We Were the World

Every once in awhile I have to stop and think about how long I have been doing this gig.

Then again, every once in awhile it just kind of rears up and smacks me in the face.

Someone please tell me it was not exactly 30 years ago yesterday that we were all enthralled with the music of Live Aid.

Of course, here in Philly, we had a front-row seat to music history, with some of the biggest performers in the music world gathering at JFK Stadium for the U.S. half of the charity fundraiser. Wembley Stadium in London hosted the other part. And yes, Phil Collins made history by performing at Wembley, then climbing aboard a Concorde, jetting across the pond, and performing in Philly later that night.

What I remember about it was that it was a very long day. It was a Saturday, and we have extensive coverage planned for the Sunday paper.

I remember it for a couple of other reasons as well.

The guy who handled the bulk of our coverage that day was a great young journalist named Len LaBarth. Len served as our Business editor, but one of his real passions was music. In fact, for years he penned our weekly pop music column.

I dispatched Len to South Philly, along with photographer Paula Doyle, and they spent the day covering history.

Thinking about that day yesterday made me think about this business and how we do it these days.

For one, there was not a single Tweet from Live Aid. One of the biggest music events in history wasn't "trending." No one was posting about it on Facebook. There were no "selfies" from JFK to mark the occasion. The Internet was still a figment of Al Gore's imagination. All of our coverage was tailored to print at that point.

I distinctly remember the front page I created for the Sunday paper. It featured an overhead shot of the crowd in JFK and the hedline, 'We Are The World'

Something else dawned on me as I showed a couple of my contemporaries that old front page yesterday. Several of our staffers who sit at those same desks today were not born when Live Aid was held in 1985.

Aside from the Daily Times masthead and a couple of teaser boxes, the page was black and white.

Yes, for that day, we certainly were the world.

But - especially for this business - it was a different world.