This is a manufacturing town and the inhabitants are distinguished by their enterprise and industry.

So-Ro John Warner Barber, an American engraver who spent his life penning numerous local

histories about the town of Bristol, Connecticut.

First founded in the colonial days as an agricultural village called New Cambridge, Bristol was

incorporated under its current name back in 1785.

And for nearly two centuries, it was best known as Bell City and Mum City because of its

chief industries, designing doorbells and growing chrysanthemums.

Then on September 7th, 1979, a new cable channel launched that was headquartered in Bristol,

the entertainment and sports programming network, better known by its four-letter acronym.

The channel, created by TV Sports Veteran Bill Rasmussen, would transform not just the

sleepy hamlet into a media epicenter, but transform sports into an unrelenting 24-7

American obsession.

Rasmussen's brainchild had early success by acquiring the television rights to previously

low-profile events, the NCAA basketball tournament, now known as March Madness, and the NFL

Draft.

In 1984, the channel was purchased by broadcast network ABC, which raised its profile and

access to content, and by the 90s, it was practically a lifestyle brand for its overwhelmingly

male audience, the anchors of its hit recap show Sports Center becoming minor celebrities

with their own signature catchphrases.

In 1996, the big fish ABC was swallowed by an even bigger fish, Disney, who acquired

the sports channel in the process.

Disney CEO Michael Eisner, a Craven opportunist who greenlit countless exiker-bowl-directive

...