Early Media Coverage of the Hummer, ESPN and Dave Matthews

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Every Monday, we travel into the archives of The New York Times to find the first time the paper covered various topics. This edition features the humble origins of ESPN, early praise of Dave Matthews, and more.

Hummer

March 27, 1983

Military to Replace Jeep With Bigger Vehicle The jeep, the military's workhorse of World War II, is about to be replaced. Its successor, to be called a Hummer, will be a larger vehicle designed to keep pace with today's modern military. As is typical with the military, the name of the new vehicle is derived from the initials that spell out what it is designed to be: a high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle. * * * * * The Hummer, five times bigger than a jeep, which was developed in the 1930's, may play a bigger role than its predecessor because it is designed to replace other vehicles and trucks in the fleet that are also aging fast. One Hummer will replace two jeeps and a trailer carrying antitank missiles.

Keep reading for ESPN, Dave Matthews, Secretariat, Grey's Anatomy and Gray's Anatomy...

Dave Matthews Band

September 2, 1994

A Forum For 60's-Style Jamming Horde, a neat acronym for the clunky phrase Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere, was conceived of in 1992 by Blues Traveler, a New York-based band that continues to select most of the groups on the tour. Blues Traveler has performed in the festival every year. This time around, it was joined by the Dave Matthews Band, Cycomotogoat, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, the Screaming Cheetah Wheelies, Rusted Root and the Allman Brothers Band. Though most of these groups are glorified bar bands, playing an all-American fusion of blues and rock, an overwhelming majority of audience members seemed to be below drinking age. The pacing was uncanny: literally seconds after a performance on one stage ended, a group on the other stage began. The day started on the main stage with the Dave Matthews Band, the most promising new group on the bill. It performed lively, introspective rock songs that had just the right amount of open spaces for improvisations and solos. Outside of Mr. Matthews's gently emotional vocals, the high point was the violin playing of Boyd Tinsley, which moved nimbly from mock-classical background accompaniment to upbeat bluegrass. [Image courtesy of MusicMonthly.com.]

ESPN

July 22, 1979

Tomorrow—'A Video Supermarket' An equally ambitious cable operation, due to begin in September, is the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), based in Bristol, Conn. With the Getty Oil Company as its major backer, ESPN plans to become the nation's first all-sports network, offering not only play-by-play coverage but also sports-related news and feature programs. "Our goal is to provide a continuous 'Wide World of Sports' for the sincere sports fan," explains ESPN's president William F. Rasmussen, referring to the highly successful ABC series....During its premiere weekend, the network plans to carry four football games, two soccer games, the European Open Golf Tournament, the U.S. slow-pitch softball championship and highlights of the American Legion baseball playoffs. * * * * * A preview of ESPN's schedule reveals another soap opera—called Teams—for sports fans. Such mimicking of the established networks, however, can only make cable networks more vulnerable to criticism and less the programming "alternative" they hope to be.

Grey's Anatomy

October 17, 2004

All That Korean Rage, Unbottled Q. Was your new character on Grey's Anatomy, the intern Christina Yang, written as Asian? A. No, she was a pert little blonde and the thing is the woman who runs the show, Shonda Rhimes, is a black woman, which makes a big [expletive] difference. What I like about my character is she's ambitious, she's not apologetic. She's a complete female character who doesn't have to be bitchy or conniving.

Gray's Anatomy

July 8, 1899

Women Here and There One of the few Chinese women in this city is a clever little woman. She studied medicine in China, and she understands the theory very well, though she has never practiced. But with this knowledge and her general intelligence she is a delight to the doctor who is called to attend her family occasionally, she carries out any orders given her so well....The little Chinese woman has all her medical books in Chinese; all the old standbys, even Gray's Anatomy, with the Chinese hieroglyphics, but European illustrations which make it lucid to any one who knows them.

Secretariat

August 16, 1972

Linda's Chief Heads Saratoga Field Today A meeting between undefeated Linda's Chief and the formidable Secretariat will be the big attraction tomorrow, with the 59th running of the Sanford Stakes. There are five others in this six-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds but the big expectation is a duel between this pair. * * * * * Secretariat has yet to compete in stakes, and has a record of two victories in his three attempts. His only setback came in his debut, when he was impeded at the start.

From Previous Installments... "¢ The Presidential Candidates (Obama, Clinton, McCain, Huckabee, Paul, Bloomberg) "¢ New York Edition (Woody Allen, Donald Trump, Bob Dylan, Candace Bushnell and more) "¢ Greatest Hits (Walkman, Email, Digital Camera, David Bowie and more) "¢ November 3, 2007: Appearance on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday

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