Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.

The term ''prime time'' is often defined in terms of a fixed time period, for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 (Central and Pacific Time) or 20:00 to 23:00 (Eastern and Mountain Time) (7 pm to 10 pm or 8 pm to 11 pm).

Timeslot's relationship to radio and TV revenue

Prime time is the daypart (block of a day's programming schedule) with the most viewers and is generally where television networks and local stations reap much of their advertising revenues. The Nielsen ratings system is explicitly designed for the optimum measurement of audience viewership by dayparts with prime time being of most interest. Most people tend to watch television at prime time because most people who are usually tired coming home from work or school tend to watch TV, usually right after dinner. This is usually the main reason for the high ratings for TV programming at this time, as well as the attractiveness of the timeslot for advertisers.

The existence of prime time in the United States is largely an artifact of now repealed regulations of the Federal Communications Commission which limited the number of hours that a network can require its affiliates to broadcast.

Additionally, networks may also choose to provide local affiliates the opportunity to air sporting events or other special events which may fall outside of standard designated network broadcast times. Prime time for radio or as called "Drive time" eastern and pacific time is 6-10am and 3-7pm and for mountain and central time is 5-9am and 2-6pm.

Asia

Israel

In Israel, prime time is from 20:00 to 23:00. The main news programs are broadcast at 20:00 and the highest-rated television program at 21:00.

China

Mainland China

In Chinese television, the 19:00 to 22:00 time slot is known as Golden Time (Simplified Chinese: 黄金时间; Pinyin: Huángjīn shíjiān). The term also influenced a nickname of a strip of holidays in known as Golden Week.

Hong Kong and Macau

Prime time usually takes place from 20:00 until 22:00. After prime time, programs classified as "M" (Mature) are allowed to be broadcast.

Indonesia

Prime time usually takes place from 19:00 until 22:00. After prime time, programs classified as Nightlife are allowed to be broadcast begun such a Television in Indonesia such :

Warta Malam - TVRI

* Sinetron : Jalan Lurus - TVRI

* Warta Malam - TVRI

** Warta Nasional - TVRI

** Warta Dunia - TVRI

* Selamat Malam Nusantara - TVRI

Seputar Indonesia — RCTI

* Seputar Indonesia - RCTI

* Mega Sinetron : Putri Yang Ditukar - RCTI simulcast Global TV (primetime)

* Big Movies - RCTI simulcast Global TV (latenight)

* Mega Sinema - RCTI simulcast Global TV (latenight)

* Seputar Indonesia Malam - RCTI

Liputan 6 Petang — SCTV

* Liputan 6 Petang - SCTV

* Sinetron : Cinta Sejuta Usaha - SCTV (primetime)

* Sinetron : Pesantren Musholla form Rock N'Roll and Dance Junk Music - SCTV (latenight)

* SCTV FTV Utama - SCTV

* Liputan 6 Malam - SCTV

Lintas Petang — MNCTV

* Lintas Petang - MNCTV

* TV Champion - MNCTV

* Ninja Warriors - MNCTV

* The Vikings - MNCTV

* Upin & Ipin dan Kawan-Kawan - MNCTV

* Sinetron : Strawberi dan Vanila - MNCTV (primetime)

* VIVA Dangdut Mania - MNCTV

* Lintas Malam - MNCTV

Topik Petang Update — ANTV

* Topik Petang Update - ANTV

* Kuis Super Word - ANTV

* Dangdut Show - ANTV

* Sinetron : NINA ZATULINI - ANTV (primetime)

* Penghuni Kerjakeras - ANTV

* Topik Malam - ANTV

Fokus — Indosiar

* Fokus - Indosiar

* Sinetron : Dia Anakku - Indosiar (evening)

* Sinetron : Nada Cinta - Indosiar (evening)

* Sinetron : Antara Cinta dan Dusta - Indosiar (previoused latenight)

* Sinetron : Cinta Fitri Season 7 - Indosiar (primetime)

* Fokus Malam - Indosiar

Metro Hari Ini — MetroTV

* Metro Hari Ini — MetroTV

* Suara Anda — MetroTV

* Metro Malam — MetroTV

Reportase Sore — Trans TV simulcast Trans7

* Reportase Sore - Trans TV simulcast Trans7

* Investigasi Selebriti - Trans TV simulcast Trans7

* Jika Aku Menjadi - Trans TV simulcast Trans7

* Drama Remaja TRANS TV - Trans TV simulcast Trans7 (primetime)

** Go Go Girl - Trans TV simulcast Trans7 (primetime)

** Cinta Cenat Cenut - Trans TV simulcast Trans7 (latenight)

* Bukan Empat Mata w/ Tukul Arwana - Trans TV simulcast Trans7

* Reportase Malam - Trans TV simulcast Trans7

Berita Global — Global TV

* Berita Global - Global TV

* Big Movies - Global TV s

* Mega Sinema - Global TV simulcast RCTI (latenight)

* Global Malam - Global TV

Kabar Petang — TVOne

* Kabar Petang — TVOne

* Talkshow One — TVOne

* Apa Kabar Indonesia Malam — TVOne

* Kabar Malam — TVOne

Japan

In Japanese television, the 19:00 to 22:00 time slot is also known as . The term also influenced a nickname of a strip of holidays in known as Golden Week.

Malaysia

Malaysian prime time starts with the main news from 20:00 to 20:30 (now 20:00 to 21:00) and ends at 23:00. Usually, programmes during the prime time are domestic dramas, foreign drama series (mostly American), movies and entertainment programmes. Programmes that classify as 18 are not allowed to be broadcast before 10:00 pm and on RTM. However, programmes broadcast after 23:00 are still considered prime time. As of December 2010, NTV7's prime time continues until 12:00 am. Programmes during prime time may have longer commercial breaks due to number of viewers.

Some domestic prime time productions may be affected because of certain major sporting events such as FIFA World Cup. However, only FIFA World Cup in the Americas did not affect the domestic prime time programmes.

Philippines

In the Philippines, much like in North America, most primetime blocks begin at 20:00 and run until about 23:00 on weekdays, and 18:00 to 23:00 on weekends. The weekday primetime blocks usually consists teleseryes (soap operas) and imported TV series from South Korea.

South Korea

In South Korea, traditionally, prime-time usually starts from about 19:00 to 23:00 (for evening programming that are targeted family audiences and usually 19:00 to 23:00 programs are variety programs and 19:00 to 23:00 is news or drama) and 9 pm to 12 midnight (for night time programming that are targeted older age groups).

Taiwan

In Taiwan, prime time (called ''bādiǎn dàng'' [八點檔] in Mandarin Chinese) starts at 20:00 in the evening. Taiwanese drama series played at that time are called 8 o'clock series and are expected to have high viewer ratings.

Vietnam

In Vietnam, prime time starts at 20:00 in the evening and ends at 23:00.

Europe

Germany & Austria

The oldest public national broadcasting network of Germany, Das Erste (The First) airs the ''Tagesschau'', Germany's most watched news broadcast, at 8:00 pm. The ''Tagesschau'' is scheduled for 15 minutes; its end marks the beginning of the prime time since the 1950s. All other channels have therefore chosen to start their prime time at 8:15 pm. Several attempts by Germany's privately owned broadcasters like Sat.1 and Pro 7 between the late 1980s and the early 1990s to change the prime time start from 8:15 to 8:00 pm were not successful because people generally refused to watch anything but the ''Tagesschau'' at that time slot.

Ireland

RTE runs a current affairs programme called "Prime Time" after the 9.00pm news. It is currently (2011) hosted by Miriam O'Callaghan.

Italy

In Italy prime time is from 9.00 pm to 11.30 pm. It usually follows news and, on some networks (like Rai Uno and Canale 5), a slot called "access prime time". Shows, movies and sport events are usually shown during prime time. The average rating a prime time show can reach is about 15-20 million viewers.

Netherlands

Much like in Germany, prime time in the Netherlands usually begins at 8:30 pm in order to not compete with NOS Journaal's flagship 8:00 pm newscast.

Spain

In Spain, prime time refers to the time period in which the most watched shows are screened. Prime time in Spain starts quite late when compared to most nations as it runs from 10 pm till 1 am. Most news programmes in Spain air from 9 pm for an hour and prime time follows. However due to fierce competition, especially amongst the private stations, prime time has in the last few months (2007) even been delayed until 11 pm. Most channels are delaying prime time in order to protect their top shows from sporting events.

As of April 2008, prime-time in Spain has officially been delayed to 10:15 pm. Despite channels publishing and advertising programmes as starting at 10:15 pm, none keep to the announced, and the reality is that prime-time programmes start at any time between 10:15 and 11 pm. The change has come about as a result of channels now inserting what they have deemed "access prime-time" shows at 9:40 pm or 9:45 pm. These shows should run for 30 minutes, but with most being compilation sketch shows, their durations are normally extended to over an hour on selected days in order to delay prime-time and avoid direct confrontation with sporting events etc. TVE1, TVE2 and LaSexta are the only two channels in Spain that have adhered to starting prime-time shows at 10 pm.

In the 1990s, prime-time in Spain began at 9 pm, moving to 9:30 pm in the latter half of the 1990s. Prior to the arrival of the commercial broadcasters in 1991, Spanish prime time began at 9 pm.

New commercial broadcaster La Sexta and the second channel from State Broadcaster TVE2 (Or La2) have attempted to shift prime time back to 9:30 pm in 2006 and Spring 2007 but these attempts have been unsuccessful.

The lateness in the start of prime time in Spain is also due to Spanish culture. Spanish people generally work 10 am 2 pm and then 5 pm 8 pm as opposed to the standard 9 am 5 pm. Popular late night show ''Crónicas Marcianas'' in the late 1990s–2000 also helped to extend prime time well into the early hours with the show being watched by a share of 40% despite finishing at 2 am.

Spain might also be unique in that it has a second prime time, this being 2:30–5 pm which coincides with the extended Spanish lunch break. Shows airing in second prime time on many occasions beat those in night prime-time on a daily basis. Second prime time only occurs on weekdays though, and the slot is usually filled with news, soap operas, tabloid shows and magazine / talk shows.

United Kingdom

In the UK, prime time (usually referred to as "peak time") refers to the hours between 6 pm and 10:30 pm — which is the period in which the most popular shows are screened and the highest ratings are achieved. The hours between 6 pm and 8 pm are more popular with families and after that time prime time television is mostly watched by an older demographic.

North America

In North America, television networks feed their prime time programming in two blocks: one for the Eastern, Central, and Mountain time zones, and one for the Pacific, Alaskan, and Hawaiian time zones, to their local network affiliates. In Atlantic Canada (including Newfoundland) as well as Alaska and Hawaii there is no change in the interpretation or usage of "prime time" as the concept is not attached to time zones in any way. Affiliates in the Mountain, Alaskan, and Hawaii-Aleutian zones are either on their own to broadcast delay by an hour or two, or collectively form a small, regional network feed with others in the same time zone.

In North America the hours traditionally taken as constituting prime time are 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm Eastern and Pacific and 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm Central and Mountain Monday–Saturday. On Sundays, prime time begins an hour earlier, at 7:00 pm Eastern and Pacific and 6:00 pm Central and Mountain, ending at the same time as on the other six days of the week. For cable networks, such as USA, TBS, and ABC Family, prime time is 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm all seven days of the week. Some networks such as Fox, The CW, and MyNetworkTV only broadcast from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, a time period known as "common prime." Since September 2009, The CW and MyNetworkTV do not program Saturday or Sunday prime time at all, as The CW turned over its Sunday night schedule and MyNetworkTV its Saturday night schedule over to their affiliates. Also, over the past decade, the major American networks have come to consider Saturday prime time as a graveyard slot and as such have largely abandoned scheduling of new scripted programming on that night, although the networks still maintain a prime time programming schedule on that night.

Prime time can be extended or truncated if coverage of sporting events run past its allotted end time. Since the "Heidi Game" incident, where NBC cut away on the east coast from a New York Jets/Oakland Raiders football game in its final minute of play in order to show a movie (and in the process, missing an unexpected comeback by the Raiders to win the game), the National Football League began to mandate that all games be broadcast in their entirety. Due to this rule, game telecasts may sometimes overrun into the 7:00 p.m. ET hour. Fox previously scheduled repeats of its animated series in the 7:00 hour, allowing themselves to simply pre-empt the reruns if a game ran long. This was later replaced by an hour-long wrap-up show, ''The OT''. In contrast, CBS does not, as its weekly newsmagazine ''60 Minutes'' has traditionally aired as close to 7:00 PM ET as possible. If a game runs long, ''60 Minutes'' is shown in its entirety at the conclusion of coverage, and the rest of the prime time schedule on the east coast is shifted to compensate. For example, if game coverage were to end at 7:30 p.m., prime time would end at 11:30 p.m.

However, in the rare case where the NFL game runs excessively late (8 p.m. or later), an episode of a series scheduled for later in the evening may be pre-empted (for example ''Cold Case'' in October 2009 after the Bills-Jets game ran excessively late). In an extreme case, CBS' prime time can be extended past midnight during broadcasts of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. This does not necessarily apply universally; in 2001, after an XFL game went into overtime, forcing the delay of a highly promoted episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', NBC made a decision to cut off all future XFL broadcasts at 11:00 p.m. NBC backed out of the XFL after the end of that season, leading to its failure.

Until the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulated time slots prior to prime time with the now-defunct Prime Time Access Rule in 1971-1972, networks began programming at 7:30 pm Eastern and Pacific / 6:30 pm Central and Mountain on weeknights. (That is, the 1970-1971 season was the last season in which the networks began prime time at 7:30.) The change helped instigate what is colloquially known as the "rural purge," in which rural-themed and older-skewing programs were disproportionately canceled. In the 1987-1988 season, NBC-owned stations in several cities experimented with airing a schedule of syndicated first-run sitcoms at 7:30 / 6:30 pm to compete against syndicated reruns or game shows such as ''Wheel of Fortune'' on rival stations.

The vast majority of prime time programming in English-speaking North America comes from the United States, with only a limited amount produced in Canada (most of which consists of local adaptations of worldwide reality television franchises, e.g., ''Canadian Idol'' and ''So You Think You Can Dance Canada''). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission mandates quotas for Canadian content in prime time; these quotas indicate at least half of Canadian prime time programs must be Canadian in origin, but the majority of this is served by national and local news.

Likewise, the vast majority of Spanish language programming in North America comes from Mexico. Televisa, a Mexican network, provides the majority of programming to the dominant U.S.-based Spanish broadcaster, Univision. Univision does produce a fairly large amount of unscripted Spanish language programming, the best known being the long-running variety show ''Sabado Gigante'', hosted by Chilean national Don Francisco. Univision's distant second-place competitor, Telemundo, produces a much greater share of in-house content, including a long line of telenovelas.

In Quebec, the largest Francophone area of North America, French language programming consists of originally produced programs (most of which are produced in Montreal, with a few produced in Quebec City) and French-language dubs of English language programs.

Oceania

Prime time in Australia is officially from 6:00 pm to Midnight, following Australian Eastern Standard Time, with the highest ratings normally achieved between 6:00 pm to 10:30 pm. Prime time in New Zealand is considered to be 7:30 to 10:30 pm (C4's Prime time ends at 11 pm on Tuesdays to Fridays), but can be extended to cover the entire evening of television (6 pm 11 pm).

Latin America

In a great part of Latin American countries, prime time is considered from 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. The time slot is usually used for news, telenovelas and TV series, and special time slots are used for reality shows, with great popularity, especially in Mexico and Brazil. In Brazil, it's called ''horário nobre'' ("noble time").

See also

Drive time (similar concept in radio)

International broadcasting

Late night

Market share

Deion Sanders

Bob Ranft

References

External links

Category:Television terminology Category:Time

bg:Праймтайм ca:Horari de màxima audiència cs:Hlavní vysílací čas da:Prime time de:Hauptsendezeit es:Horario central fr:Première partie de soirée gl:Horario de máxima audiencia ko:황금시간대 it:Prima serata he:פריים טיים ms:Waktu perdana nl:Primetime ja:プライムタイム pt:Horário nobre ru:Прайм-тайм sh:Elitni termin fi:Prime time th:เวลาไพรม์ไทม์ tr:Prime time zh:黃金時段 zh:八點檔

Coordinates	43°17′36″N22°00′22″N
name	Alan Parsons
background	solo_singer
born	December 20, 1948London, England
genre	Rock
occupation	Audio engineer, composer, musician, record producer, director
years active	1967–present
label	Legacy, Arista, Fox, Mercury, Frontiers
associated acts	The Alan Parsons Project
website	Alan Parsons Music
notable instruments	}}

Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' and ''Let It Be'', as well as Pink Floyd's ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor. Parsons' own group, The Alan Parsons Project, as well as his subsequent solo recordings, have also been successful commercially.

Career

In October 1967, at age 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios, where he earned his first credit on the LP, ''Abbey Road''. He became a regular there, engineering such projects as Paul McCartney's ''Wild Life'' and ''Red Rose Speedway'', five albums by The Hollies, and Pink Floyd’s ''The Dark Side of the Moon'', for which he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was known for doing more than what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineer’s duties. He considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings to what Stanley Kubrick contributed to film. This is apparent in his work with Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat", where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts. It is also heard in Parsons' influence on the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "The Air That I Breathe", sharp departures from their popular 1960s hits "Stay", "Just One Look", "Stop! Stop! Stop!" or "Bus Stop". Parsons was also known to have swapped shifts during the engineering of ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' so he could work entirely on the project.

Parsons also produced three albums by Pilot, a Scottish pop rock band consisting of Ian Bairnson on guitar, Stuart Tosh on drums, and David Paton on lead vocals, guitars, and on bass. Their hits included "January" and "Magic".

He also mixed the debut album by American band Ambrosia and produced their second album ''Somewhere I've Never Travelled''. Alan was nominated for grammys for both of these albums.

In 1975, he declined Pink Floyd's invitation to come back and work on the follow-up for "Dark Side," ''Wish You Were Here'', and instead initiated The Alan Parsons Project with producer and songwriter (and occasional singer) Eric Woolfson, whom he had met at Abbey Road. The Project consisted of a revolving group of studio musicians and vocalists, most notably the members of Pilot and (on the first album) the members of Ambrosia. Unlike most rock groups, The Alan Parsons Project never performed live during its heyday, although it did release several music videos. Its only live performance during its original incarnation was in 1990, with Woolfson present but behind the scenes. After releasing ten albums, the last in 1987, the Project terminated in 1990 after Parsons and Woolfson split, with the Project's intended 11th album released that year as a Woolfson solo album. Parsons continued to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians. Parsons and his band now regularly tour many parts of the world.

Although an accomplished vocalist, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and flautist, Parsons sang infrequent and incidental parts on his albums. While his keyboard playing was very audible on the Alan Parsons Project albums, very few recordings feature his flute. During the late 1990s, Parsons' career travelled an interesting full circle. Having started out in the music industry at the Abbey Road Studios in London as an assistant engineer in the late 1960s, he briefly returned to run the studio in its entirety. He reportedly managed to combine this role with the demands of a hectic performing and recording schedule. Parsons also continued with his selective production work for other bands.

Of all his collaborations, guitarist Ian Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, including Parsons' post-Woolfson albums, ''Try Anything Once'', ''On Air'', and ''The Time Machine.''

As well as receiving gold and platinum awards from many nations, Parsons has received ten Grammy Award nominations for engineering and production. In 2007 he received a nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for ''A Valid Path.''

In May 2005, Parsons appeared at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California, to mix front-of-house sound for Southern California-based Pink Floyd tribute band Which One’s Pink? and their performance of ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' in its entirety.

Since 2003 he has toured under a revised name, The Alan Parsons ''Live'' Project (with Woolfson’s permission). The globe-trotting band features guitarist Godfrey Townsend, drummer Steve Murphy, keyboardist Manny Focarazzo, and bass guitarist John Montagna. The 2004-2005 shows offered vocalist P. J. Olsson's track "More Lost Without You", while the later 2006 shows presented The Crystal Method-featured "We Play the Game" and opened with "Return to Tunguska" along with successes spanning the Project years.

Beginning in 2001 and extending for four years, Parsons conceived and led a Beatles tribute show called ''A Walk Down Abbey Road'' featuring a group of headlining performers such as Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson of Heart, John Entwistle of The Who, and Jack Bruce of Cream. The show structure included a first set where all musicians assembled to perform each others' hits, and a second set featuring all Beatles songs.

In 2010, Alan Parsons released his single "All Our Yesterdays" through Authentik Artists. Parsons also launched a DVD educational series in 2010 titled The Art and Science of Sound Recording ("ASSR") on music production and the complete audio recording process. The single "All Our Yesterdays" was written and recorded during the making of ASSR. The series, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, gives detailed tutorials on virtually every aspect of the sound recording process. Individual sections of the series are also being released in batches and are available to stream or download at www.artandscienceofsound.com.

During 2010, several media reports, one of which included a quote from a representative of Parsons, alleged that the song "Need You Now" by country music group Lady Antebellum possessed the melody and arrangement of "Eye in the Sky."

Personal life

Parsons was born in London. He resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and her two daughters, as well as numerous pets.

Discography

Albums

Date	Title	Label	Charted	Country	Catalog Number
		align="left" valign="center"
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	align="left" valign="center"|''Ambrosia'' (Ambrosia)
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	align="left" valign="center"|''Rebel'' (John Miles)
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''Billboard'' Top 40 hit singles (U.S.)

: #37 - "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" (1976) : #36 - "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" (1977) : #27 - "Damned if I Do" (1979) : #16 - "Games People Play" (1980) : #15 - "Time" (1981) : #3 - "Eye in the Sky" (1982) : #15 - "Don't Answer Me" (1984)

Canadian singles

: #62 - "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" (1976) : #22 - "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" (1977) : #16 - "Damned if I Do" (1980) : #9 - "Games People Play" (1981) : #30 - "Time" (1981) : #1 - "Eye in the Sky" (1982) : #43 - "You Don't Believe" (1983) : #20 - "Don't Answer Me" (1984) : #89 - "Let's Talk About Me" (1985)

Awards and nominations

Nominations

1973 - Pink Floyd - ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1976 - Ambrosia - ''Somewhere I've Never Travelled'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1976 - The Alan Parsons Project - ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1978 - The Alan Parsons Project - ''Pyramid'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1979 - ''Ice Castles'' - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

1979 - The Alan Parsons Project - ''Eve'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1981 - The Alan Parsons Project - ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1982 - The Alan Parsons Project - ''Eye in the Sky'' - Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

1986 - The Alan Parsons Project - "Where's The Walrus?" - Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance

2007 - Alan Parsons - ''A Valid Path'' - Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album

References

Official website of the Alan Parsons Project

The Avenue, The Official Alan Parsons Fan Club

External links

Alan Parsons Music Official Site

Alan Parsons Project Official Site

Alan Parsons in the Internet Movie Data Base

''Crawdaddy!'' "Parsons Knows: The Tale of Alan Parsons and Edgar Allan Poe"

Category:English record producers Category:English rock musicians Category:British audio engineers Category:People from London Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:1948 births Category:Living people

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Coordinates	43°17′36″N22°00′22″N
Name	Deion Sanders
Currentnumber	21, 37
Currentpositionplain	Cornerback/ Return specialist
Birth date	August 09, 1967
Heightft	6
Heightin	1
Weight	198
College	Florida State
Draftyear	1989
Draftround	1
Draftpick	5
Debutyear	1990
Debutteam	Atlanta Falcons
Finalteam	Baltimore Ravens
Finalyear	2005
Pastteams	Atlanta Falcons (1989–1993) San Francisco 49ers (1994) Dallas Cowboys (1995–1999) Washington Redskins (2000) Baltimore Ravens (2004–2005)
Highlights	Rated #34 NFL player of all-time by NFL.com 8× Pro Bowl selection (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) 8× All-Pro selection (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) 2× Super Bowl champion (XXIX, XXX) AP Defensive Player of the Year (1994) 2× NFC Defensive Player of the Year (1993, 1994) Co-NFL Alumni Special Teams Player of the Year (1998) with Gary Anderson Pro Bowl Record in Interceptions in a career (4) tied with Everson Walls Jim Thorpe Award (1988) NFL 1990s All-Decade Team Atlanta Falcons Ring of Honor 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee
Statseason	2005
Statlabel1	Interceptions
Statvalue1	53
Statlabel2	Interception return yards
Statvalue2	1,331
Statlabel3	Touchdowns
Statvalue3	22
Nfl	SAN282736
Hof	302 }}

Name	Deion Sanders
Currentnumber	24
Position	Outfielder
Bats	Left
Throws	Left
Birth date	August 09, 1967
Birth place	Fort Myers, Florida
Currentteam	Cincinnati Reds
Debutdate	May 31
Debutyear	1989
Debutteam	New York Yankees
Finaldate	June 14
Finalyear	2001
Finalteam	Cincinnati Reds
Stat1label	Batting average
Stat1value	.263
Stat2label	Home runs
Stat2value	39
Stat3label	Hits
Stat3value	558
Stat4label	Stolen bases
Stat4value	186
Teams	New York Yankees (–) Atlanta Braves (–) Cincinnati Reds (–) San Francisco Giants () Cincinnati Reds (, )
Highlights	Led NL in triples in 1992 with 14 }}

Deion Luwynn Sanders (; born August 9, 1967), nicknamed "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion", is a former National Football League cornerback and Major League Baseball outfielder who currently works as an NFL Network analyst. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 6, 2011.

Sanders is considered one of the most versatile athletes in sporting history because he played two sports at multiple positions. In the NFL, he played primarily at cornerback, but also occasionally as a wide receiver, kick returner, and punt returner. He played for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys. In baseball, he played for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants. He attended Florida State University, where he excelled at both football and baseball.

Biography

High school years

Sanders was born in Fort Myers, Florida. He attended North Fort Myers High School in North Fort Myers, Florida, and was a lettermanand credited All-State in football, basketball, and baseball. He was an All-State honoree in all three sports. In 1985, Sanders was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team which selected the Top 33 players in the 100 year history of high school football in the state of Florida.

College career

Sanders was a star in three sports for Florida State: football, baseball, and track. Beginning his freshman year, he started in the Seminoles' secondary, played outfield for the baseball team that finished fifth in the nation, and helped lead the track and field team to a conference championship.

At Florida State University, under head coach Bobby Bowden, Sanders was a two time consensus All-American cornerback in 1986 and 1987, and a third team All-American in 1988, intercepting 14 passes in his career, including three in bowl games, and managed to return one interception 100 yards for a touchdown breaking Fred Biletnikoff's interception return record by one yard. He won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988. He was also a standout punt returner for Florida State, leading the nation in 1988 with his punt return average, and breaking the school's record for career punt return yards. Based on those accolades, his jersey at Florida State, #2, was retired in 1995.

While playing baseball under head coach Mike Martin, at Florida State, Sanders hit .331 in 1986; he was known more for base stealing, swiping 27 bags in 1987. Sanders was drafted while in college by the New York Yankees (He also was selected by the Kansas City Royals out of North Fort Myers High School, though he did not sign.)

Sanders once played the first game of a baseball doubleheader, ran a leg of a 4x100 relay, then returned to play another baseball game.

Personal life

Sanders has been married twice — to Carolyn Chambers, with whom he has two children (Deion Jr. and Deiondra), and Pilar Biggers with whom he has 3 children (Shilo, Shedeur and Shelomi). Deion appeared with his family on the NBC show Celebrity Family Feud which premiered on June 24, 2008.

Deion Sanders, along with J.M. Black, published his autobiography. ''Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life''. World Publishing 1998. The book was inspired after he began counseling with Bishop T.D. Jakes. Sanders notes his agent Eugene E. Parker as another person who also influenced his life.

Other

Although Deion Sanders was ranked fourth on the NFL Network's Top 10 - Fastest Players in NFL History, Sanders lost to Willie Gault in the 1990 Super Stars Competition's 100 yard dash and half mile run.

Sanders became involved in a dispute with MLB catcher Carlton Fisk. Fisk, a baseball Hall of Fame catcher, confronted Sanders during a game at Yankee Stadium. Deion, a Yankee, started by stepping up to the plate with 1 out and a runner on third, drawing a dollar sign in the dirt before the pitch and then failing to run to first base after hitting a routine pop fly to shortstop, trotting back to the dugout instead. The Yankee fans booed, and Fisk, who was on the opposing team and thought Sanders was "playing the game the wrong way" and tarnishing baseball, said "Run the fucking ball out you piece of shit." Deion replied, "The days of slavery are over." Fisk later stated: "He comes up and wants to make it a racial issue, there's no racial issue involved. There is a right way and a wrong way to play this game." The infamous incident was later recounted by Fisk on both ESPN Classic and a CNBC interview with Tim Russert on his show.

MLB career

Sanders played a nine-year, part-time baseball career, playing 641 games with 4 teams. He was originally drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 6th round of the 1985 draft, but did not sign with them. He was drafted again in the 30th round of the 1988 draft by the New York Yankees and signed with the team on June 22. Sanders later signed with the Atlanta Braves, and during his most productive year in the majors, the 1992 season, he hit .304 for the team, stole 26 bases, and led the NL with 14 triples in 97 games. During the 1989 season, he hit a major league home run and scored a touchdown in the NFL in the same week, the only player to ever do so. Sanders is also the only man to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.

Sanders is known in Braves lore as the player who brought the "tomahawk chop". It was adopted by those fans, as Sanders, himself a Florida State alum, was familiar with the Seminoles War Chant. The tomahawk chop continues to be a rally gesture for Braves fans to this day.

On July 31 of the 1991 MLB season, Sanders hit a key three-run homer to spark a comeback win against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the Braves' improbable run to the National League West Division title. However, he had to leave the Braves the very next day to report to the Atlanta Falcons because of a clause in his NFL contract and missed the postseason. Before the 1992 season, Sanders reworked his NFL deal whereby he still reported to the Falcons for training camp in August, but was allowed to rejoin the Braves for the postseason.

In four games of the 1992 World Series, Sanders batted .533 with 4 runs, 8 hits, 2 doubles, and 1 RBI while playing with a broken bone in his foot. Despite Sanders's performance, the Braves ultimately lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. In Game 3, he narrowly avoided being a victim of what would have been only the second triple play in World Series history (following Bill Wambsganss' unassisted triple play in 1920). With Sanders on second base and Terry Pendleton on first, David Justice hit a deep fly ball to center field that Blue Jays center fielder Devon White unexpectedly caught with a leaping effort. Pendleton passed Sanders on the bases for the second out, but umpire Bob Davidson called Sanders safe after he scampered back to second base. Replays showed that Toronto third baseman Kelly Gruber tagged him on the heel before he returned to second.

In 1997, Sanders finished 2nd in the NL with 56 stolen bases in 115 games while with the Cincinnati Reds before leaving baseball for three years.

Sanders returned to the Reds in 2001, but was released after playing in only 29 games and batting just .173. Following his release from the Reds he signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays triple-A affiliate, Syracuse Chiefs. Sanders was hitting .337 for Syracuse before the Washington Redskins found a loophole in his contract that said he could miss training camp and the first few games of the season if he were playing Major League Baseball. Since he was not currently on an MLB roster, Sanders had to leave Syracuse and return to the Redskins so he would not violate his NFL contract. But before arriving at training camp, Sanders informed Redskins personnel he was retiring from professional baseball. In his final professional baseball game, Sanders hit a solo home run and had an RBI single in Syracuse's 12-6 win over the Toledo Mud Hens.

NFL career

Atlanta Falcons

Sanders' professional football career started the same year as his baseball career, 1989. He was the fifth pick overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons, where he played until 1993. Sanders returned his first career punt return for a touchdown. During his time in Atlanta, he intercepted 24 passes (including a career high 7 in 1993), three of which he returned for touchdowns. In 1992, he also led the league in kickoff return yards (1,067), yards per return (26.7) and return touchdowns (2). On October 11, 1992, Sanders played in a Falcons game at Miami and then flew to Pittsburgh, hoping to play in the Braves' League Championship Series game against the Pirates that evening and become the first athlete to play in two professional leagues in the same day. Sanders ultimately did not, however, appear in the baseball game that night. Over his five years with the Falcons, Sanders found his way to the end zone ten times (three defensive, three kick returns, two punt returns, and two receptions).

San Francisco 49ers

After five seasons Sanders signed on to play one season with the San Francisco 49ers, where he had arguably his best season as a professional football player, recording six interceptions and returning them for an NFL best 303 yards and three touchdowns. On October 16, 1994, Deion was the big story as he made his dramatic return to the Georgia Dome in a 49er uniform. After getting into a scuffle with his former Falcon teammate Andre Rison, Sanders intercepted a pass from quarterback Jeff George and proceeded to return it 93 yards while mockingly staring down the entire Falcons sideline before high-stepping into the end zone. Sanders was later voted the 1994 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and recorded an interception in the 49ers 49–26 win over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. After the season, Jerry Rice and Sanders publicly feuded — Rice fumed at the idea that the media felt Sanders was the missing link to the 49ers Super Bowl run and that it was not giving credit to the other 52 men in the locker room.

Dallas Cowboys

Following his successful season with the 49ers, Sanders, along with his agent Eugene Parker, proceeded to court numerous teams in need of an All-Pro cornerback. The several teams in the "Deion Sweepstakes," as it was coined by the media, were the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, who had lost their starting cornerback Kevin Smith to injury for the rest of the season.

On September 9, 1995 (which happened to fall in Week 2 of that NFL season), Sanders signed a lucrative contract with the Dallas Cowboys (seven years, $35 million with a $12.99 million signing bonus), essentially making him, at the time, the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. Sanders later stated in his book ''Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life'' that the Oakland Raiders offered him more money than any other team, but he chose to play in Dallas for more time on the offensive side of the ball, a chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and because of his friendship with Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin. Arthroscopic surgery kept him sidelined until his debut in Week 9, which was once again in Atlanta against the Falcons, though this time Sanders' debut with his new team was not as dramatic as it was with the 49ers (the Cowboys won, 28 to 13). He went on to help the Cowboys win their third Super Bowl title in four years in Super Bowl XXX against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he returned a punt for 11 yards and caught a 47-yard reception on offense, setting up Dallas' first touchdown of the game and a 27–17 victory. Sanders proceeded to play four more seasons with Dallas, earning Pro Bowl berths in all of them, though the Cowboys would only win one playoff game (in 1996 against the Minnesota Vikings) during that time.

Washington Redskins

After five seasons with the Cowboys, new Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder pursued Sanders along with other high priced free agents Mark Carrier and Bruce Smith. Sanders played one season with the Redskins, having four interceptions before retiring in 2001. Late in the 2002 NFL season Sanders contemplated a return to the NFL, specifically to the Oakland Raiders. With his rights still the property of the Redskins, he lobbied and received his release from the team and was waived. The San Diego Chargers claimed Sanders' rights and placed him on their Reserve-Retired List. Sanders opted to stay retired.

During the 2002 season, Sanders was a frequent guest commentator on Monday Night Football. On an amusing note, during a Monday Night Football game between Dallas and Washington that year, it was mentioned that Sanders, who was part of the broadcast team for the game, was still collecting salaries from both teams as part of the contracts he had held with each.

Baltimore Ravens

In 2004, Sanders announced that he was going to end his retirement, after being lured back to football by Ravens cornerback Corey Fuller, linebacker Ray Lewis and best friend Joe Zorovich. He signed a 1-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens to be a nickelback. Sanders chose to wear the number 37, which matched his age at the time, to preemptively let people know that he was well aware of his relative senior status as an NFL player (additionally, the number 21, used by Sanders throughout his career, was already being worn by Ravens Pro Bowl cornerback Chris McAlister). Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 7 of 2004, Sanders scored his ninth career interception return touchdown, moving him into a tie for second place with Ken Houston and Aeneas Williams, and behind Rod Woodson (with 12) for all-time in the statistical category.

In January 2006, after playing two seasons for Baltimore in which the Ravens did not qualify for the postseason, Sanders once again retired from the NFL and became an analyst for the NFL Network.

Legacy

During his 14-year NFL career, Sanders was a perennial All-Pro and one of the most feared pass defenders to ever play the game. While critics argued that his tackling was poor and he was not much of a factor in run support, they could not deny his closing speed.

Sanders also occasionally lined up with his team's offense. During the 1996 season, Sanders skipped the baseball season by concentrating strictly on football and attended the first NFL training camp of his career to better familiarize himself with the nuances of the wide receiver position. He became the second two-way starter (after the Cardinals' Roy Green) in the NFL since Chuck Bednarik for the first half of the season due to Michael Irvin serving a five game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

During his career, Sanders intercepted 53 passes for 1,331 yards (a 25.1 yards per return average), recovered four fumbles for 15 yards, returned 155 kickoffs for 3,523 yards, gained 2,199 yards on 212 punt returns, and caught 60 passes for 784 yards. Sanders amassed 7,838 all-purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns: nine interception returns, six punt returns, three kickoff returns, three receiving, and one fumble recovery. His 19 defensive and return touchdowns are an NFL record. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls in 1991--1994, 1996–1999. He was also awarded the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1994.

''College Football News'' named Sanders #8 in its list of 100 Greatest College Football Players of All-Time.

''The Sporting News named Sanders #37 in their Top 100 Football Players of the Century released in 1999.''

ESPN named Sanders #74 in its list of the 100 Great Athletes of the Century released in 1999.

NFL.com named Sanders #34 on NFL's Top 100 list released in late 2010

On November 11, 2010 Sanders was inducted into the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor.

On February 5, 2011 Sanders was announced as a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in his first year of eligibility.

On May 17, 2011, Sanders was announced as a College Football Hall of Fame inductee.

Sanders also had a rushing TD in the playoffs (against the Philadelphia Eagles in January 1996). This makes him (including post season) one of only two players in NFL history (Bill Dudley being the other) to score a touchdown six different ways (interception return, punt return, kickoff return, receiving, rushing, and a fumble recovery).

On February 6, 2011, at Super Bowl XLV, Sanders performed the pre-game coin toss.

Media appearances and pop culture fame

Following his first Super Bowl victory with the San Francisco 49ers, Sanders was the host of ''Saturday Night Live'', broadcast on February 18, 1995.

Sanders has been in numerous television commercials for Nike, Pepsi, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and American Express. He was most notable as the Road Runner in a Pepsi ad with Wile E. Coyote, and in a Pizza Hut commercial where he responds to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones questions ("Football or baseball?" and "Offense or defense?") with "both!!", including the question "So what'll it be, Deion? $15...20 million?" Sanders pauses to think it over, and says, "Umm...both." He also makes a cameo as himself in the film ''Celtic Pride''.

Sanders, known for his custom-made showy suits and flashy jewelry, frequently capitalized on his image. On December 26, 1994 Sanders released ''Prime Time'', a rap album on Bust It Records (MC Hammer's label) that featured the minor hit "Must Be The Money." "Prime Time Keeps on Tickin'" was also released as a single. Sanders, a friend of Hammer's, appeared in his "Too Legit to Quit" music video. His alter-ego "Prime Time" is also used in Hammer's "Pumps and a Bump" video. Hammer, a big sports fan, had launched a new enterprise during his career called Roll Wit It Entertainment & Sports Management (which released DRS' two-million-selling "Gangsta Lean") and had clients such as Evander Holyfield, Deion Sanders and Reggie Brooks. In 1995, Hammer released "Straight to My Feet" (with Deion Sanders) from the ''Street Fighter'' soundtrack (released in December 1994). The song charted #57 in the UK.

After retiring from the NFL, Sanders worked as a sports pre-game commentator for CBS' ''The NFL Today'' until 2004, when contract negotiations failed. Sanders turned down a 30% salary increase demanding to be paid $2.5 million, the highest of any NFL TV analyst. He was replaced by Shannon Sharpe. During Sanders's run, he participated in several sketches. The first was "Primetime and 21st," a mock street corner where Sanders (not yet a regular panelist) would give his opinions. Another was his "Sanders Claus" persona, one of numerous sketches that involved young kids in football jerseys, representing NFL players, receiving a sarcastic gift from Sanders. Deion actually debuted as "Sanders Claus" in a set of Nike commercials. Still to this day Deion takes presents at Christmas time to local children's hospitals in his area dressed as "Sanders Claus".

Sanders frequently made guest appearances on ESPN, especially on the ESPN Radio Dallas affiliate, and briefly hosted a show called ''The New American Sportsman''. He also hosted the 2002 Miss USA pageant.

Sanders also was co-host of the 2004 GMA Music Awards broadcast, taped in late April 2004, slated for an airing on UPN in May 2004. When negotiations with fellow Viacom property CBS failed (see above) two weeks before the broadcast, and he signed a deal with ESPN, UPN promptly canceled the broadcast, and the show aired on the i Network in December 2004 (both UPN and CBS are now owned by CBS Corporation).

Sanders currently works at NFL Network as an analyst on a number of the network's shows. Prior to the Sunday night game, Sanders, alongside host Rich Eisen and Steve Mariucci, breaks down all the action from the afternoon matchups on NFL GameDay Highlights. At the conclusion of all the action on Sunday, Sanders, Mariucci, Michael Irvin and host Fran Charles recap the day’s action on NFL GameDay Final with highlights, analysis and postgame interviews. For the 2010 season, Sanders joined Eisen, Mariucci and Marshall Faulk on the road for Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Lexus, NFL Network’s two-hour pregame show leading into Thursday Night Football. The group broadcasts live from the stadium two hours prior to all eight live Thursday Night Football games and returns for the Sprint Halftime Show and Kay Jewelers Postgame Show. Sanders also has a segment called "Let's Go Primetime" on NFL Network.

Sanders currently stars in his own reality show -- Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love -- centered around him, his wife, and their five children, all of whom live in the small town of Prosper, Texas.

"Prime Time" persona

Deion Sanders will often be remembered for sporting his famous "do-rag or bandana" and for his "High-Stepping" into the end zone followed by his touchdown dance celebrations. At the same time, Sanders will also be remembered for being one of the most visible and outspoken football players to ever take the field due to his alter-ego, Prime Time. A marketing ploy as much as an alternate personality as it was given to him by a friend and high school teammate, Florida Gators defensive back Richard Fain. The two played pickup basketball games together during the prime time television hour, and Sanders' athletic display during those games won him that title. Once in the NFL, Sanders felt he deserved to be paid as much as NFL quarterbacks and in 1995 he used the "Prime Time" strategy to sign a seven-year, $35 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys (the contract was essentially five years, but was given a seven-year length for an easier cap hit and the signing bonus was $12,999,999.99, one cent under $13 million due to a superstition of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones). At one point, he was the highest paid defensive player in the league and set the benchmark price-tag for future "shut-down corners". Prime Time was upset that he was placed #34 on the list of Top 100 NFL players and said that he should at least be in the top 10.

At the end of his Hall of Fame speech, he put a bandana on his bust.

Other ventures

In addition to his sports career, Sanders also had a career in music as a rapper. He released his debut album Prime Time on Capitol Records in 1994. Sanders moved on to other ventures after his retirement. In 2003, Sanders took interest in Devin Hester, a return specialist from the University of Miami Hurricanes. Sanders mentored Hester, counseling and advising him during various points of his collegiate career. The Chicago Bears drafted Hester in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Since then, Hester has broken, tied, or approached many NFL return records. Hester has cited Sanders as one of his major inspirations and idols, and thanked him for his training and advice. Hester, also known as “Anytime,” occasionally performs Sanders’ signature touchdown dance and high-steps in homage to his mentor.

Sanders also tried to adopt a high school running back, Noel Devine, who was one of the top recruits in 2007. Sanders was advised against this, but responded, "He doesn't have parents; they died. God put this young man in my heart. This is not about sports. This is about a kid's life." He now mentors Devine, and was a factor in Devine's extended wait to sign a letter-of-intent to West Virginia University. Devine eventually signed to play football for the Mountaineers. Sanders has also been the mentor to San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree, as well as Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant.

In January 2004, Sanders was hired as an assistant coach to the Dallas Fury, a women's professional basketball team in the National Women's Basketball League, even though Sanders had never played organized basketball either in college or the professional level.

On September 2, 2005, in response to the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina, Sanders challenged all professional athletes in the four major sports to donate $1,000 each to relief efforts, hoping to raise between $1.5 and $3 million total. Sanders said "Through unity, we can touch thousands....I have friends and relatives that feel this pain. Help in any way you can." In April 2006, Sanders became an owner of the Austin Wranglers, an Arena Football League team.

Sanders has occasionally served as a celebrity spokesperson, such as representing Monitronics, a security system firm, at an industry conference in the spring of 2010.

Discography

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		! style="width:45px;"	! style="width:45px;"
1994	style="text-align:left;"	70	14
2005		-	-

See also

List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases

List of Major League Baseball triples champions

Notes

External links

Sanders Claus

The Official Website of Deion Sanders

Deion's column at news-press.com, Fort Myers, Florida

Football statistics

Deion Sanders ZFOOTBALL 4-on-4 Flag Football Tournaments

Category:Living people Category:1967 births Category:All-American college football players Category:American football cornerbacks Category:American football return specialists Category:American football wide receivers Category:Atlanta Falcons players Category:Baltimore Ravens players Category:Dallas Cowboys players Category:San Francisco 49ers players Category:Washington Redskins players Category:National Conference Pro Bowl players Category:Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:National Football League announcers Category:Gulf Coast Yankees players Category:Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Category:Columbus Clippers players Category:Albany-Colonie Yankees players Category:Richmond Braves players Category:Chattanooga Lookouts players Category:Louisville RiverBats players Category:Syracuse SkyChiefs players Category:Major League Baseball center fielders Category:Major League Baseball left fielders Category:Atlanta Braves players Category:Cincinnati Reds players Category:New York Yankees players Category:San Francisco Giants players Category:Baseball players from Florida Category:African American baseball players Category:Florida State University alumni Category:Florida State Seminoles baseball players Category:Florida State Seminoles football players Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:African American players of American football Category:American Christians Category:People from Fort Myers, Florida Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Arena Football League executives Category:People from Mount Pleasant, New York

de:Deion Sanders fr:Deion Sanders ja:ディオン・サンダース pt:Deion Sanders

Coordinates	43°17′36″N22°00′22″N
Title	Space Invaders
Developer	Taito Corporation
Publisher	Midway
Designer	Tomohiro Nishikado
Released	June 1978
Genre	Fixed shooter
Modes	Single-player
Display	Monochrome raster, vertical orientation
Input	Joystick (Japanese release), or two motion buttons (American release), one fire button and two start buttons
Platforms	Arcade }}

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. ''Space Invaders'' is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: ''Breakout'', ''The War of the Worlds'', and ''Star Wars''. To complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools.

It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry (see golden age of video arcade games). When first released, ''Space Invaders'' was very successful and popular. Following its release, the game caused a temporary shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan, grossed US$2 billion in quarters by 1982, and by 2007 had earned Taito over $500 million in profits. ''Guinness World Records'' ranks it the top arcade game.

The game has been the inspiration for other video games, re-released on numerous platforms, and led to several sequels. The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system's sales and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles. ''Space Invaders'' has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows, and been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions. The pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon, often used as a synecdoche representing video games as a whole.

Gameplay

''Space Invaders'' is a two-dimensional fixed shooter game in which the player controls a laser cannon by moving it horizontally across the bottom of the screen and firing at descending aliens. The aim is to defeat five rows of eleven aliens—some versions feature different numbers—that move horizontally back and forth across the screen as they advance towards the bottom of the screen. The player defeats an alien, and earns points, by shooting it with the laser cannon. As more aliens are defeated, the aliens' movement and the game's music both speed up. Defeating the aliens brings another wave that is more difficult, a loop which can continue indefinitely.

The aliens attempt to destroy the cannon by firing at it while they approach the bottom of the screen. If they reach the bottom, the alien invasion is successful and the game ends. A special "mystery ship" will occasionally move across the top of the screen and award bonus points if destroyed. The laser cannon is partially protected by several stationary defense bunkers—the number varies by version—that are gradually destroyed by projectiles from the aliens and player.

Development

''Space Invaders'' was created by Tomohiro Nishikado, who spent a year designing the game and developing the necessary hardware to produce it. The game's inspiration is reported to have come from varying sources, including an adaptation of the mechanical game ''Space Monsters'' released by Taito in 1972, and a dream about Japanese school children who are waiting for Santa Claus and are attacked by invading aliens. However, Nishikado has cited Atari's arcade game ''Breakout'' as his inspiration. He aimed to create a shooting game that featured the same sense of achievement from completing stages and destroying targets, but with more complex graphics. Nishikado used a similar layout to that of ''Breakout'', but altered the game mechanics. Rather than bounce a ball to attack static objects, players are given the ability to fire projectiles at their own discretion to attack moving enemies.

Early enemy designs included tanks, combat planes, and battleships. Nishikado, however, was not satisfied with the enemy movements; technical limitations made it difficult to simulate flying. Humans would have been easier to simulate, but Nishikado considered shooting them immoral. After seeing a magazine feature about ''Star Wars'', he thought of using a space theme. Nishikado drew inspiration for the aliens from H. G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds''—he had watched a film adaptation as a child—and created initial bitmap images after the octopus-like aliens. Other alien designs were modeled after squids and crabs. The game was originally titled ''Space Monsters'', inspired by a popular song in Japan at the time ("Monster"), but was changed to ''Space Invaders'' by Nishikado's superiors.

Hardware

Because microcomputers in Japan were not powerful enough at the time to perform the complex tasks involved in designing and programming ''Space Invaders'', Nishikado had to design his own custom hardware and development tools for the game. He created the arcade board using new microprocessors from the United States. The game uses an Intel 8080 central processing unit, and features raster graphics on a CRT monitor and monaural sound generated by analogue circuitry. Despite the specially developed hardware, Nishikado was unable to program the game as he wanted—the Control Program board was not powerful enough to display the graphics in color or move the enemies faster—and he considered the development of the hardware the most difficult part of the whole process. While programming the game, Nishikado discovered that the processor was able to render the alien graphics faster the fewer were on screen. Rather than design the game to compensate for the speed increase, he decided to keep it as a challenging gameplay mechanic.

''Space Invaders'' was first released in a cocktail-table format with black and white graphics, while the Western release by Midway was in an upright cabinet format. The upright cabinet uses strips of orange and green cellophane over the screen to simulate color graphics. The graphics are reflected onto a painted backdrop of a moon against a space background. Later Japanese releases also used colored cellophane. The cabinet artwork features large, humanoid monsters not present in the game. Nishikado attributes this to the artist basing the designs on the original title, ''Space Monsters'', rather than referring to the in-game graphics.

Impact and legacy

After the first few months following its release in Japan, the game became very popular. Specialty arcades opened with nothing but ''Space Invaders'' cabinets, and within two years by 1980, Taito had sold over 300,000 ''Space Invaders'' arcade machines in Japan and 60,000 machines in the United States, where prices ranged from $2000 to $3000 for each machine. The arcade cabinets have since become collector's items with the cocktail and cabaret versions being the rarest. A shortage of 100-yen coins—and subsequent production increase—in Japan is attributed to the game. By mid-1981, more than four billion quarters, or $1 billion, had been grossed from ''Space Invaders'' machines, and it would continue to gross an average of $600 million a year through to 1982, by which time it had grossed $2 billion in quarters (equivalent to $4.6 billion in 2011), with a net profit of $450 million (equivalent to $1 billion in 2011). This made it the best-selling video game and highest-grossing entertainment product of its time, with comparisons made to the then highest-grossing film ''Star Wars'', which had grossed $486 million in movie tickets (costing $2.25 each on average) with a net profit of $175 million. By 2007, ''Space Invaders'' had earned Taito profits of over $.5 billion. The 1980 Atari 2600 version was the first official licensing of an arcade game and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles by quadrupling the system's sales, with the game selling over a million units on the console.

Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto considered ''Space Invaders'' a game that revolutionized the video game industry; he was never interested in video games before seeing it. Several publications ascribed the expansion of the video game industry from a novelty into a global industry to the success of the game. ''Edge'' magazine attributed the shift of video games from bars and arcades to more mainstream locations like restaurants and department stores to ''Space Invaders''. Technology journalist Jason Whittaker credited the game's success to ending the video game crash of 1977, which had earlier been caused by ''Pong'' clones flooding the market, and beginning the golden age of video arcade games. According to ''The Observer'', the home console versions were popular and encouraged users to learn programming; many who later became industry leaders. 1UP.com stated that ''Space Invaders'' showed that video games could compete against the major entertainment media at the time: movies, music, and television. IGN attributed the launch of the arcade phenomenon in North America in part to ''Space Invaders''. ''Game Informer'' considered it, along with ''Pac-Man'', one of the most popular arcade games that tapped into popular culture and generated excitement during the golden age of arcades. IGN listed it as one of the "Top 10 Most Influential Games" in 2007, citing the source of inspiration to video game designers and the impact it had on the shooting genre. In 2008, Guinness World Records listed it as the top-rated arcade game in technical, creative, and cultural impact.

As one of the earliest shooting games, it set precedents and helped pave the way for future titles and for the shooting genre. ''Space Invaders'' popularized a more interactive style of gameplay with the enemies responding to the player controlled cannon's movement, and was the first video game to popularize the concept of achieving a high score, being the first to save the player's score. It was also the first game where players were given multiple lives, had to repel hordes of enemies, could take cover from enemy fire, and use destructible barriers, in addition to being the first game to use a continuous background soundtrack, with four simple chromatic descending bass notes repeating in a loop, which was dynamic and changed pace during stages, like a heartbeat sound that increases pace as enemies approached. It also moved the gaming industry away from ''Pong''-inspired sports games grounded in real-world situations towards action games involving fantastical situations. Whittaker commented that ''Space Invaders'' helped action games become the most dominant genre on both arcades and consoles, through to contemporary times. ''Guinness World Records'' considered ''Space Invaders'' one of the most successful arcade shooting games by 2008. In describing it as a "seminal arcade classic", IGN listed it as the number eight "classic shoot 'em up". ''Space Invaders'' set the template for the shoot 'em up genre, inspiring the development of arcade games, such as Williams Electronics' ''Defender'' and Namco's ''Galaxian'' and ''Galaga'', which were modeled after ''Space Invaders''s gameplay and design, an influence that extends to most shooting games released to the present day, including first-person shooters such as ''Wolfenstein'', ''Doom'', ''Halo'' and ''Call of Duty''. ''Space Invaders'' also had an influence on early computer dungeon crawl games such as ''Dungeons of Daggorath'', which used similar heartbeat sounds to indicate player health.

Remakes and sequels

''Space Invaders'' has been remade on numerous platforms and spawned many sequels. Re-releases include ported and updated versions of the original arcade game. Ported versions generally feature different graphics and additional gameplay options—for example, moving defense bunkers, zigzag shots, invisible aliens, and two-player cooperative gameplay. Ports on earlier systems like the Atari home consoles featured simplified graphics, while later systems such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and PlayStation featured updated graphics. Later titles include several modes of gameplay and integrate new elements into the original design. For example, ''Space Invaders Extreme'', released on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, integrated musical elements into the standard gameplay. A spin-off for WiiWare, ''Space Invaders Get Even'', allows players to control the aliens instead of the laser cannon. In 1980, Bally Midway released a pinball version of the game. However, few elements from the original game are included, and the aliens instead resemble the xenomorphs from the film ''Alien''; Bally Midway was later sued over the game's resemblance to designs by H. R. Giger. Different ports have been met with mixed receptions; the Atari 2600 version was very successful while the Nintendo Entertainment System version was poorly received.

Taito has released several arcade sequels that built upon the basic design of the original. The first was ''Space Invaders Part II'' in 1980; it featured color graphics and new gameplay elements, and added an intermission between gameplay. According to the ''Killer List of Video Games'', this was the first video game to include an intermission. This version was released in the United States as ''Deluxe Space Invaders'' (also known as ''Space Invaders Deluxe''), but featured a different graphical color scheme and a lunar-city background. Another arcade sequel, titled ''Space Invaders II'', was released exclusively in the United States. It was in a cocktail-table format and featured a competitive two-player mode. During the summer of 1985, ''Return of the Invaders'' was released with updated color graphics, and more complex movements and attack patterns for the aliens. Subsequent arcade sequels included ''Super Space Invaders '91'', ''Space Invaders DX'', and ''Space Invaders 95''. Each game introduced minor gameplay additions to the original design. Like the original game, several of the arcade sequels have become collector's items, though some are considered rarer. In 2002, Taito released ''Space Raiders'', a third-person shooter reminiscent of ''Space Invaders''.

The game and its related games have been included in video game compilation titles. ''Space Invaders Anniversary'' was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and included nine ''Space Invader'' variants. A similar title for the PlayStation Portable, ''Space Invaders Pocket'', was released in 2005. ''Space Invaders'', ''Space Invaders Part II'' and ''Return of the Invaders'' are included in ''Taito Legends'', a compilation of Taito's classic arcade games released in 2005 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. ''Super Space Invaders '91'', ''Space Invaders DX'' and ''Space Invaders 95'' were included in ''Taito Legends 2'', a sequel compilation released in 2006.

In popular culture

The game—and references to it—has appeared in numerous facets of popular culture. Multiple television series have aired episodes that either reference or parody the game and its elements; for example, ''Danger Mouse'', ''That '70s Show'', ''Scrubs'',, ''Chuck'', and ''Robot Chicken''. Elements are prominently featured in the "Raiders of the Lost Arcade" segment of "Anthology of Interest II", an episode of ''Futurama''. Many publications and websites use the pixelated alien graphic as an icon for video games in general, including video game magazine ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'', technology website Ars Technica, and concert event Video Games Live.

Musicians drew inspiration for their music from ''Space Invaders''. Video Games Live performed audio from the game as part of a special retro "Classic Arcade Medley". The influential Japanese electropop/synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra reproduced ''Space Invaders'' sounds in their 1978 self-titled album and its hit single "Computer Game", the latter selling over 400,000 copies in the United States. Other pop songs based on ''Space Invaders'' soon followed, including "Disco Space Invaders" (1979) by Funny Stuff, "Space Invaders" (1980) by Playback, and the hit songs "Space Invader" (1980) by The Pretenders and "Space Invaders" (1980) by Uncle Vic. In honor of the game's 30th anniversary, Taito produced an album titled ''Space Invaders 2008''. The album is published by Avex Trax and features music inspired by the game. Taito's store Taito Station also unveiled a ''Space Invaders'' themed music video.

In 2006, the game was one of several video game related media selected to represent Japan as part of a project compiled by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. In the same year, ''Space Invaders'' was included in the London Science Museum's Game On exhibition meant to showcase the various aspects of video game history, development, and culture. The game is also a part of the Barbican Centre's traveling Game On exhibition. At the Belluard Bollwerk International 2006 festival in Fribourg, Switzerland, Guillaume Reymond created a three minute video recreation of a game of ''Space Invaders'' as part of the "Gameover" project using humans as pixels. The GH ART exhibit at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, included an art game, ''Invaders!'', based on ''Space Invaders''s gameplay. The creator later asked for the game to be removed from the exhibit following criticism of elements based on the September 11, 2001 attacks. A French street artist known as Invader made a name for himself by creating mosaic artwork of ''Space Invader'' aliens around the world.

See also

Shoot 'em up

References

External links

Space Invaders 30th anniversary portal List of Space Invader games by Taito via archive.org

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Coordinates	43°17′36″N22°00′22″N
Name	Mike Jaggerr
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Mikeal
Born	August 20, 1989
Origin	Brooklyn, NY Wilmington, Delaware, US
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, Songwriter, Producer, Director
Years active	2011 – present
Label	Unsigned
Associated acts	Big K.R.I.T }}

Mike Jaggerr (born August 20, 1989) is a 21 year old rapper, producer, and songwriter and former band member of the hip-hop group Bassline. Mike was born in New York, raised in Wilmington, Delaware and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Mike is also a graduate from Florida’s Full Sail University and studied Film.

''The Eleventh Hour''

Mike has released his debut mixtape titled ''The Eleventh Hour'' (January 11, 2011) where he served as the exclusive producer, rapper and singer. The mixtape release party was celebrated February 4, 2011 in Wilmington, Delaware and TheWakeUpShow/MTV’s Sway was host. Mike also performed, February 8, 2011, at New York’s Art Center during the Faces in the Crowd showcase.

Its lead single is “Away” which is an opening and introductory song about his family and troubled childhood. Mike raps, "Promised my Pop I wouldn’t cry a tear/but sometimes I get so tired, Goodyear/ name the last time I had a good year with no dysfunction/guess it’s my curse conjunction/ to stay in this pain of world I know/got so much pain I got to let it show/but I can’t live like this I got to let it go" A video has been shot by the productive team Creative Control for "Away", who have also produced for Kanye West, Erykah Badu & Curren$y. A fellow buzz track has been Mike’s collaboration with Def Jam’s Big K.R.I.T for “Cruise Control. The Tastemaker website DJBooth.net exclusively posted “Cruise Control as well as XXLmag.com, VIBE.com, and DJ Mick Boogie chose the song as his "jam of the week."

The mixtape ''The Eleventh Hour'' has received Internet recognition and sponsorship from influential blogs & websites such as AllHipHop.com where they stated in reference to his story; "Often times it is through the story of others that we learn more about ourselves. Regardless of the relevance, there are simply those aspects of struggle and triumph that evoke emotion. When reading Mike Jaggerr’s 'story,' I became excited." DJBooth.net also featured Mike's effort as did Datpiff.com, which awarded ''The Eleventh Hour'' with five stars.

Features

Mike’s been featured on NodFactor.com, Atlanta’s AUC magazine, on BET.com and Entertainment Tonight host Kevin Frazier’s HipHollywood.com. The project has earned a 98/100 rating on ThisIsRealMusic.com. TheSource magazine also tapped the rapper for a spotlight in their legendary Unsigned Hype column.

''The Eleventh Hour'' has also been posted on RapRadar.com, 2DopeBoyz.com and OkayPlayer.com among others. Additionally,New York’s Power 105’s morning host Angela Yee tapped the set as her “Mix of the Week.”

KIIS FM’s DJ Skee selected Mike Jaggerr’s single “Away” (track 27) to be included on his exclusive Metro PCS sponsored Superbowl/NBA All-Star mixtape “Android for All” released February 20, 2011.

References

External links

NOD Factor Interview 2011

All Hip Hop Interview 2011

DJBooth.net DJ Booth Feature

Android for All DJ Skee All Star Mixtape

Mix of the Week Power 105.1's Angela Yee's

BET.com BET's Sound Off Spotlight

Category:1989 births Category:Living people