Media and Popular Culture
Main article: Media in Omaha, NebraskaThe major daily newspaper in Nebraska is the Omaha World-Herald, which is the largest employee-owned newspaper in the United States. Weeklies in the city include the Midlands Business Journal (weekly business publication), American Classifieds (Formerly Thrifty Nickel), a weekly classified newspaper, The Reader (newspaper), and Omaha Magazine, as well as The Omaha Star. Founded in 1938 in North Omaha, the Star is Nebraska's only African-American newspaper. The city is the focus of the Omaha designated market area, and is the 76th largest in the United States. Omaha's four television news stations were found not to represent the city's racial composition in a 2007 study. Cox Communications provides cable television services throughout the metropolitan area.
In 1939, the world premiere of the film Union Pacific was held in Omaha, Nebraska and the accompanying three-day celebration drew 250,000 people. A special train from Hollywood carried director Cecil B. DeMille and stars Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Omaha's Boys Town was made famous by the Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney movie Boys Town. Omaha has been featured in recent years by a handful of relatively big budget motion pictures. The city's most extensive exposure can be accredited to Omaha native Alexander Payne, the Oscar-nominated director who shot parts of About Schmidt, Citizen Ruth and Election in the city and suburbs of Papillion and LaVista.
Built in 1962, Omaha's Cinerama was called Indian Hills Theater. Its demolition in 2001 by the Nebraska Methodist Health System was unpopular, with objections from local historical and cultural groups and luminaries from around the world. The Dundee Theatre is the lone surviving single-screen movie theater in Omaha and still shows films. A recent development to the Omaha film scene was the addition of Film Streams's Ruth Sokolof Theater in North Downtown. The two-screen theater is part of the Slowdown facility. It features new American independents, foreign films, documentaries, classics, themed series, and director retrospectives. There are many new theaters opening in Omaha. In addition to the five Douglas Theatres venues in Omaha, two more are opening, including Midtown Crossing Theatres, located on 32nd and Farnam Streets by the Mutual of Omaha Building. Westroads Mall has opened a new multiplex movie theater with 14 screens, operated by Rave Motion Pictures.
Songs about Omaha include "Omaha" by Moby Grape, "Omaha", by the indie rock band Tapes 'n Tapes;, "Omaha" by Counting Crows, "Omaha Celebration" by Pat Metheny, "Omaha" sung by Waylon Jennings, "Greater Omaha" by Desaparecidos and "(Ready Or Not) Omaha Nebraska" by Bowling For Soup.
The 1935 winner of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing was named Omaha, and after traveling the world the horse eventually retired to a farm south of the city. The horse made promotional appearances at Ak-Sar-Ben during the 1950s and following his death in 1959 was buried at the racetrack's Circle of Champions.
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Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, media and, media, popular and/or culture:
“The lowest form of popular culture—lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives—has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.”
—Carl Bernstein (b. 1944)
“Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so—called educational system, which is nothing more than a system of rewards and punishments based upon one’s ability to pledge loyalty oaths to Anglo culture. The media and the “educational system” are the prime sources of racism in the United States.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why—but the editorialists forget it—terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“The new sound-sphere is global. It ripples at great speed across languages, ideologies, frontiers and races.... The economics of this musical esperanto is staggering. Rock and pop breed concentric worlds of fashion, setting and life-style. Popular music has brought with it sociologies of private and public manner, of group solidarity. The politics of Eden come loud.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.”
—Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)