Why Are Cicadas So Loud?

One of my least favorite sounds is the screeching call of the cicada. The cicada is an insect that makes long and loud calls, usually in the summer. Once you've heard this sound, you never forget it because it's loud (some are known to reach 100 decibels) and it's never just one cicada going: it's many. But why are there many, and what causes this annoying sound?

You can usually find these loud insects in trees high off the ground to allow their songs to travel farther. Why? Because the songs are actually mating calls. They attempted to emit the loudest and longest song possible to try to attract a mate. Only the males make this sound.

The sound is produced by two membranes in their abdomen called tymbals. They contract a tymbal muscle which causes the two membranes to rub against each other. It's rubs once and makes a click. When the muscle relaxes back, it clicks again. These tymbal muscles can contract and relax very fast, which causes the sound we hear. However, it isn't that loud. Hollow air sacs in the abdomen amplify the sound. The tympanum further amplifies the sound, and the 100 decibel song is on.

The female cicadas will respond with what can be called a 'wing flick'. Cicadas have great eye sight, so if the female is close, he can probably see her. But just in case, her wing flick gives just enough sound for him to find her. They find each other and together the call and wing flick become a courtship call.

It's possible that if you startle a cicada, it will give a warning call. Oddly enough, this sounds just like the mating call. Either way, the sounds cicadas make are rather disturbing.

January 2, 1971

January 2, 1971, is an important date for advertising people to remember because it was the day that the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act went into effect. This act did not allow cigarette companies to advertise on TV or radio beginning on that day. But where did this act come from? And what happened after?

Fans of the the show Mad Men or those who have watched talk shows in the 60's will know that smoking in the 60's was very commonplace. In fact, the 50's influence of "the coolness of smoking" transferred to the 60's. But, there were changes coming in the 60's. In 1964, Luther Leonidas Terry (the Surgeon General) issued a report about the effects of smoking as it related to chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. The following year, Congress passed the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act which forced all cigarette packages sold in the US to have warning labels. The FTC recommended a change, and the act was amended to say that the warning came straight from the US Surgeon General.

A strong advocate of a stronger act was the FCC who said that TV stations were breaking the 'Fairness Doctrine' by airing cigarette commercials. In case you're wondering, the Fairness Doctrine was an FCC policy beginning in 1949 that said that broadcasters had to present controversial issues of public importance in a balanced and honest manner. Since the new view of cigarette health risks was looked at as an issue of public importance, the FCC looked at the airing of cigarette ads without a counterpoint for the dangers of cigarettes to be breaking the doctrine.

In 1969, Congress introduced the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which would ban cigarette ads from TV and radio, mostly because of the FCC's urges that the ads broke the Fairness Doctrine. The act was signed on April 1, 1970, but didn't go into effect until January 2, 1971. The reason for the delay was a compromise with broadcasters. Since the college football bowl games were January 1, Congress allowed the broadcasters that last day for advertising.

So, at 11:59 pm, January 1, 1971, the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson went to break like it had done many times since he took over in 1962. At that moment, a minute-long Virginia Slims commercial aired. Then at midnight, the act took affect and no longer were commercials to feature cigarette companies.

The other element the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act did was to require stronger warning labels on the cigarette packaging. By 1981, it was determined that the warnings and lack of TV and radio advertising did nothing to lower the amount of smokers. A new act followed in 1984 to educate youth on the health risks and a new series of warnings followed on the packaging.

Without TV and radio ads, the tobacco companies wanted to still get their message out there. For many years, the companies had many different mascots, sometimes even cartoon characters (Joe Camel for instance). Documents prove that tobacco companies were trying to soften their image with children, and in 1991, the Journal of American Medical Association reported in a study that more children aged 5 and 6 could recognize Joe Camel than could identify Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone. During the period of 1988-1993, the number of adolescent customers grew from 1% overall to 13% overall.

As the fight continues today between the tobacco companies and the government, other industries such as the alcohol companies police themselves very well by not marketing to anyone under 21, not advertising on shows whose audience is primarily underage, and they encouraged "responsible drinking" campaigns. Alcohol companies saw what happened to the tobacco industry and didn't want to have that happen to them too. On the other hand, alcohol companies are the biggest advertisers for sports, so it would be a huge lack of money for the sports teams.

Either way, it's been a long road for the tobacco companies in the past 60 years. In the 50's, Winston could have an ad with cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble enjoying their cigarettes on TV, and now you don't see many ads for cigarettes at all. But you can look back at January 2, 1971, for the end of the TV and radio ads.

And if you don't believe me on Fred and Barney smoking, click here to see the commercial.

"Sweet Caroline"

The night after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, baseball stadiums across the country played a tribute to  Boston in the form of a song. The song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond was played over the PA systems, with the crowds singing along. For those of you that aren't familiar with Red Sox tradition, this song is played at every home game in the middle of the 8th. But you might be wondering why that song? And where did this tradition come from? Today, we will take a look into the story of this tradition.

The origins of this tradition can be traced to 1997. An employee in charge of playing music played the song over the speakers as a tribute to a friend of hers who'd had a baby named Caroline. Over the next five years,  the organization saw that there was always a good response when they played song, but they only played it occasionally. Firstly, they only played it later in the game when the Sox were winning, and secondly, because of this, they wouldn't play it at the same time in the game. Sometimes it was the end of the 7th, sometimes the middle of the 8th, and sometimes the end of the 8th. There was no consistency.

In 2002, Charles Steinberg started working for the Red Sox as executive vice president of public affairs. He noticed that the fans really enjoyed the song and would sing along to it. He asked a member of the control room if they were going to play the song one day, and the response was "Oh no we can't play that today. It's not a 'Sweet Caroline' day." A 'Sweet Caroline' day is a day when they were winning, near the end, and the mood was upbeat and festive. Steinberg argued that if the team was losing, they'd need something like 'Sweet Caroline' to lift their spirits. He insisted that the song be played, and played regularly. He also insisted that it be played before the Sox batted to lift the mood if they were losing, and to release their joy if they were winning.

Ever since then, the song has been played at every home game in the middle of the 8th since then. It has become a staple of Boston. When the tragic events at the Boston Marathon occurred, this song popped up across the country at other baseball games and even other sporting events in tribute for Boston.

An additional note about the song: it was written about Caroline Kennedy. When President Kennedy was shot, there was a photo taken of young Caroline Kennedy. Neil Diamond saw the photo and was inspired to write the song for her. Years later, she was at Fenway Park and Steinberg asked her if the song was inspired by her. She didn't think so, but it turns out it was.