Koppenberg is a 77 m high hill in Oudenaarde, the Flemish Ardennes, Belgium. "Koppen" is an abbreviation for cobblestones which in Dutch slang language are called kinderkoppen, or "children's heads". This climb is part of the route of the Tour of Flanders professional cycling race and feared by many because of its steepness and because of its cobblestones; this makes the Koppenberg difficult for top professionals. Quite riders slow to the point of losing their balance those at the back of the peloton who have to dismount and scramble to the top on foot. Strategically, the climb has little importance: it is too far from the finish. If a breakaway forms on the Koppenberg it is difficult for riders to hold off the peloton in the finishing stages. In the 2012 course change the Koppenberg was moved to 60 km from the finish line and raising its relevance some. Koppenberg was first climbed by the Tour of Flanders riders in 1976 and featured annually until 1987. In that year, Danish rider Jesper Skibby broke away from the peloton early in the race and had been riding by himself when he approached the Koppenberg.
With a lead of nearly two minutes, he began the climb but when started to slow, the race commissaire following close behind in his car - pressured by the encroaching peloton - ordered his driver to move so they knocked Skibby who fell to the ground the car ran over his back wheel, just narrowly missing his leg and ending his race. After the incident, the Koppenberg was excluded for 15 years. Following renovations, which included widening the road and re-paving it, the climb was re-introduced in 2002; the Koppenberg was again excluded from the Tour of Flanders because of its deteriorating and unsafe conditions in 2007. Following further renovations that year, it was again included in the 2008 edition of the race, has been featured in each edition since; the Koppenberg hillside is used for the annual Cyclo-cross Koppenberg race. The cyclo-cross course follows only part of the cobbled road, using some of the surrounding fields and roads for the other sections of the course. Koppenberg race photos on grahamwatson.com
Jamie Kellner is a former American television executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. a division of Time Warner which includes TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network. Kellner took over the post in 2001 and handed over the company to Philip Kent in 2003, he was the chairman of station ownership group ACME Communications, a post held from the company's founding until its folding in 2016. Kellner grew up on Long Island, New York, he attended Uppsala University in upstate New York. After college he participated in the CBS Executive Training Program and after CBS disposed of its syndication division, he rose to the rank of vice president for first-run programming and sales at Viacom. In 1978, he accepted a job as executive of a film and television producer and distributor. In 1982, after Filmways was taken over by Orion Pictures, he served as president of its Orion Entertainment Group, where he oversaw and supervised their programming and syndication activities including the launch of Cagney and Lacey.
In 1986, he was the first executive hired by Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller to develop a fourth television network to compete with the big three. At Fox, he was charged with building the affiliate network, selling programming to advertisers, the establishment of relations with program producers. Kellner was present at the creation of the Fox Broadcasting Company, considered a radical idea, as it was taking on the three networks that had dominated American television since the 1950s, ABC, CBS and NBC. Despite incredible skepticism, Kellner was part of the team that gave the network the "attitude" that has marked the network since. Among the shows that emerged during Kellner's seven years at Fox were The Simpsons, Married... with Children, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and In Living Color. Those shows held the fledgling "web" together until Fox shocked the TV world by winning partial rights to the National Football League in 1994 from CBS. Kellner spent seven years at the helm of the WB Television Network.
He helped launch the new broadcast network in 1994. During his tenure, Kellner began by championing urban sitcoms, but steered the network in the direction of teen and family-oriented dramas. 7th Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek and Charmed all premiered during Kellner's presidency. Kellner was made head of Turner Broadcasting System in 2000, he was the one who made the decision to cancel World Championship Wrestling programming on Turner's networks in 2001. The once-powerful WCW was the largest wrestling promotion in the world popularity-wise in the mid-1990s, besting its rival World Wrestling Federation head to head on Monday Nights for 83 consecutive weeks. By 2001, it was declining, lost $80 million the previous year. A combination of resurgent competition from WWF, as well as many bad booking and financial decisions had all but killed WCW's fanbase and profitability. With WCW no longer being financially viable, AOL Time Warner wanting nothing to do with the product further, Kellner canceled all WCW programming on Turner Networks.
This left WCW without a television contract, hastened its eventual purchase by WWF chairman Vince McMahon. In the book The Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez and RD Reynolds, Kellner is listed as the official "killer" of WCW. Insofar as he made the official call to remove it from Turner Networks. Kellner and his wife, have one child, he has a daughter from his previous marriage; the Death of WCW, by R. D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez. New York: ECW Press, 2005.