palace

Tokyo Disneyland opens. It’s a replica of the park

at Anaheim at a cost of $630 million. The park is

managed, financed and operated by Oriental land

Co., a Japanese real estate firm. Walt Disney

Productions receives 10% of the entrance fees

and a 5% royalty on sales of foods and

merchandise.

Passing - Peter Potter - famous west coast DJ of

the 1950’s. Known for the TV show “Juke Box

Jury. He was 78.

Week of April 15, 1983

Sports - Alan King Tennis Tournament - John McEnroe

falls victim to his own temper. In the ninth game of the third

set with a 4-4 score, McEnroe missed a shot and promptly

blasted the ball into the stands. The ref gave Trey Waltke a

penalty point and eventually, Waltke captured the set.

The FAA charges “Twilight Zone” helicopter pilot Dorsey Wingo with 11 counts of

violating FAA regulations during last summer’s ill-fated crash - including

operating an aircraft in a “careless and reckless manner” and moves to revoke

Wingo’s pilot’s license.

Week of April 15, 1983

Top television shows -

Academy Awards - 38.0

60 Minutes - 24.8

Dallas - 24.0

Barbara Walters Special - 24.0

Magnum, PI - 23.7

Dynasty - 23.2

The A-Team - 22.2

Trapper John, M.D. - 21.5

Movie-Summer Girl - 20.5

Simon & Simon - 20.2

Love Boat - 19.5

Fall Guy - 10.0

Alice - 18.8

Matt Houston - 18.4

Country Music Association Anniversary - 18.3

The Mississippi - 18.2

The Jeffersons - 17.7

Television news - Disney’s “The Disney

Channel” begins this week. The pay channel will be 16 hours-a-day of pure

Disney. Old Disney shows - “Zorro,” “Davy Crocket, King of the Wild Frontier”

and “The Mickey Mouse Club” will be part of things.

Susan Saint James hosts “Saturday Night Live.”

ESPN, the mostly sports cable

network which is now in 23.3% of

American homes, says it delivers

young 18-49 males with more

education and higher income at a

rate beyond its competitors.

Tuesday night television -

CBS - Gun Shy, Now We’re

Cookin’, Movie

NBC - The A Team, Remington

Steele, St. Elsewhere , Tonight

Show, Late Night W/David

Letterman

Week of April 15, 1983

ABC - Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three’s Company, 9 to 5, Hart to Hart,

Nightline, Last Word

PBS - Nova, American Playhouse

Happy Days - Fonzie pledges his love to Ashley, but may lose her after he lets

an old girlfriend spend the night at his apartment.

Remington Steele - A corpse is found in Remington’s apartment.

Tonight Show - Joan Rivers welcomes David Steinberg, Betty White.

Music news - Paul McCartney is ordered to pay a young

German woman about $290 a month, retroactive to last

September, while a West German court decides whether his

is her father. The girl, Bettina Huebers (20), filed a paternity

suit against McCartney last year.

Paul McCartney says he will challenge a West German court

order that he make temporary monthly payments to the

daughter of a woman who has filed a paternity suit against

him. He’s also offered to taken another blood test to support

his contention that he is not the young woman’s father.

Todd Rundgren will produce the next Cheap Trick album and he’ll be producing a

new album for Laura Nyro - her first in years.

MTV adds another black artist to their rotation - Sylvester’s

“Hard Up” from his “All I Need” album. It almost didn’t make it

and took weeks for MTV to make the decision. It almost wasn’t

“rock” enough.

In a Nielsen poll of 12-34 year-olds - MTV viewers are more influenced by the

cable music video channel than by radio, concerts or commercial TV when they

buy records, and they buy more records than they did before they had the

channel.

Country music lovers will two cable networks to choose from - The Nashville

Network and the newer CMTV (Country Music TV), although CMTV is not yet

available on cable systems. CMTV is an all music video channel, unlike The

Nashville Network.

Week of April 15, 1983

No more new 8-Tracks for RCA Records

- the last of the big majors to release any

new 8-Track product. Columbia says it

will release older albums on the format,

but for a very limited run. Polygram says,

“our research indicates a lot of stores are

selling cassette converter systems. It’s

been a faster (8-track) demise than

anticipated.”

EMI Music jumps on the CD bandwagon

with initial releases slated for mid-1983.

EMI is making CD’s in Japan and many

CD’s found in the States are imported.

Radio news - San Francisco’s KQAK is

now a Rick Carroll “Rock of the 80’s”

station as is WIFI-FM in Philadelphia.

The top-40 station has been in the

ratings cellar, dropping from a 1.3 to a 1.1 in the last ratings.

CBS enters into an agreement to purchase AM powerhouse KRLD (1080) in

Dallas from Metromedia. The deal includes the Texas State Networks for a total

purchase price of $27 million.

Top hits in Britain -

Let’s Dance - David Bowie

Church of the Poison Mind -

Culture Club

Breakaway - Tracey Ullman

Is There Something I Should Know

- Duran Duran

Words - F.R. David

Ooh To Be Ah - Kajagoogoo

Speak Like A Child - Style Council

Shot Rap - Kenny Everett

Boxerbeat - Joboxers

Fields of Fire - Big Country

Week of April 15, 1983

Top hits this week in 1983 -

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

Mr. Roboto - Styx

Come On Eileen - Dexys

Midnight Runners

Beat It - Michael Jackson

Jeopardy - Greg Kihn Band

Separate Ways - Journey

Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran

Duran

Der Kommissar - After the

Fire

Do You Really Want To Hurt

Me - Culture Club

We’ve Got Tonight - Kenny

Rogers and Dolly Parton

She Blinded Me With Science

- Thomas Dolby

You Are - Lionel Richie

Let’s Dance - David Bowie

I Know There’s Something

Going On - Frida

Even Now - Bob Segar and

the Silver Bullet Band

Back On the Chain Gang -

Pretenders

Little Red Corvette - Prince

Top albums -

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Frontiers - Journey

Business as Usual - Men At Work

Kilroy was Here - Styx

Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie

Rio - Duran Duran

Toto IV - Toto

The Distance - Bob Seger and the

Silver Bullet Band

Week of April 15, 1983

The Final Cut - Pink Floyd

Pyromania - Def Leppard

The Closer You Get - Alabama

Powerlight - Earth, Wind & Fire

Jane Fonda’a Workout Record - Jane Fonda

Kissing To Be Clever - Culture Club

Too Rey Ay - Dexy’s Midnight Runners

War - U2

Another Page - Christopher Cross

Blinded By Science - Thomas Dolby

Video game industry in flux as several companies file for bankruptcy, despite that

consumers spent a record $1.5 billion on cartridges in 1982, up from $855 million

in 1981. Data Age is the latest. They recently shipped some 12,000 cartridges,

only to have 11,400 return, unsold. The problem, consumers tend to buy the top

games. The top 20 titles account for 45% of the business, but currently, some

300 titles are in the marketplace. A game’s popularity is determined in just four to

six weeks, according to distributors and manufacturers. Here are the top 15 video

games…

Centipede (Atari)

Ms. Pac-Man (Atari)

River Raid (Activision)

Phoenix (Atari)

Pitfall (Activision)

Frogger (Parker Bros.)

Vanguard (Atari)

Donkey Kong Jr. (Coleco)

Dragon Fire (Imagic)

Donkey Kong (Vanguard

Pac-Man (Atari)

Spider Fighter (Activision)

Seaquest (Activision

Swords & Serpents (Imagic)

Zaxxon (Coleco)

Top movies this week in

1983 -

Flashdance

Gandhi

Lone Wolf McQuade

Tootsie

The Outsiders

Monty Python’s The Meaning