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30th anniversary of 2nd New York power failure

R

RADIO TRUTH

The first one was a cool fall day, 11/9/65 at 5:23 P. M. The second one was on 7/8/77, a hot summer evening. The first one, being in rush hour, had many more people stuck on subways and in elevators. The second one, with the heat and tension, had much more looting and crime. Radio and tv did a better job covering the first one
in relation to the technology of the day. Remember the two page edition of the New York Times the next day after the first one.
 
The second failure was on July 13 1977 It was my Mother's birthday and the lights went out around 9:30PM oddly enough, just minutes after she blew out the candles on her cake. We had planned tp celebrate at a restaurant downtown for whatever reason decided to stay home. Just aswell.

My Grandmother lived in The Bronx on the Grand Concourse in Bedford Park, a few hours after lights out we finally were able to contact her, she said that the lobby staff had barricaded the door to her building and many of the adult male residents were down there with baseball bats, sticks and knives to ward-off intruders there were rumors of bands of looting "youths" as they were called then and they heard alot of sirens and several gunshots. She also said that from her apt she could see smoke trails from several fires and that some of it was blowing up toward her and making her cough.

Down here, on th eupper east side the smoke from several fires in Harlem stank all over the area and the radio began reporting sporadic looting in Brooklyn, Bronx and one area of Queens.

As luck had it, we had been recording my Mothers B'Day and I had a tape machine ready so I made a number of airchecks that night.

I have had these recordings on WinMX for about 6 years and they have circulated widely. I'll post more here later when sendspace is working normally.

Here is one of wABC:http://www.sendspace.com/file/s8yzh7

Lino
 
Here are 7 more from 7-13-77:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/9kz52v 1977 Blackout aircheck WABC_01.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/qctipy 1977 Blackout aircheck WABC_2.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/p7ibxj 1977 Blackout aircheck WCBS-AM 2.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/erptf9 1977 Blackout aircheck WCBS-AM.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ljf7ch 1977 Blackout aircheck WINS 2.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ifkp4 1977 Blackout aircheck WINS.mp3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ftp555 1977 Blackout aircheck WABC 3.mp3

-more to come
 
I was a 17 year old working at Shea Stadium as a Harry M. Stevens soda vendor that night. Several memories come to mind.

When the lights went out, the stadium's emergency auxiliary lights kicked in, but looking outside of the stadium it was pitch black. While waiting for the power to return, they opened the fence in centerfield to allow a couple of the Mets players to drive their cars onto the outfield grass to light the darkened field. The players ran around the field and pantomimed for the entertainment of the small crowd. After about 90 minutes, they finally called the game, when they realized that the power wasn't going to return anytime soon.

As a vendor, I was carrying a couple of hundred dollars, including around $50 in loose change in my apron. Since the power was out, so too were the automated coin counting machines. H.M. Stevens management told us to take our money, go home and come back in the morning to tally out. Like many of my peer vendors, I didn't own a car at the time and was using mass transit. Without power, the #7 subway wasn't running, leaving me to trudge across the Flushing Bridge (rotten egg smell and all) to Main Street to catch a bus, with my loose change jingling all way! If you're familiar with the area, you'd know that crossing that bridge in the daytime was no picnic, let alone in total darkness!

Luckily, a call was placed to the Mets front office and we were directed to go to the Diamond Club entrance where there was someone willing to give us (myself and 2 other vendors) a lift home. When we arrived there, we were surprised to learn that we would be driven home by one of the Mets ballplayers--John Stearns! John, a.k.a. "The Dude" was a native of Oklhahoma, and a bit crazy. I'll never forget how he flew up Northern Boulevard--with all the traffic lights out--at a 70 mph clip! The following year, I was working at the Burger King in Main Street, when Stearnsey came in on his way to Shea. He must have remembered me because when saw me through the service window, he pointed at me and yelled "DUUUDE!" LOL!
 
fang39 must remember it all too well. The Mets traded Tom Seaver the month before and would go through their darkest period, which wouldn't end until 1984. Up in the Bronx the Yankees were on their way to a World Series that would be long remembered.

Historical note: George Michael on WABC was playing "Do You Wanna Make Love" by Peter McCann when the lights went out.
 
chuckydoll said:
fang39 must remember it all too well. The Mets traded Tom Seaver the month before and would go through their darkest period, which wouldn't end until 1984. Up in the Bronx the Yankees were on their way to a World Series that would be long remembered.

Historical note: George Michael on WABC was playing "Do You Wanna Make Love" by Peter McCann when the lights went out.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the blackout occurred during ther "Son of Sam" hysteria.
 
fang39 said:
I was a 17 year old working at Shea Stadium as a Harry M. Stevens soda vendor that night.
Click to expand...
My sister and her future husband were at the game. They walked through Flushing Meadow Park with a few thousand other folks back to our home in Forest Hills.

My dad & I spent a couple of hours directing traffic.
 
chuckydoll said:
fang39 must remember it all too well. The Mets traded Tom Seaver the month before and would go through their darkest period, which wouldn't end until 1984. Up in the Bronx the Yankees were on their way to a World Series that would be long remembered.

Historical note: George Michael on WABC was playing "Do You Wanna Make Love" by Peter McCann when the lights went out.
Click to expand...

I remember George ad libbing all night until Harry Harrison came in at 6:00 AM. He did such a great job that night that he did not stutter once. He even mentioned the song he was playing when the lights went and he said "I looked up at the sky and said God, it is not a bad song!"
 
In an effort to finish my degree more quickly, that summer I was taking classes at Rockland Community College. My second class of the evening ("Marriage and the Family") was let out at about 9:40, after the lights had been flickering, and I got out to my 1972 Vega and flicked on the (AM-only) radio. The first thing that hit me was, "Why is George Michael broadcasting from inside a tin can?"

I got back to my parents' house in North Jersey, and found my mom and my sisters sitting raptly on the couch, watching Channel 4. Tony Guida -- his hair still brown then -- had been out at dinner, and came bopping in off the street in a polo shirt and shorts, as I recall.

At something like 1 AM, Chuck Scarborough finally gave in to the heat, and loosened his tie. :eek:

Anita
 
THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN 1977, I WAS LISTENING TO THE METS GAME ON WNEW-AM 1130 AND LENNY RANDLE WAS AT BAT. ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE LIGHT OUT.

I WENT OUTSIDE AND SAW THAT MY WHOLE BLOCK WAS IN THE DARK.



THANKS,
KEVIN L. SEALY
 
The URL links to the audio from that night and day are expired. Can someone please repost the audio.
 
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