Episode 10: Reliving My First Author Event; Lubec, Maine; The Birth of Nickelodeon; This Week In History (2-18-2021)

Episode 10 marks 7 years since the very first author event for my very first book In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide.  I take a look back at that event, what led up to it, how it went, and how events evolved after.
This week's Road Trip takes us as far east as we can go in the United States.  The tiny town of Lubec, Maine is within sight of Canada and has a special spot in my heart.  It was West Quoddy Head Lighthouse that was my first must-see destination as a travel writer.  However there is much more to Lubec.
The first children's cable television channel was Nickelodeon.  We go Back In the Day to discover its origins, relive the golden age of the mid-1980's, and look at how it changed the face of children's television.
This Week In History features a lesser known lighthouse for sale, the birth of the United States Postal Service, how Valentine's Day got started, the birth of a music icon, and another new Time Capsule.
I also reveal my ballot for the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!  All of this and more on Episode 10 so come on and take a walk!

Check out Episode 9 here.

Transcript

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00:00 Intro

Hello world. How is everybody doing out there this week? Welcome to the in my footsteps podcast. This is Episode 10. I am coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I am your host, Christopher Setterlund. Thank you all so much for tuning in. How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Did you all celebrate? It is not high on my list of favorite holidays, which is why I didn't include it in last week's podcast with the anticipation of it coming up. We will talk about the history of it this week in this week in history. But yeah, otherwise, Valentine's Day, just another day for me. It sounds like bitter man speak but whatever. That's fine. 

So how is everyone doing out there though? Are you sick of winter? I know I am the last week, we've gotten some snow and ice. And I've gotten stuck in my car in the snow a couple times. Every winter, I get less and less enthused about living in a place where there's snow and cold. But then the funny part is, I'm less enthused about living somewhere that has the super hot, humid summers. So I'm stuck. I would love to find a place that's 70 degrees year round, and maybe low to mid 50s at night because I like cool nights, I run hot because of my Scandinavian blood. That's my blessing and curse. 

Thank you again to everybody who has tuned in to any of these first 10 now episodes, and enjoyed them and spread the word about them. That's the main thing. That's how we grow this podcast and get ears and eyes on the videos on YouTube. It's word of mouth. So any of you who have done that, for me, whether one person has listened from it, or 50 or 100. If you've done anything like that, I really appreciate it because this is definitely a passion project that is getting some traction. But I can't do it myself. I'm very much hands on when it comes to marketing. But you also need supportive friends, family and fans that just enjoy the podcast. If you've listened to any of these podcasts, you know how much music has influenced my life growing up. And this time of year is always fun, because it's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination time. And I'm always one I don't know if any of you get the nominations and vote, but I always do every year. So who do we got this year for 2021. There are 16 artists that are finalists, and you can go to RockHall.com and vote for your favorites from now through April 30. You can vote for 5. I won't go through all 16 nominations, but I'll give you my 5 that I'm going to vote for probably when I get done recording this podcast. Number 1 is Foo Fighters. For obvious reasons anyone that listened to my segment about grunge music and the influence on me. I've seen Foo Fighters twice Dave Grohl is one of the last true rock Gods out there. I'm voting for Rage Against the Machine. Makes me feel old knowing that Foo Fighters and Rage Against the Machine are up for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations. I am voting for Tina Turner because she is just an icon of music. And if you don't know her from music, check her out in Mad Max. She was awesome in that movie too. I'm voting for Carole King, who is an awesome singer songwriter. And finally, I'm voting for the Go-Go's because I liked them growing up. But also Belinda Carlisle was one of the first musicians I had a crush on when I was 10-11 years old. So she always has a special place in my heart. So that's my five. What are your five? There's more than just that there's 16 total. And I'm sure I'll mention the finalists that get in when that happens at the end of April. 

But for now, this is Episode 10 of the in my footsteps podcast. What do we got going on this week? Well, it's the anniversary of my first book event seven years ago this week. You will get some in depth info about what it was like being there, how much it's changed since then it's become way more professional than my first event was. I've actually scheduled my first event for my new book, that's going to be at the end of August, we're trying and hoping that we might be able to have people there. But if not, we'll start doing Zoom meetings. For book events. We're going to take a road trip as far east as we can go in the United States. We'll go way back in the day, to the early days of Nickelodeon, and everyone who's my age and maybe a little older, and everyone younger knows Nickelodeon. And we will have this week in history with another time capsule. Hopefully you guys like that from last week. I enjoy doing those little slice of what life was like this week, in some year in the past. We got all that and more coming up on episode 10 of the in my footsteps podcast, I am Christopher Setterlund. And Come on, let's go take a walk

06:03 Reliving My First Book Event

With a new book on the horizon at the end of May of this year. And hopefully with vaccinations ramping up in the COVID pandemic starting to slide down, there might be some more events to come along with this book. I wanted to go back seven years ago this week to the very first book event I did for my very first book, and kind of compare and contrast how that when compared to how things have gone like more recently. For those that might not be familiar, my first book that ever came out was entitled, In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide. The in my footsteps title as you know is the name of the podcast, the name of several books, the name of a travel blog, I latched on to it when I was doing the travel writing. And that kind of works for me as far as travel, and only writing about places where I had physically had my feet in my footsteps. It was released in October of 2013. And I won't get too deep into the process of making that book and what it was all about. I want to save that for when the anniversary of it comes up. But basically it featured, I think it was something like 95 places on Cape Cod, well known ones lesser known ones. I know a lot of secret spots down on the cape. So I was happy to share some that were not private and wouldn't get people in trouble. 

The book was released through Schiffer publishing. And they did a lot of legwork. As far as getting it into bookstores, I did a lot of my own marketing. I'm one that I'm very hands on which publishers like, I'm of the mindset that if you have your own business or your own products, nobody should be marketing you more than yourself. If you've got other people that are sharing your stuff more than you are then you are not trying your best to be successful. I spent that winter doing a couple of interviews. And that was basically you know, it was my first book, I didn't have a real track record as far as being an author. So I was kind of taking what whatever come my way. And with that came my first author event. They called it 'coffee with the author,' and it was held at the Osterville village library. It was held on February 15, 2014 at 10am. So it was a Saturday, the book was pretty popular through libraries and bookstores, because people are interested in Cape Cod and finding new places to see and learning a little bit of history. 

But in the sense of being honest, I was never a public speaker. Despite hearing this podcast, and anyone that has come to any of my book events in the past. That is not who I was. I was an extrovert around people that I knew and people that I was comfortable around. But as far as strangers as far as everyday people, I was a huge introvert and very, very shy. So just imagine my horror when Here it is. I'm going to do a book event. And Yeah, I'd have some family there. But there was going to be strangers just standing there coming to hear me talk about something I'm a supposed expert in. Needless to say, when I got to the library that morning, probably a half hour before Showtime. I was really nervous. So today when I do book events, I actually have a rolling suitcase, with books with laptops with pages of notes, any other visuals and things that I need for my talk to sound very professional. I've got a PowerPoint presentation, things that make it where you go and it's like you get your money's worth for coming to one of my events. When I got to the Osterville village library on that morning in 2014. All I had with me was one copy of my book. Well, I had copies for sale, but my whole setup all my props was one book. I looked pretty much like a rookie when it came to these sorts of things because I was, and I walked in, and the people were very nice there. That's why I went, I've done several events there. But they said, Oh, you're in this conference room down at the end of the hall. And I'll never forget, they said, 'you've already got somebody waiting in there for you.' And I was, like nervously optimistic. I'll never forget my biggest memory of that first book event, was walking into that conference room. And seeing my grandfather sitting there waiting for me, he was there before me for my first event. And I'm going to get much, much deeper into my grandfather, John Sullivan, and his influence on who I am as a human. And a lot of what I am, as far as, you know, the general makeup as a person, at some point, I will do an episode of the podcast strictly on him. And trust me, it'll be good. But I'll just say, this event, my first event could have been an abject failure. And the fact that my grandfather felt so much pride and he was so excited to come and see me, I could have failed miserably. And I would have felt it was a success, because my grandfather thought it was a success. 

But how did the event go? So I ended up with I would say, like two dozen people there, which is all right. As far as family, of course, I said, My grandfather was there. My mother was there, my three sisters were there. My auntie Emma and Uncle Eric, who are now the ones that I when I talked about living in Vegas, they're the aunt and uncle that I talked about. I wasn't sure if they wanted me to name drop them. But you know, I'll mention them here because they were at my first event, my cousin Dale, she was there. And a lot of just really nice, I'll say strangers, but they were fans, which blew my mind. And here I am, the event consisted of me talking about who I was 12th generation Cape Codder I go back to the Doane family go back to Episode One of the podcast to learn about him, Deacon, john Doane. And the process of making the book, the things that make Cape Cod unique, my favorite places. But the best part that people have future events for this book kind of laughed at was I didn't have a PowerPoint presentation, it looked like fifth grade show and tell. Here I am with a copy of my book. And I was thumbing through it basically, and finding the places I was talking about and walking around the room to where the people were sitting and showing them the pictures, which sounds like something you would do in fifth grade. Like this is my favorite book. Look, here's a picture of a doggy. That was basically what I did, except I had a nicer shirt on. 

Being shy and introverted. I had to learn how to be a public speaker and project my voice and show confidence. And it was easy because well, not easy, but easy. Or because I had a product of book, something that I believed in and something that I knew I had knowledge on. When you are confident in what you're talking about, it becomes easier. If you were to throw me into something with biology or chemistry and say go out there and do a speech on this, I would fall on my face. It was mind blowing after my talking part was over. And I did q&a, or I call it storytime at now at events where people either talk about where they've been or they asked me about other things to kind of get ideas anyway. So I had my books and I do a soft sell. I don't like people coming to my events and me saying, Oh, I'm selling you my books Get over here. If they want it, they'll get it. If they don't want it. They might get it in the future. If you're not too pushy. That's kind of something I've learned. But having a line of people there and selling out of my books and actually having people asked me to autograph things was blew my mind. I had this pen. It was from the Cape Cod Cooperative Bank. I think I still have it but it doesn't write anymore. But one of my old friends. She's been best friends with my twin sisters Lindsey and Ashley forever. Crystal Joy Smith, she was Gonzalves when she was single. She gave it to me at the first Chamber of Commerce event I ever went to for the dentist chamber a few months earlier. And I had used that thing to sign hundreds of books before it finally died. And it's one of those little keepsakes I have for the in my footsteps journey. I call it speaking of old friends I'll never forget. There's an old old old friend named Jessica. She was homes when she was younger, but we went back to kindergarten and she was there with her husband, Dan. So they're from New Hampshire. They had other reasons to be on the cape. They didn't come to my book event from the middle of New Hampshire, but it was crazy to see them and the fact that they came to my event. And I still I always remember that.

I remember the faces of a lot of the strangers that were there. I don't remember a lot of the names. There were some neat things to come out of that too. There's an awesome picture of me and my three sisters. And we have our fists out, because we have these. They're called anchor me bracelets. And they were created by the daughter of one of my mother's friends, and we all had one. And there's this really neat picture. It's I think it's iconic for the family of us all standing there with our fists out, showing the anchors, but it's like a sign of solidarity of the family. And also at that event, my sister Ashley, it was the first time that I signed her copy of the book. And she would come to tons of future events for that same book, and I would sign it in different places. It was like signing a yearbook, I would just say 'thanks for coming out again, Jesus enough.'

But despite not having a PowerPoint presentation, not having any notes, standing up there looking like I was at fifth grade show and tell just with a nice shirt on, I always remember the Osterville village library was the first to take a chance on me being an unknown author, and scheduling some time for me to do something there at 43 Wianno road, just in case anyone wants to go there, you should check them out. And they deserve it. And I really appreciate them. And all the strangers and people that were just fans of what I wrote, they came there to see me. It's such a humbling experience, to know you created something that people enjoy. 

That's what I like about this podcast. I'm making this episode, hoping that there's someone out there that has no clue who the hell I am. But you listen to this and something that I say or something in my voice connects with you, and makes you want to go back and listen to other episodes. Or contact me and ask me about the first book or book event how to schedule it how to speak in public I had to figure that out on my own. And having my family there. You know, having my mother be proud of me, is a huge thing. Having my siblings, they're having aunts and uncles, they're old school friends there. But mainly having my grandfather, my role model the person that I try to be and try to emulate with life, having him be the first one there because he felt so strongly. That was my main thing I took out of this event. And it carried me forward in the year sense. And with the book sense. I mean, I've done probably close to 100 events at libraries, bookstores, I've done them at gift shops at the Chatham Bars Inn I've done it at Not Your Average Joe's restaurants. I've done it at the Vitamin Shoppe.

Some have been big successes, some had been abject failures. I'll be telling stories about a lot of those because it's some of them are just like Seinfeld episodes. Like I've said before, things that happen where you're like, I can't believe this is real life. But it is the in my footsteps journey though, as far as book events and public speaking all started seven years ago, this week at the Osterville village library. I'll probably post a few photos on my Twitter and Instagram so you can see what I looked like with my shirt and standing there in front of everyone. Even all these years later, I would like to say thank you to everyone that came to that first event. That kind of buoyed my confidence and helped me going along. As a writer, as a person as a public speaker. I hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane to day one, as far as a public speaker went for my first book at the Osterville village library.

18:36 Road Trip: Lubec, Maine

It's road trip time again, that time the podcast where I highlight one of the hundreds and hundreds of incredible cities, towns, villages, areas of New England that either I visited and loved, I want to visit or I realized all of them, you should visit. I try my best with these to bounce around New England. I live on Cape Cod, so I don't want it to be all Massachusetts places, then it looks like I'm biased, which I'm really not because I enjoy visiting all the places and seeing the little differences in New England, New England's got mostly is known for the ocean, you got the mountains for skiing. And being one of the oldest settled places in the country. You've got a lot of historical homes and sites. And that speaks to me. And I've said so many times with this podcast that the urge to travel came from sort of discovering my own heritage on Cape Cod, and then visiting the areas on the cape and sharing it. But eventually when you do that you run out of places to see so you have to branch out and that's how I started doing more of New England and this is a long winded way of getting towards this week's road trip which is the easternmost town in New England Lubec, Maine. 

The significance of Lubec to me is that there's a lighthouse there West Quoddy Head lighthouse, and I'm obsessed with lighthouses. I love them. My buddy Steve and I, we have made many trips to see lighthouses all across New England that are hours and hours of driving in the dark to get to these for sunrise. When I first spotted West Quoddy Head lighthouse. It has red and white candy stripes, kind of like a barbershop pole. When I first saw photos of it, I said, I want to go there and I want a photo of that lighthouse. The problem is that Lubec, Maine being the easternmost point in the United States is a good 8 1/2 hour drive for me from where I live. So I had to plan a huge vacation like a week vacation in Maine just to have it so that I wasn't driving eight and a half hours up there and back. So Lubec and West quoddy head lighthouse was part of the genesis of my travel blog, the travel writing, and therefore all of the books that came and even this podcast, so there's a connection for me there. 

So why should you go to Lubec? Just because I love it don't take my word for it. West Quoddy Head lighthouse is at 973 South lubec Road. It's a part of the 541 acre Quoddy Head State Park. The current West Quoddy Head lighthouse is the second built on the site. The original was built in 1808. It was built to help guide vessels through the Quoddy Narrows, which separate Maine from Canada. The current brick tower is 49 feet tall and it was built in 1857. It's perfect for sunrises sunsets, hiking around the state park. For me that's worth the price of admission alone. Going to Lubec Maine is to see this lighthouse, but there's more to see in Lubec on the way there is West Quoddy gifts, which is the eastern most gift shop in the United States. It's located at 16 loon lane, the drive out there is incredible. Lubec is a small town as of 2019, the population was only 314 people. In fact, when it was first settled in 1798, when it was first incorporated as a town I should say. It was part of neighboring Eastport, and it became its own town in 1811. There are even other lighthouses in Lubec like Lubec Channel light, which is one of those little spark plug lighthouses and if you head to the downtown area of Lubec there's also Mulholland Point Lighthouse, which is a cross quality narrows in Canada, New Brunswick. That's the other thing is the accessibility to Canada from Lubec. So Campobello Island part of New Brunswick is accessible via the Franklin Delano Roosevelt bridge, at its closest Lubec is about 1200 feet from Canada. So you can see right across to Mulholland point lighthouse I got some pictures of that when I went up there 10 years ago with a camera that was not even as good as most people's phones today. 

If you like hiking, there's tons of places to go walking and sightseeing in Lubec there's bog Brook Cove preserve, Hamilton Cove preserve and Boot head preserve among others. If the hiking isn't your thing, if sightseeing, the lighthouses that's not your thing and you want to shop and go inside, there's the clutter shop antique and vintage desirables located at 371 county road they have just about everything you could want including antique books, vintage clothing, jewelry, furniture, art and more. Being the eastern most town in the United States, Lubec is kind of a hike for most people. It's more than five and a half hours northeast of Boston. And it's even four hours from Portland, Maine. But Maine is huge. You don't realize how big Maine is until you drive a lot of it. So for example, Lubec is the easternmost point in Maine. The northern most point the northern most town is Madawaska. And that's four and a half hours north east of Lubec. And about seven and a half hours north of Boston, but I'm going to talk about Madawaska in another road trip.

For restaurants and a combination of lodging check out the Water Street Tavern and in located at 12 water street. visit their website Water St. Tavern and inn.com to see why they are so highly regarded. They're going to be reopening in mid April. So obviously if you're going up there, I would recommend going in spring or summer unless you enjoy lots and lots of snow and cold. There's also co hills pub at seven Water Street for dining. If you want more sweets, there's Monica's chocolates located at 100 County Road. They're also opening again in April. So kind of keep that in mind when planning your trip to lubec that a lot of places are seasonal up there just like on Cape Cod.

If going all the way out to lubec and staying in lubec doesn't sound that appealing because it's so far out there. I've done a couple trips out there. I've done two different base camps one was in Ellsworth, Maine, that is a little over an hour and a half ride out to lubec. The most recent time that I went out there, I stayed in Machias, which is kind of the last big town on the way out there, it's a little over a half hour drive to Lubec from Machias. They'll also be getting their own road trip segment coming up in a future podcast. But the ride out there to Lubec on Route 1 and eventually 189 it's really worth the drive is part of the appeal of getting out there. And even though Lubec is really small, it's one of the smallest towns that I'll probably feature on the podcast. There's so much else around it. I would go out for West Quoddy head light if you're not a fan, you go to downtown Lubec you can overlook Canada you can take the bridge and go over into Canada Campobello Island, bring your passport. When I've gone out there. People have asked me Oh, did you go into Canada? I said, I don't have a passport. I could probably cross the bridge, and then I'd be stuck. 

And if you think that Lubec is kind of out of the way place that might not be that well known outside of New England. I'll tell you the first time that I went out there got we're going back to 2010. I stopped and got breakfast at McDonald's in Machias and there was a truck in the parking lot next to me from Texas. And we ended up traveling out to West Quoddy head lighthouse basically like a caravan. These folks, older people probably in their 60s, two couples from Texas, went out to see West Quoddy head lighthouse. Check out visit Lubec Maine.com to find out more and to see photos, my words I can kind of paint a picture. But if you see if you look for the pictures and the videos, it might entice you to go out there like it did for me. Like I said, Lubec and West Quoddy had lighthouse. That was the beginning the seeds of all of this was wanting to go see that lighthouse and then obviously if I'm driving all that way, I'm not just going to go to the lighthouse for 20 minutes and then come home. So I visited all the surrounding area. And it's an excellent little quaint fishing village way up there that you really get to see I can hype it up all I want, but you need to see the pictures yourself and go out there and visit Lubec go down to Water Street hike the drive out there. Machias, Whiting, just the scenery, it's amazing. I can't recommend it enough. If you have the time. 

If you want to fly out there. The closest airport is in Bangor, which is more than 100 miles away. So one way or another you're going to end up having to drive your way out there. So enjoy it. Stop, take lots of pictures and just enjoy Maine. There's a Maine feel when you get there. You'll know what i mean quintessential Maine. I love it. I can't wait to get back up there. I go to Maine usually once a year. And most of the time I go and I visit my friend Shayna. She lives in the little town of Hallowell near Augusta. And it's just so much fun to go up there and hang out with her and her husband and her two kids. And then we go off and hike in the woods. And I can't wait to do that again. COVID has kind of restricted that but Maine is worth it anywhere in New England is worth it. Can you tell that I love where I live where I hype up New England so much. all I'll say is go to West Quoddy.com which features the State Park in the lighthouse. Look at the pictures of the lighthouse, the night shots, the sunrise shots, the sunset shots. I dare you to see those and not want to go out there and experience that. Lubec Maine. It's awesome. Join me again next time for another road trip where I'll find another one of these hundreds and hundreds of amazing places all across New England to share with you. 

29:23 This Week In History

All right, it's time for this week in history. Let's jump into where we look at what was going on all around the world, pop culture, local this week as we go back in time. We'll start locally this week in history. 81 years ago, February 16, 1940. Bird Island Lighthouse is put up for sale. Bird Island Lighthouse sits a half mile offshore in the town of Marion, Massachusetts. Bird Island itself is a three acre Island. It's similar in shape to Ned's Point Lighthouse in Mattapoisett. It was built in 1819. So the federal government sold the island eventually in March of 1942, a man named George Harmon of Maine for $654, or a little over $12,000 when adjusted for inflation. Within a month after that the island was sold again to Augustus Fisk of Rhode Island. Finally, the town of Marion purchased the island and the lighthouse in 1966. But the lighthouse was deteriorating. There were extensive repairs completed in 1997, which saved the lighthouse. I wanted to include this in this week in history because I feel with so many well known lighthouses in Massachusetts in New England, Bird Island Lighthouse is one that really flies under the radar. I bet a lot of you listening have no idea where it is what it looks like. So to go and see it, do you need to drive through the Kittansett Club Golf Course, which you can it's not illegal and park and there's a little walk and you can see it, it's just offshore. And there you'll see it just over 200 year old lighthouse that seems to be out of nowhere. But this week in history. 81 years ago, the lighthouse and the island was sold by the federal government. 

This Week in history. 229 years ago, February 20 1792. President George Washington signs legislation, the Postal Service Act, regulating the United States Post Office department as a cabinet department of the government basically creating the United States Postal Service, the Postal Service had existed in one form of another since 1774. It was the idea of William Goddard, a patriot printer, who is frustrated with the British Postal Service. Benjamin Franklin even served as the first Postmaster General under the Continental Congress, beginning in July of 1775. What the Postal Service Act did was guarantee inexpensive delivery of all newspapers, stipulating the right to privacy and granting Congress the ability to expand the postal service to new areas of the nation. This affordable delivery of the newspapers helped to develop the freedom of the press. And personal privacy was also considered as the act gave severe punishments for opening mail that was not addressed to you. And it also gave the Postal Service the responsibility for creating the postal routes. So much of what we see today with the United States Postal Service came about from the Postal Service Act signed into law this week in history 229 years ago. 

As we all know, February 14 is Valentine's Day. I didn't do it last week, but this week in history 1525 years ago, that might be the oldest we ever go on this. The first Valentine's Day was celebrated. It was in the year 496. celebrated by the Romans, the day gets his name from the famous St. Valentine legend has it that the day centered around Emperor Claudius the second Rome, who had banned marriage because he thought that married men were bad soldiers. St. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged secret marriages. And when Claudius found out Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. While in jail, he fell in love with the jailers daughter, and when he was taken to be killed on February 14, he sent her a love letter signed from your Valentine. It is also thought that the Valentine's Day stemmed from Roman tradition, a Roman festival that they had in the middle of February, which was called Lupercalia, which was kind of officially the start of their spring time. And it's thought that these celebrations in that festival that boys drew the names of girls from a box, they'd be boyfriend and girlfriend during the festival, and sometimes they'd get married. And later on the church wanted to turn this festival into a Christian celebration and decided to use it to remember St. Valentine also. And gradually st Valentine's name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they love. And in the 20th and 21st centuries, it's obviously the day that you get presents, candy, chocolates, cards, flowers for the one that you love. You get have a secret admirer where you give a Valentine to them Valentine's cards, that industry makes a lot of money. Some people love it. Some people don't love it, some people, but this week in history in the year 496. The first Valentine's Day kind of as we know it today was celebrated in Italy in Rome this week in history 

54 years ago February 20 1967, Nirvana lead singer and pretty much the spokesman for Generation X Kurt Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington. Aberdeen is a small town about 100 miles southwest of Seattle. Cobain's unstable childhood would shape his later years and his music and that teenage angst that's definitely spoke to me with the grunge movement. He formed his first band called Fecal Matter in early 1985 after dropping out of Aberdeen High School, that band was short lived. It disbanded later in 1986. But he was not done. After months of asking him to a man named Chris Novoselic joined Kurt to begin a band that would be called Nirvana. In 1989, the Nirvana band would be signed by Sub Pop records, they would release their first full length album called bleach. And within two years, they would release Nevermind and change the face of music for Generation X. And for a lot of people that came after being how much of a big influence Kurt Cobain and Nirvana and that music had been on me as a teenager. And growing up all through now. You'll hear a lot more about Cobain and Nirvana on this podcast going forward. But this week in history 54 years ago, he was born in Aberdeen, Washington. 

And finally, let's open another time capsule. This is the thing I started last week, where we go back this week in history, you pick a date out from the week and a year, and kind of give an overview of what pop culture what life was like back then. So this week, I am choosing 39 years ago, February 20 1982. For the time capsule, the number one song in America was Centerfold by the J Geils band. The J Geils band was actually formed in Worcester, way back in 1967. And they had many big hits, besides Centerfold, they had Freeze Frame, they had Must Have got lost, they had Love Stinks, which if you've seen Wedding Singer, and their heyday was mid to late 70s through the early 80s. And this was a This was probably their biggest hit. 39 years ago this week, the number one movie in America was On Golden Pond. It starred Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda in his last appearance and his daughter Jane Fonda. Both Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda would win Oscars for Best Actor and Actress respectively. The film was released December 4 1981, but stayed in theaters obviously for several months, and won all those awards and made a lot of money. It's got a 93% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So this week in history 39 years ago On Golden Pond was number one, the number one TV show was Dallas. It was the primetime soap opera ran from 1978 to 1991. It has to do with the rich Ewing family from Dallas, Texas feuding and over the Ewing oil company. Dallas is most well known for the main character Jr, Ewing and the episode who shot Jr. The payoff to that came on November 21 1980, when an estimated 350 million people worldwide tuned in to watch. So Dallas was a big deal when it was around. And finally, this week in history, a gallon of gas cost $1.31. That may seem cheap. But when adjusted for inflation, that's actually $3.55 a gallon. In comparison right now in the state of Massachusetts, the average price of gas is $2.47. So it's actually when you look at it cheaper now than it was then. And that'll do it for the time capsule. That'll do it for this week in history. Come back next week, I'll have more of this, this weekend history going on. We'll find out what was going on in different years as we go back in time.

39:14 Back In the Day - Nickelodeon

As a child of the 1980s I can actually remember a time when the family had one of those TVs with the dial channels on it. Literally it had UHF still on it, and channel two or three through 12 or 13. You get CBS, ABC, NBC. Around here we had TV 38 which was channel eight, and wlvi 56 was Channel Nine. But as a child, a young child, this thing called cable television was starting to come around and it came to me and my family I think in the mid 80s I think 1985 I don't know if my mother could back that up on Cape Cod. We had something called Cape Cod Cablevision. And when we got cable, it changed the world. We got the paid channels. The only one I remember we got was HBO that was the big deal. But other big time channels came like MTV, that'll be covered later on its 40th anniversary is coming up in August. But the one I want to talk about this week as we go way, way back in the day, is the children's channel known as Nickelodeon. 

So everybody younger than me knows Nickelodeon and grew up with it. And I think people my age, maybe a few years older, would remember it. It's a little different now than it was back then. It's not like MTV, where it's nothing even remotely close to what it used to be. My introduction to Nickelodeon was in its golden age of the mid 1980s. But it started many years before that. Nickelodeon actually began in 1977. And it was called Pinwheel. It was part of the experimental Qube network which was basically experimental cable television based out of Columbus, Ohio, and the pinwheel network would become renamed as Nickelodeon on April 1 1979. The irony was the first show ever shown on the new Nickelodeon was pinwheel, which was the name of the network initially, pinwheel was a show geared towards preschoolers and age two to six to kind of capture their short attention spans. So there were short skits and segments, people my age and a little younger, a little older will remember the opening credits. But Nickelodeon when it first debuted, it was initially totally commercial free. At first, it was 13 hour days of just non stop kids and teenager programs. Nickelodeon was part of the Warner Corporation have cable and the commercial free part was part of the deal to help it rival PBS. And it was seen as kind of a money losing channel. But if people got Warner cable, you got this children's television channel that was commercial free, and it kind of helped to market the rest of the cable package. So the channel was on from 8am to 11pm. Other shows that were on during the very first initial run of Nickelodeon included video comics, which is literally animated comic books. And this other interesting show called America goes Bananaz with bananas, spelled with a Z. And it's a teenage talk show. And because this channel was initially pinwheel in Columbus, Ohio, the show was initially called Columbus goes bananaz. And if you go on YouTube, you've got to go and find America goes bananas. It's a weird disco era type feel. You wouldn't believe it with the same Nickelodeon that would be on you know, 10 years later. It's crazy. I watched one of the episodes to research this guy named Randy Hamilton was the host. And he got chosen to be the host on a show called kids are people to so that basically canceled, America goes bananas. 

Another thing if you go and look up the initial Nickelodeon bumpers and promos from 1979 they are weird. So Nickelodeon, the name was initially it's like an old school theater where you like Nickelodeon cinemas. So the original promos are based around that. And there's a weird one of this black and white kind of strobe light like the film reel. And a kid going to look in these the eyepieces to watch a movie, but it's weird, like 70s looking. I'll try to find them and share them on my Twitter so people that are listening can see them if you don't want to look for them. But the early 80s saw the golden age of Nickelodeon. This is where I come in. And a lot of people my age come in, you had special delivery. You had Mr. Wizard, you had Double Dare, which was the game show that was just nasty and gross and everyone wanted to be on you had the obstacle course with Mark summers as the host. And it was always trying to dig the flags out of like a nose with snot running out of it or like a pool of pudding. I always wanted to be on that show. They had Nick rocks, which was their video countdown that didn't last very long, but I still remember it. They had cartoons like Danger Mouse I don't know if anyone out there remembers Danger Mouse. He was like a secret agent. Danger Mouse had his assistant Penfold, the hamster. There was Count Duckula That was one of his main rivals that he also got his own show. But Danger Mouse ran for like 11 years that's kind of flew under the radar. But as far as Nickelodeon goes, the show that is most closely associated with it is You Can't Do That on Television, which was a variety show for teens, that birth the famous green slime that they still use, and if they're, you know, kids these days and in the last 15-20 years that see the slime they probably have no idea where that came from.People on the show with say 'I don't know' and the green slime will come pouring down or if you said water you get that. There was also the locker jokes that was kind of a playoff of Laugh-In where there were holes in the wall and tell jokes and Barth's Burgers where you go there and all the food was just nasty and old and moldy you can't do that on television also was the initial spot to see Alanis Morissette who obviously one of the great Fame as a singer. I had no idea that she would go on there were a few people that you thought hey they might end up being a big star but none of them really did so with the success of you can't do that on television.

In 1985 Nickelodeon debuted Nick at Nite which I also used to watch. That's where my knowledge of 1950s and 60s TV shows was really ahead of his time because I used to watch Nick at Nite and they had The Donna Reed Show, Lassie,Car 54 Where Are You? and My Three Sons shows like that. Even then they were 30 years old but I knew all about them and that it was great for my grandparents because that's what they grew up so I had that in common with them. By this point Nickelodeon was one of the biggest channels on Cable they were no longer commercial-free because they were now making money with all these great shows they had as the 80's continued in 1988 they debuted Nick Jr which included shows the original shows like David The Gnome, The Elephant Show, and Curious George which was a little more well-known. Then in 1991 they debuted Nicktoons which that had the classic Ren and Stimpy and other shows including Doug and Rugrats.

Nickelodeon remains the dominant channel for children for more than two decades even with the burgeoning success of the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network it kept changing and evolving some of the things were great successes like the Kids Choice Awards other things were not successful like Nickelodeon shoes they debuted in 1988 and they had this earworm commercial that I can still hear now if you go find it on YouTube.  Nickelodeon shoes I think it was 1988 when you forget it it'll be stuck in your head. It may not be the end-all be-all like it was when I was a kid you know in the 80s in through the 90s but even today Nickelodeon has a huge footprint when it comes to television children's television team television they've got Nicktoons, Nick jr., TV Land,Teen Nick and more so it's a big brand still and don't worry if I kind of glossed over a lot of these shows and things I wanted to do kind of an all-encompassing segment about Nickelodeon and it's golden age but going on there will definitely be more segments in depth about double dare and you can't do that on television and maybe some of Danger Mouse because I like that one.

Go on YouTube and take a trip down memory lane and fall down the rabbit hole find those old Nickelodeon promos from '79 and it won't it's the same channel and I'll be back next time to go way way back in the day again.

48:18 Closing

That's going to wrap up episode 10 of the In My Footsteps podcast thank you so much to all of you who have listened and support of the podcast throughout this first four months now it seems like only yesterday this was just a kernel of an idea in my head and for anyone who is this is your first episode definitely go and check out the rest of them on Buzzsprout has the mall catalog you can also go to iTunes, Amazon music, Pandora, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcast this podcast is there. Go to the in my footsteps podcast page on Facebook.  Chris Setterlund is my handle on Twitter. If you want to go on Twitter and I'm always sharing these episode feel free to retweet or comment. Follow me on images Christopher Setterlund is my personal page with all my photos with my Canon Rebel t7 I've also got the in my footsteps podcast Instagram page that's a lot of sharing things from the podcast, pictures of places. The big benefit of that page is that I can actually put a link to the podcast in the bio it's crazy I can't share links in my stories on Instagram yet which I keep badgering them to get that blue check mark certification same with Twitter but who knows if I have enough podcast maybe. Go subscribe to my page on YouTube Christopher Setterlund I always have clips from the podcast up there like video clips with your fun I did the last episode 1 was my road trip from Las Vegas to Cape Cod the other was the Covid-19 interview with my nieces Kaleigh and Emma you can go and find those and the in my footsteps New England video of Lubec, Maine. You can actually go and check out when I say pictures don't do it justice or my words don't do it justice you can go and watch the video and try to get inspired I will likely be doing a video featuring my first book event so that'll probably be the one that goes up for YouTube check that one. As time goes on I'll hopefully add some more Cape Cod and New England history to it right now the podcast is really taking up a lot of my time in a good way so I'm neglecting it a little. Visit my Zazzle Store Cape Cod Living that's got a little bit of podcast merch it's also got my Massachusetts After Dark calendar which is a lot of night shots from around the state it's pretty good I must say. 

A special happy birthday shout out to Coach KO Kaylin Orr if you haven't heard her two part interview from six and seven she gives a lot of New Year's fitness tips from great expertise on recipes and dieting as well her birthday is on the 20th of February so it'll be happening after this podcast goes up but I wanted to give her a shout. WithCovid-19 I mean the vaccinations are rolling out I'm due for my second shot next Thursday so it'll be the date of the next podcast real but everyone just take care of yourself mentally. It's draining it's been a year and it's you can feel it and your mental health is every bit as important as your physical health. Just keep your eyes ahead better days are coming. I think just in my own situation I think of it as you're allowed to make wrong turns in life when you're like driving is like metaphor but the further you go down the wrong path the longer it's going to take you to get back to get back to the right path light doesn't give you a GPS so just take care of yourselves we've almost got through it.

Tune in again next week it'll be episode 11 of the podcast my third and 3 weeks. What's going to happen after that is I'm going to try to get some sort of a pole because I want to know from people, what you've liked, what you haven't liked. Doing my research when I started this podcast I was reading that after you get through 10 or 12 you want to kind of reassess your content you want to just continue to pump out the same thing and just assume that people liked it so you've got to find some feedback so that's what I'm going to try to do it again next week I'm going to have a very special interview with my sister Kate who is starting her own clothing and accessory company called Wear Your Wish is very exciting very high praise and interest and she's going to be here to tell you all about it which I can't wait for.  I'm also going to do a little story time about the time that I got to one of the most off-limits places on all of Cape Cod that being Point Gammon lighthouse on Great Island it's one of my favorite stories to tell I'll just teased it with that will go way back in the day to see if you remember in school when they would wheel the TV and we would get to watch either educational TV shows or we had the old school film strips that's going to be fun to remember plus you've got this week in history with another time capsule as well all that coming up next week thank you so much again to everybody who is tuned in I really appreciate all of you but remember in life don't walk in anyone else's footsteps always create your own path on this journey and enjoy every moment you can however you can take care and I'll talk to you again soon.