A RETRO WORD From Our Sponsors
July 9, 1957.
Mayor Roger Hughes flipped a switch at 9:25 p.m. on Thursday, July 11, and a crowd of nearly 5,000 watched new streetlights on Main Street come to life, complete with “oohs” and “aahs.”
A block dance followed until 11:30 p.m. on Elm Street, featuring Linus Houck’s Orchestra. The Festival of Lights had been a weeklong Oneonta Chamber of Commerce promotion in downtown Oneonta.
These lights operated in the downtown area until 1980 when the street was reconstructed, including the present antique style lamps.
Many may remember the cartoon character “Reddy Kilowatt,” seen in the ad. New York State Electric and Gas used Reddy as a corporate spokesman and in publicity materials for several decades.
_ Mark Simonson
Mark Simonson is the Oneonta city historian. These advertisements once appeared in The Daily Star, Oneonta Star or The Oneonta Herald.
WUOW Featured Artist Spoon
Spoon is this week’s WUOW fea- tured artist. Each week, SUNY One- onta-based NPR affili- ate WUOW features a worthy musi- cian in its Friday Night Featured Art- ist radio program from 8 to 9 p.m. at 104.7 FM in Oneonta and online at wuow.org. The Austin-based rock
Music magazine Metacritic ranked Spoon as the top artist of the de- cade in 2009.
PARTIAL PLAYLIST The Underdog I Summon You
and roll band Spoon has been around since 1993, with works featured on many television shows in- cluding “Bones,” “Chuck” and “The Simpsons.”
Don’t Make Me A Target
Written In Reverse
You’ve Got Your Cherry Bomb
July 7, 2011 O-Town Scene 15
