Midwest

If you didn't have MTV in the early to mid '80s, or even if you did, you were parked in front of the TV to watch??Friday Night Videos??on NBC after??The Tonight Show.

It was the jingle you couldn't escape if you watched TV in Cleveland in the early '80s. Channel 43 went on the air in 1968, eight months after the debut of WKBF, Channel 61. Both were independent stations, but only one survived the '70s....

The Chicago Fire were charter members of the World Football League in 1974. The team started off well, posting a 7-2 record in the first half of the season and drawing an average of 34,000 fans to Soldier Field. However, after a 10-game losing...

Opened in 1972, The Continent was a forerunner of today's lifestyle shopping centers such as Easton Center. Designed to mimic a French village or neighborhood, the complex mixed shopping, dining, and entertainment. The centerpiece was the French Market. By the early '90s, a few...

The Columbus Red Birds began play in 1902 as the Senators in the AA American Association. In 1931, the team was purchased by, and became a farm team of, the St. Louis Cardinals, changing their nickname to Red Birds. In 1946, the Red Birds...

After the International Hockey League (IHL) Columbus Checkers folded in 1970, the NHL's California Golden Seals??acquired the rights to put an IHL farm team in Ohio's capital. In 1973, the Columbus Golden Seals were sold and renamed the Owls. Their home ice was the...

"Tidewater" was the geographic designation for Norfolk's AAA baseball team. The club was established in 1963. In 1993, they went with Norfolk over Tidewater.

Burger Chef was a fast-food hamburger chain that started in Indianapolis in 1958. At its peak in the mid 1970s, it was second only to McDonald's in the number of nationwide locations. In the late '70s, animated spokespersons Burger Chef and Jeff were introduced....

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) debuted in 1978 with six teams. Playing on a astroturf-covered hockey rinks, the league quickly grew in popularity through the 1980s. Interest began to wane toward the end of the decade. Teams included the very popular St. Louis...

Family Video was in founded in 1978 in Springfield, Illinois as the Video Movie Club. The idea came about when??Midstates Appliance and Supply Company, owned by Charles Hoogland, found itself stuck with an excess of video movies as a result of being a distributor...

The Detroit Drive was formed in 1988, joining the Arena Football League for that circuit's second season. The team played in the Motor City's Joe Louis Arena through the 1993 season, winning four AFL championships. The team moved to Worcester, MA in 1994 and...

Founded in Cincinnati in 1943, King Records was one of the most important independent record labels in music history. One of its sibling labels, Federal Records, was the original home of James Brown. King was purchased by Nashville's Gusto Records in 1974.

If you know, or are any person from Cincinnati, you know thatGoetta is more than food... it is life.

"As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." The most famous episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, and one of the most acclaimed episodes of any sitcom, "Turkeys Away" follows the station's misguided attempt to give away turkeys. The whole promotion ends in...

The Chicago Fire were a charter member of the World Football League in 1974. The team started off well, posting a 7-2 record in the first half of the season and drawing an average of 34,000 fans to Soldier Field. However, after a 10-game...

The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro League baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League from 1913 to 1926.

The Richfield Coliseum opened in 1974 as a replacement for the aging Cleveland Arena. It's location was chosen because it was halfway between Cleveland and Akron at the intersection of Route 303 and I-271. The site of the Cavaliers' Mircacle at Richfield, its other...

Euclid Beach Park opened in 1895 on Lake Shore Boulevard and served as the area's primary amusement park for over 70 years. Financial problems, along with competition from the newly expanded Geauga Lake, spelled the end of Euclid Beach Park after the 1969 season.

CKLW, 800 on the AM dial, "the Big 8," was one of Detroit's most iconic rock & roll radio stations in the '60s and '70s, even though its studios and transmitter were located across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station's weekly...

The St. Louis NFL team that nearly was. After losing the football Cardinals to Phoenix in 1987, St. Louis sought an expansion team. In October 1993, Charlotte was awarded a team (the Carolina Panthers) but the announcement of the second team was delayed. Many...

Steeped in '70s, and a little '80s, nostalgia, the Have a Nice Day Cafe was a chain of restaurants that operated from the mid-90s to the early 2000s. At its peak, the chain had over 20 locations across the U.S.

Hot Sam Pretzels was a fast food??franchise that first opened in Detroit's Livonia Mall in 1966. With franchised locations also found mostly in shopping malls, it was bought by Mrs. Fields, off of cookies, in 1995 and merged with Pretzel Time. Hot Sam is...

Woodsy Owl first appeared in 1971 and asked Americans to take better care of the environment by disposing of trash properly. An??updated version??of Woodsy was developed in the 1990s.

Burger Chef was a fast-food hamburger chain that started in Indianapolis in 1958. At its peak in the mid 1970s, it was second only to McDonald's in the number of nationwide locations. The chain even made inroads into Canada. In 1982, the chain was...

One of Cleveland's all-time most beloved sports franchises, and indeed one of America's most popular soccer teams ever, was the Force. They were a charter member of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) in 1978 and played 10 seasons before folding in 1988. READ...

The Flip Side started selling records & tapes in Chicago in 1971. At its peak, it had over 25 locations throughout the Midwest. However, the rapidly changing landscape of the music industry caused The Flip Side to go out of business in 1992.

The St. Louis Eagles played in the National Hockey League during the 1934-35 season. The team had moved from Ottawa where they were known as the Senators. OS3842

Founded in 1967 in Columbus, Gold Circle??was a discount department store chain??that grew to 76 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Western New York State. The chain was dissolved in 1988.

The Kansas City Monarchs are probably the best-known Negro league baseball team in history, as well as the longest running. In 1942, they finished their season 27-12-0, and finished 2nd in Negro American League and ended up winning the 1942. Negro World Series. CHECKOUT OUR...

In 1976, America's largest fast food chain introduced the character of Phil A. O'Fish to help sell their fish sandwiches. In recent years it has become the opposite of an urban legend with many asserting Phil A. O'Fish never existed. He did, but he...