On this date in 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon ascent in North America. He took off in his hydrogen-filled craft from a prison yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which, at the time, was the capital of the United States. George Washington witnessed the launch and gave the non-English speaking Blanchard a letter that would introduce him wherever he landed (which ended up being Deptford Township, New Jersey.) This effectively was the first American airmail delivery.
In 1809 Blanchard had a heart attack while up in a balloon in the Netherlands. He fell out and died a few weeks later from the severe injuries. His wife Sophie died 10 years later while ballooning in Paris, the victim of a combination of highly-flamable hydrogen and fireworks.
Tampa, Florida’s WRBQ used this balloon sticker in the mid-1980s. Q105 had been a longtime CHR station in the Tampa Bay area and still uses the same logo to this day, although they now carry a Classic Hits format.
Here's a couple more WRBQ stickers:
circa 1990
This looks like it might date from the early 1980s or even late 1970s, perhaps when they were still a Rock station.
