Cincinnati *Really* Loves Fireworks
How a radio station and an insurance behemoth put on one of the best shows in the country.
Well, we missed it. The WEBN / Western & Southern Labor Day fireworks show at Riverfest.
In our defense, we just moved here and did not know how awesome it is. Growing up in Cleveland, I was aware of the concept of Riverfest, but that was before the Internet as we know it, smart phones, etc. Somebody tells you “we have an amazing fireworks show!” like I would tell you about the Cleveland Guardians post-game shows, but you never know the degree of amazing (or not) a show is until you are able to see it.
We had long standing plans to be back in Cleveland for your AL Central Division leading Guardians and the Cleveland Air Show. Our painters told me if we couldn’t go, we should TiVo it, and we did.
We got back last night and popped some corn for a family fireworks night, not knowing what to expect. And this intro, for the uninitiated, was a great primer for things to come:
Alright, a 1990s theme? I am sold. But WEBN? I know little about “The Lunatic Fringe of American FM.” Seems a lot like the Queen City’s WMMS aka “The Buzzard.” In 1977, the station celebrated its 10th birthday, and according to the Enquirer:
What is now called the Western & Southern/WEBN Fireworks at Riverfest started when radio station WEBN-FM celebrated 10 years on the air back in 1977. People had such a blast that on Sunday they will be doing it again for the 40th time.
The fireworks show was the brainchild of Frank “Bo” Wood Jr., WEBN’s general manager and president at the time.
“I thought it would be fun to have a birthday party for the whole city and do something they’ve never seen before,” Wood told the Enquirer in 1978. “Since we’re a radio station we decided to broadcast music to go with the display, multimedia fireworks. It worked beyond anyone’s expectations.”
…
The first fireworks show was held on Aug. 30, 1977 – a Tuesday night. There was no police traffic control, no parking at Riverfront Stadium. Crowds flooded both sides of the Ohio River.
The show grew from there, and you should read along about how the technology changes between 1977 and present, both in fireworks and broadcasting, have enabled the show to get continually better.
As a longtime outsider, it sounds like the WKRP Turkey Drop gone legit. But with lots of coordinated explosions. And music.
Western & Southern is something, and I am a bit of a trivia geek, I was completely unaware of until moving here. The group, an old insurance giant, previously sponsored the Cincinnati Open—is not to be confused with Great American. They have a bunch of subsidiaries you may have heard of, some you may have not. They’ve sponsored the show for the last nine years.
WCPO reports that the marquee building bearing Great American’s name owes its success to W&S:
The company controls a significant chunk of downtown real estate, including much of the land around Lytle Park and Cincinnati’s largest office building, Great American Tower at Queen City Square. The 41-story tower cost $322 million, but Western & Southern managed to build and fill it with tenants in the middle of the Great Recession.
Before this year’s show started, there was a drone show. A lot of places are replacing fireworks (boo!) with drone shows. Not Cincinnati. They had both. And the drone show was impressive, too.
While I didn’t see them in person, the Riverfest fireworks put Washington’s Capitol Fourth’s to shame. Sorry, Washington. This show is objectively better. Perhaps it’s the location and the river that keep the smoke moving along, but the smoke lingering has ruined a number of recent fireworks shows in Washington. (At least in my view.)
Watch the whole thing here.
And if you want to see what the finale looked like, up close, watch this from local disc jockey “Shroom Elvis.”
Editor’s Note: I forgot to give a shoutout to Rozzi Fireworks, which puts it together.
It isn't a Turkey Drop, but it'll do...
My recommendation is watch from Kentucky. Less traffic and better views than Cincinnati. If you really don't like crowds and don't need to be on the river - Newport Central Catholic is a great spot.