2RPH takes a trip down memory lane

Thu, 18 April 2019

Happy Birthday 2RPH!In honour of 2RPH’s birthday today, we thought we would take a trip down memory lane to see what else happened on April 18, 1983. Here’s what we discovered.

  • 2RPH broadcasts its first program from the borrowed 2SM studio at 186 Blues Point Road in North Sydney. Within four months, in a borrowed studio and no pre-production facilities, 2RPH was broadcasting for about 51 hours each week (or 2,652 hours in one year). Fast forward to today and 2RPH broadcasts 10,000 hours of live-to-air and pre-recorded programs.

Around the world on April 18, 1983:

  • American marathon runner Joan Benoit wins her second Boston Marathon in the women’s division with a time of 2:22:43. The following year, she went on to win the first-ever women’s marathon at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles and became the first person to win Boston as well as Olympic gold.

  • USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk. The site was home to nearly a quarter of the world’s nuclear tests during the Cold War. The zone was chosen for being unoccupied, but several small agricultural villages dot its perimeter. The aftermath of this testing continues to this day, with some 100,000 people affected by radiation.

Around the world in 1983:

  • The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows on Broadway, New York City.
  • Red rain falls in the UK, caused by sand from the Sahara Desert.
  • TV series M*A*S*H ends after 11 years. The last episode becomes the highest rated TV episode in history.
  • McDonald’s introduces the McNugget.