This and That: A Saturday morning edition
Including, Purdue and Lafayette Jeff legend Brian Lamb steps aside at C-SPAN.
Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.
This and that, and other reads, for a Saturday morning …
BRIAN LAMB’S LAST DAY AT C-SPAN: Congratulations to Brian Lamb, Purdue and Lafayette Jefferson High School legend, whose last day in the office was Friday at C-SPAN, the groundbreaking network he founded in 1979 to provide raw, live feeds of U.S. House and Senate votes and hearings, political speeches and assorted public affairs programing. Here’s the farewell the network gave him Friday.
Lamb remains a fixture at Purdue, lending his name to the university’s School of Communication, offering steady encouragement to students and media in his hometown and hosting Q&As on and near campus. As in this, from 2022 …
If Friday meant retirement, here’s a look back to something closer to the start, when Lamb turned the teen record hops of Friday night into programming on the fledgling TV station in town. Here’s write-up in the Sept. 15, 1962, Journal & Courier announcing the debut of “Dance Date” on WFAM, the precursor to WLFI. Lamb, listed as senior class president at Purdue and already a four-year veteran at WASK radio, was lined up for the show modeled off “American Bandstand” and featuring teens from high schools and the Tippecanoe Youth Club who’d “perform such dances at the Twist, Hully Gully, Mashed Potato, Limbo and the Stomp.”
No word on whether there was any dancing on the way out the C-SPAN door Friday. But if you’re looking to do the Hully Gully …
DOWNTOWN LAFAYETTE OPPORTUNITY: The Downtown Lafayette Business Owners Association is taking applications through Sept. 7 from businesses interested in the launch of the Downtown Lafayette Business Acceleration Program, an initiative with nearly $20,000 from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s Community Collaboration Fund. The program will offer rent assistance for a year to two downtown businesses, whether startups or pop-ups looking to establish physical locations or existing businesses. The program also will offer access entrepreneurial education through Ivy Tech Community College, a one-year membership to MatchBOX Coworking Studio and membership to the Downtown Lafayette Business Owners Association.
“This program highlights our commitment to further revitalizing downtown by offering local businesses and entrepreneurs essential resources such as rental assistance and educational programs,” Nolan Willhite, president of the Downtown Lafayette Business Owners Association, said in a release. “We believe these supports will help them overcome challenges and drive significant economic growth in Lafayette.”
The application deadline is Sept. 7. The businesses selected will be notified by Sept. 14.
To apply and for more details, go to: www.discoverdowntownlafayettein.org/dlbap
GAME DAY DETOUR: Heads up on North Ninth Street through downtown Lafayette on this opening day of the Purdue football season – not to mention the final Mosey Down Main Street of 2024 – for this detour note from the city:
PURDUE FOOTBALL THREADS: Speaking of the first game of the Purdue season – kickoff against Indiana State is noon Saturday – Tom Dienhart of goldandblack.com had this look at the Boilers’ redesigned uniforms, which put plenty of throwback elements into the mix. This is a great history, if you’re into that sort of thing (which I totally am): “Threads of Old Gold & Black: Purdue’s football uniform then and now.”
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This is outside the Bangert beat, but I wonder how C-span gets funded as cable continues to collapse.