MP3 of the Day

On this day in 1968, with just 65 seconds left to play in the Oakland Raiders / New York Jets game, NBC switched off the game in favor of its previously scheduled programming, a made-for-TV version of the children's story Heidi. The Oakland Raiders went on to score two touchdowns in nine seconds to beat the New York Jets, but nobody outside the Oakland Coliseum actually saw any of this, because of NBC's programming decision. Shortly after the Heidi debacle, the NFL inserted a clause into its TV contracts that guaranteed that all games would be broadcast completely in their home markets. For its part, NBC installed what they called the "Heidi Phone," in the control room, and they assured viewers that such a disaster would never be allowed to happen again. Today we have the song Conspiracy To Commit Arson by OH SANDERS from the album The Death Of Nature.