1996 Year

If 1996 taught anything in the video business, it was not to count out the videocassette. Last January, pundits were writing VHS off in favor of emerging technologies such as a format shaped like an audio CD expected to revolutionize the industry--and the fast-growing satellite dish business.

KISS and Garth Brooks were the nation's top concert attractions during 1996, according to Pollstar magazine's annual survey of the concert business. In an elaborate tour that was complete with pyrotechnics and its trademark costumes and makeup, KISS, the '70s heavy-metal powerhouse, grossed an estimated $43.6 million in tickets, based on 92 shows in 75 cities, the magazine reports in its Jan. 6 issue. But even more impressive was Brooks' second-place finish.

From the Olympic Games to the Little League World Series, the sporting events of 1996 were brought to life with help from Valley and Ventura County newsmakers. From sprawling Cal State Northridge to tiny St. Bonaventure High, schools in the region made headlines.

Maybe it's gridlock. Maybe it's cheaper rent. Who knows? Maybe the Valley secessionists are on to something. Already filled to the freeways with malls and multiplexes, the San Fernando Valley is starting to come into its own in the performing arts arena. Witness: * Glendale's 1,460-seat Alex Theatre is in the middle of its most ambitious season in the three years since it opened. * The Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge is about to complete its first year's worth of shows.

For seven years, the U.S. stock market has enjoyed more happy endings than the least believable Hollywood sitcom. No matter what the challenge--and there have been plenty of them for this bull market--stocks on the whole have refused to give back much ground for very long. It's as if the permanent symbol of Wall Street is that obnoxious 1970s smiley face. And so it is that we start 1997 with the Dow Jones industrial average at 6,448.27, just 112.

A combination of safety training programs, new technology and fewer small coal operations made 1996 the safest year in American coal mining history, experts say. Thirty-eight coal miners lost their lives on the job last year, down from the record low of 45 fatalities recorded in 1994 and last year's toll of 47, said U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Kathy Snyder. In 1906, 3,234 miners were killed in the United States. In Kentucky, the nation's No.

Californians created more new businesses in 1996 than in any year since 1989, with the technology and business service industries of Southern California leading the way, a new report shows. In all, 48,301 new businesses were incorporated in California during the year, up 3.9% from 1995 and the highest total since the state's recession six years ago, according to data compiled by Santa Ana-based CDB Infotek, a public-records research firm.

Hung over? Mired in the post-holiday blues? Savor this with your first cup of 1997 coffee: California--legendary land of oh-my-God calamities--was a pretty agreeable place to live last year--at least in terms of natural disasters. True, there were raging fires that torched scores of homes and thousands of acres from San Diego to Ventura in October. But 1996 brought no killer quakes and no deadly floods. There were no riots in the streets, no swarms of medflies clouding the air.

The year of 1996 in Orange County sports was notable as much for what didn't happen as what did: * NFL football didn't return, though Seattle Seahawks' owner Ken Behring flirted with a move and even held a few practices in Anaheim. * The Clippers didn't accept a $95-million offer to play full time at the Pond. * The Ducks didn't make the playoffs, though they finished the season as one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

The U.S. stock market ended 1996 with a split ticket on Tuesday, as blue-chip stocks tumbled while the broad market rose--a suitable final reminder of a year of very divergent, but on balance mostly bullish, trends on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrials sank 101.10 points, or 1.5%, to 6,448.