Week of July 19, 1985
Toyota Motor Co says it will build its own manufacturing plant in the United
States by 1988 to produce “about 200,000” cars a year and will expand
production at its joint venture in Fremont, Calif to provide 50,000 cars to its
American dealers beginning in the fall of this year.
The United States calls for an end to the week-old state of emergency in South
Africa, noting the suspension of civil liberties has failed to end the violence in
black townships.
It’s announced that Sharon
Christa McAuliffe
, a
New Hampshire social studies teacher will fly on the
space shuttle in January. She was chosen from
over 1,000 applicants.
Passing - Kay Kyser - the “Old Professor” on radio’s
beloved “Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge
at 79.
Popular books -
The Hunt For Red October - Clancy
Lonesome Dove - McMurtry
Skeleton Crew - King
The Cider House Rules - Irving
It Tomorrow Comes - Sheldon
Iacocca - Iacocca with Novak
Smart Women, Foolish Choices -Cowan and Kinder
Nothing Down - Allen
Dr Berger’s Immune Power Diet - Burger
Loving Each Other - Buscagha
Cable television - a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia overturns longstanding federal regulations that require cable
systems to carry the signals of all major broadcast stations in their communities.
They ruled that the “must carry” rules are “fundamentally at odds” with the
Constitution’s free speech guarantees.
The USA For Africa album “We Are The World” debuts. The concert could be
heard on radio stations coast to coast.
Week of July 19, 1985
Top touring acts of 1985 so far
Kenny Rogers
Prince & The Revolution
Neil Diamond
Phil Collins
U2
Grateful Dead
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Luciano Pavarotti
Liberace
Johnny Mathis
Iron Maiden
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Top Video rentals
-
The Karate Kid
The Terminator
Starman
The Flamingo Kid
2010: The Year We Make Contact
Places In The Heart
Missing in Action
Nighmare on Elm Street
Micki & Maude
Protocol
Bestselling computer software -
F-15 Strike Eagle
Flight Simulator II
Flight Simulator
The Hitchiker’s Guide To The
Galaxy
Ghostbusters
Beachhead II
Summer Games II
Buzz at video stores - At least one
video tape has been sitting around
the stores for a while - until its
distribution company stirred up
some controversy about it. The
tape - “
Faces of
Death.”
Now all
Week of July 19, 1985
the publicity has made people curious. You can rent it - or purchase it for
$59.95.
So, should you buy a Beta or VHS machine? - Industry watchers estimate the
Beta share of the market to be 14% to 16% and dropping. A big problem
continues to be availability of prerecorded tapes. Most stores have meager Beta
selections.
It’s announced that Michael Jackson is teaming up with
Hollywood heavyweights George Lucas and Francis
Coppola to film “Captain EO” - a 3-D musical space
fantasy. The science-fiction extravaganza will debut
sometime n 1986 as a permanent new attraction at Epcot
Center at Disney World and at a new theater in
Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Compact Disc update
- right now, there are 3,000 titles
of compact discs. Demand is exceeding supply since
there are only six large CD record plants in the world
today. As new plants come online, don’t expect CD prices
to fall either. So, if you see a CD you want, grab it. It may be months or even
years before it is pressed again.
It’s announced that actor Rock
Hudson, whose recent frail
appearance stunned a public, has
AIDS and has had the disease for
more than a year. Hudson, whose
continuing popularity was enhanced
last season by television
appearances in the prime-time soap
“Dynasty” is the first international
celebrity revealed to have the killer
disease.
Rock Hudson gets a phone call at
the American Hospital in Paris from
an old friend who just happens to be president - Ronald Reagan. Recovering
from an operation for colon cancer, Reagan called to wish him well. Later it’s
announced that Hudson is being treated with the experimental drug HPA-23
developed by the scientists at the Institute Pasteur to combat AIDS.
Week of July 19, 1985
Hollywood news - Actor
Sean
Penn
and his pop-singer-fiancée
Madonna
are targets of a $1 million
damage suite filed by Laurence
Cottrell - a free-lance photographer.
He says Penn attacked with a rock
and his own camera in a Nashville,
Tenn. hotel car park last month.
“Pepsi - the choice of a new generation.”
Washington DC - Tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert go on sale for an
August 5 show and 53,000 tickets are sold in 97 minutes. Phone lines were tied-
up throughout the area, including the White House. So far, Springsteen’s “Born In
The USA” album has spurned 5 hit singles.
Music - Peter, Paul & Mary celebrate 25 years and perform once again at The
Bitter End coffee house in Greenwich Village. Lucky patrons got a 2-hour treat.
Radio news - New York - WKTU-FM (92.3) changes call-letters and formats this
week. The hit station is now WXRK (K-Rock) and is now an album rocker. It
kicked off the format with ABC’s coverage of the Live Aid concert, followed by a
Bruce Springsteen salute. (Beginning on November 18, Howard Stern will
begin mornings here. As of this week, Stern is still with rival station WNBC. He’ll
be fired on September 30).
Religious television - going stronger than ever is Dr
Gene Scott
and his ministry. He’s based out of
Glendale, California. You can catch his “University
Network” on a local UHF outlet. Scott recently lost a
television license to operate KHOF-TV (channel 30) in
Southern California due to FCC problems.
Syndicated television - the big buzz is how well “Wheel
of Fortune” does in early fringe around the country. It
beats other syndicated biggies such as “MASH,”
“Jeopardy,” “PM Magazine,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “People’s Court” and
“Family Feud” with Richard Dawson. The program is hosted by former television
weatherman Pat Sajak.
Week of July 19, 1985
More television news - NBC is phasing out its “N”
logo over the coming months and introducing a
new symbol that
combines a
redesigned version
of the peacock
with all three
letters of NBC’s
name. NBC says
“the peacock is
round and sort of playful while the N is rigid and
geometric and they don’t work together. Instead of 11 feathers, the new peacock
has six with each feather being a different color.
Sunday Night Television -
CBS - 60 Minutes, Murder, She Wrote, Crazy Like A
Fox, Trapper John, MD
NBC - Punky Brewster, Silver Spoons, Knight Rider,
Movie
ABC - Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, Movie
PBS - Evening At Pops, Masterpiece Theater
MTV - Videos, Rock Influences with
Karla Devito
Punky Brewster - Punky and a friend try to produce a
Jane Fonda-type aerobics cassette but they end up in trouble.
Silver Spoons - When Rick starts a child-care business he discovers that one of
his children is the victim of parental kidnapping.
Evening at Pops - Flutist
James Galway
, singer Cleo
Laine and the John Dankworth Quartet perform with John
Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
At the movies -
St Elmo’s Fire
- Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, Emilio
Estevez, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andrew
McCarthy
Rambo First Blood Part II
- Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier,
Steven Berkoff
“Back To The Future”
- Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson,
Crispin Golver
Week of July 19, 1985
Fright Night
-
Chris Sarandon,
William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse,
Stephen Goeffreys, Roddy McDowall.
Silverado
- Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn,
Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Kevin
Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Golver,
Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt.
Steve Spielberg presents The
Goonies
. Music by Dave Grusin
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Mel
Gibson, Tina Turner
Walt Disney’s The Black Cauldron
Prizzi’s Honor
- Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner,
Pale Rider
- Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgrass, Christopher
Penn, Richard Dysart, Sydney Penny, Richard Kiel, Doug McGrath, John Russell
The Heavenly Kid
- Lewis Smith, Jane Kaczmarek, Jason Gedrick, Richard
Mulligan
The Man With One Red Show
- Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, Lori Singer,
Charles Durning, Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Edward Herrmann
The Emerald Forest
- Powers Boothe, Meg Foster, Charley Boorman
The Legend of Billie Jean
- Helen Slater, Keith Gordon, Christian Slater, Peter
Coyote
Pop music this week in 1985 -
Shout - Tears For Fears
The Power of Love - Huey Lewis &
The News
If You Love Somebody Set Them
Free - Sting
Freeway of Love - Aretha Franklin
Summer of ‘69 - Bryan Adams
What About Love? - Heart
Get It On - Power Station
You Spin Me Around (Like A
Record) - Dead or Alive
People are People - Depeche Mode
Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen
St Elmo’s Fire - John Parr
Week of July 19, 1985
Who’s Holding Donna Now - Debarge
You Give Good Live - Air Supply
Everytime You Go Away - Paul Young
The Search Is Over - Survivor
Getcha Back - The Beach Boys
Not Enough Live in the World - Don Henley
Find A Way - Amy Grant
Cherish - Kool & The Gang
Your Love Is King - Sade
Playing on country stations
-
Old Hippie - The Bellamy Brothers
Love Don’t Care - Earl Thomas Conley
40-Hour Week (For a Livin’) - Alabama
Real Love - Dolly Parton with Kenny Rogers
Highwayman - Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash,
Kris Kristofferson
I Don’t Think I’m Ready For You - Ann Murray
She’s Single Again -
Janie Frickie
The Fireman - George Straight
Dixie Road - Lee Greenwood
Love Is Alive - The Judds
Playing on black radio stations -
Hangin’ On A String - Loose Ends
Who’s Holding Donna Now - Debarge
Freeway of Love - Aretha Franklin
Save Your Love (For #1) - Rene & Angela
Rock Me Tonight - Freddie Jackson
Rasberry Beret - Prince & The Revolution
Attack Me With Your Love - Cameo
19 - Paul Hardcastle
Glow - Rick James
I Wonder If I Take You Home - Lisa-Lisa & Cult
Jam With Full Force
Week of July 19, 1985
Top Albums -
Reckless - Bryan Adams
No Jacket Required - Phil Collins
Songs From The Big Chair - Tears For Fears
Invasion of Your Privacy - Ratt
Beverly Hills Cop - Soundtrack
Around The World In A Day - Prince & The
Revolution
7 Wishes - Night Ranger
The Dream Of Blue Turtles - Sting
Like A Virgin - Madonna
The Power Station
Theatre of Pain - Motley Crue
Whitney Houston
Dream Into Action - Howard Jones
More Albums -
Emergency - Kool & The Gang
Brothers in Arms - Dire Straights
Make It Big - Wham
Brother Where You Bound - Supertramp
Little Creatures - Talking Heads
Fables of the Reconstruction - R.E.M.
Empire Burlesque - Bob Dylan
Air Supply
Voices Carry - ‘Til Tuesday
Vital Signs - Survivor
Maverick - George Thorogood
Fly On The Wall - AC/DC
7800 Fahrenheit - Bon Jovi
Katrina and the Waves
Building The Perfect Beast - Don Henley
Heart - Heart
Centerfield - John Fogerty
Southern Accents - Tom Petty And the Heartbreakers
Shaken ‘N Stirred - Robert Plant
