You are here -> HOME – RETROVILLE – 1979
Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1979!
IN THE NEWS:
- American Airlines DC-10 Flight 191 goes down at O’Hare Airport just after takeoff killing all 271 people aboard
- Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to the families of the four dead in the Kent State University shooting by the Ohio National Guard
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini takes over Iran forcing the Shah to flee the country
- Margaret Thatcher becomes British Prime Minister
- Three Mile Island nuclear facility near Harrisburg, PA, experiences an accident releasing radiation into the air and narrowly avoiding a meltdown
- President Carter and Soviet Premiere Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II Agreement
- On April 10 one of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history hit Wichita Falls leaving 3,000 homes destroyed, 20,000 people homeless, injuring 1,740 people, and leaving 60 people dead
- Sandinistas oust Nicaraguan President Debayle in a military coup
- Iranian militants seize the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and hold hostages
- Synthetic insulin is introduced
- Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series
- Tracy Austin becomes the youngest player (16) to win the U.S. Open
- Actor John Wayne dies at 72
- Emmett “The Sad Clown” Kelly dies
ON THE RADIO:
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater
- Sears Radio Theater
- Stairway to the Stars
- Turk Murphy Jazz Band
ON TELEVISION:
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Taxi
FADS & FASHION:
- Big Trak
- Strawberry Shortcake dolls
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture action figures
- Intellivision
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $6,847
- Gasoline: 88 cents per gallon
- House: $71,800
- Bread: 43 cents per loaf
- Milk: $1.50 per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 15 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $22,316
- Minimum Wage: $2.90 per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- Kramer vs Kramer – drama by Robert Benton starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- Sweeney Todd – based on the book by Hugh Wheeler, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreographed by Larry Fuller, starring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou
PULITZER PRIZES:
- The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (fiction)
- Buried Child by Sam Shepard (drama)
- The Dred Scott Case by Don E. Fehrenbacher (history)
- Days of Sorry and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews by Leonard Baker (biography)
- Now and Then by Robert Penn Warren (poetry)
- On Human Nature by Edward O. Wilson (non-fiction)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- Mother Teresa, India, 1914-1997, leader of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity
TOP SONGS:
- Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
- Da Ya Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart
- Babe by Styx
