Monday Open Line


Immigration and assimilation are matters of much current debate, but in 1980, those issues came floating in on the tide. It was on this date that what’s known as the Mariel boatlift began. When Cuban ruler Fidel Castro announced that any citizens wishing to leave the police state could, the voluntary exiles made their way to the port town of Mariel, just west of Havana. During the exodus, some 125,000 Cubans crossed the Florida straits in about 5,000 small boats, mostly coming ashore in Key West. The boatlift lasted until late September, when Castro closed the port to any more emigrants. Of the 53 million Hispanics in the U.S., over 3½ percent — or nearly 2 million — are of Cuban heritage. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov

Sunday, April 20th. This is an important anniversary date for Americans who revere old baseball parks — the Green Cathedrals of nostalgia. April 20 saw the first recognized games played at Boston’s Fenway Park, Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, Chicago’s previously used Wrigley Field, and Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The years were 1912 for Boston and Detroit, 1916 for Chicago, and 1950 in Baltimore. Fenway Park and Wrigley Field remain cherished outposts of the national pastime. The Detroit and Baltimore parks were closed in the 1990s and demolished in the first decade of this century. There are 814 professional sports teams and clubs in the U.S., 32 of them are major league baseball clubs, and another 250 or so are in affiliated or independent minor leagues. Profile America is in its17th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Saturday, April 19th. The first all-news radio format in the U.S. debuted on this date in 1965, as WINS-AM in New York City switched from rock and roll to rip and read. Almost 20 years earlier, the station had notched another first by broadcasting every New York Yankees game live, both home and away. The station shut off the music — its last record was the Shangri-La’s “Out in the Streets” — and became “all news, all the time.” The format has been successfully replicated in cities around the country. Today in the U.S., there are over 7,200 radio broadcasting establishments, employing over 124,000 people, with annual industry revenues of around $19 billion. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy from the American Community Survey at www.census.gov