June 30, 1988 - White Sox stadium vote скачать в хорошем качестве

June 30, 1988 - White Sox stadium vote

On June 30, 1988, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation that led to the construction of a new, taxpayer-owned, stadium for the Chicago White Sox. The dramatic vote came on the last day of the spring legislative session, at the very last moment. It actually came after the last moment -- you can hear the "top of the hour" tone sound well before Gov. James Thompson had successfully persuaded/threatened/begged a sufficient number of downstate and suburban Republicans to vote for the Sox bill. (Read more about the Sox stadium bill at McBarronBlog https://mcbarronblog.wordpress.com/20...) The vote aired LIVE on the Sox flagship radio home, WMAQ-AM (670AM), which had recently switched to an "all-news" format. The broadcast was also aired LIVE on Florida radio. Local politicians and business leaders had put together an attractive deal for the Sox, including a new stadium, if the team owners would agree to make Chicago's south side baseball team the first MLB team in Florida. Because the vote ran past midnight, WMAQ was the only news organization broadcasting the outcome LIVE. Chicago TV stations had left Springfield believing the Sox bill was dead and the Chicago radio news leader, WBBM, went to CBS network news at the top of the hour, assuming that, since the vote wouldn't be completed by midnight as the rules required, the bill would fail. Then as now, the Illinois General Assembly's philosophy was that, if something needs to be done, you can't let rules stand in the way. The Sox stayed. Here are the last eight minutes of the broadcast.