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"I sat in my room, and I listened to the music on the radio and I heard the fire works in the background." It's Coe Lewis, one half of the KGB FM morning show team on the phone to talk about the coming Sky Show. In 1985, she was a part-time model and the manager of a law office. She lived in Pacific Beach.
"The experience was so powerful for me I said, I have to work there."
By the next year, she did, in time for Sky Show XI.
The first Sky Show was held in 1976 to coincide with the nation's bicentennial. Fire works displays were synchronized to blow off simultaneously from two locations: Chollas Park and Fiesta Island. Sky Show I caused massive traffic jams such that the San Diego Police Department said no more.
Next year, and every year thereafter, Sky Shows were contained within the walls of -- and the sky over -- the stadium.
Through the years, many different elements were staged during the various Sky Shows including lasers, movie special effects, the Rocket Man, sky divers, and marching bands. In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked at KGB AM and FM when Sky Shows were still in the single digits and we hosted live rock shows as a prelude to the fire works. It was the show of 1983, in fact, that caused the ban of all live rock and roll in the stadium.
The concert portion of that evening included Eddie Money, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard.
After, there were no more pre-show live concerts, or live concerts of any kind in the stadium. It was a ban that would last for years to come. The annual Sky Shows meanwhile were paired with sporting events.
"It's still considered one of the top 10 radio promotions of all time," says Lewis, who will be hunkered down during the day in the Sky Show Village at Qualcomm Stadium. She says Sky Show XXXVIII is sponsored by Sycuan and that the Aztec band plans to march through the Sky Show Village along with the team -- tonight marks the Aztec season opener - which opens today at 2 pm.
"KGB invented fireworks with a soundtrack as a gift to San Diego for the bicentennial," Lewis says.
"We are now copied around the world, but we are still the largest fire works show west of the Mississippi. The newest and best pyrotechnics made are debuted here."
SDSU Aztec Football vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers: Saturday, Aug 31, Qualcomm Stadium 5 pm, $11/$39
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/aug/31/52412/
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/aug/31/52413/
"I sat in my room, and I listened to the music on the radio and I heard the fire works in the background." It's Coe Lewis, one half of the KGB FM morning show team on the phone to talk about the coming Sky Show. In 1985, she was a part-time model and the manager of a law office. She lived in Pacific Beach.
"The experience was so powerful for me I said, I have to work there."
By the next year, she did, in time for Sky Show XI.
The first Sky Show was held in 1976 to coincide with the nation's bicentennial. Fire works displays were synchronized to blow off simultaneously from two locations: Chollas Park and Fiesta Island. Sky Show I caused massive traffic jams such that the San Diego Police Department said no more.
Next year, and every year thereafter, Sky Shows were contained within the walls of -- and the sky over -- the stadium.
Through the years, many different elements were staged during the various Sky Shows including lasers, movie special effects, the Rocket Man, sky divers, and marching bands. In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked at KGB AM and FM when Sky Shows were still in the single digits and we hosted live rock shows as a prelude to the fire works. It was the show of 1983, in fact, that caused the ban of all live rock and roll in the stadium.
The concert portion of that evening included Eddie Money, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard.
After, there were no more pre-show live concerts, or live concerts of any kind in the stadium. It was a ban that would last for years to come. The annual Sky Shows meanwhile were paired with sporting events.
"It's still considered one of the top 10 radio promotions of all time," says Lewis, who will be hunkered down during the day in the Sky Show Village at Qualcomm Stadium. She says Sky Show XXXVIII is sponsored by Sycuan and that the Aztec band plans to march through the Sky Show Village along with the team -- tonight marks the Aztec season opener - which opens today at 2 pm.
"KGB invented fireworks with a soundtrack as a gift to San Diego for the bicentennial," Lewis says.
"We are now copied around the world, but we are still the largest fire works show west of the Mississippi. The newest and best pyrotechnics made are debuted here."
SDSU Aztec Football vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers: Saturday, Aug 31, Qualcomm Stadium 5 pm, $11/$39
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/aug/31/52412/
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/aug/31/52413/