History of Nickelodeon

This article is devoted to the history of the cable channel Nickelodeon.

1977–1979: Local QUBE launch as C-3 and Pinwheel

The original cast of the Pinwheel TV series.

The original concept of Nickelodeon was conceived by Dr. Vivian Horner, an educator who worked as the director of research on The Electric Company. Horner also created Nickelodeon's first original series Pinwheel, which aired on the C-3 channel on Warner Cable's QUBE system in Columbus, Ohio, beginning on December 1, 1977. The C-3 channel was nicknamed the "Pinwheel Channel" since it exclusively broadcast episodes of Pinwheel each day from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST.

After the success of Pinwheel, Horner planned to bring the show (along with a handful of other series on QUBE) to a nationwide audience as part of the first U.S. cable channel targeted at children. She asked her co-workers to help her come up with a list of possible names for the national network. Several names were proposed, such as the "Savoy Channel" and the "Rainbow Network", before Pinwheel producer Sandy Kavanaugh came up with the name "Nickelodeon", a word that originally referred to small, coin-operated movie theaters popular in the 1900s. Kavanaugh was not initially fully satisfied with the name; in 2013, she recalled:

“The name of the network had come from Vivian Horner wanting me to come up with a list of possibilities. Everybody was suffering over what to call it. I came up with a list and Nickelodeon was my favorite. A lot of the other names we came up with were bad... I wasn't thrilled with 'Nickelodeon.' It was whimsical sounding, though. It had a fun lilt.”

―Sandy Kavanaugh, Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age

1979–1984: National launch as Nickelodeon

In December 1978, the QUBE team announced that C-3's programming would make the move to national television and become its own cable channel. Despite having originally set its launch date for February 1979, Nickelodeon debuted on April 1, 1979 at 10:00 a.m. EST to Warner Cable franchises across the United States. Despite its prior history on QUBE, Nickelodeon usually designates 1979 as the year of its "official" launch, as that was the year it became a national cable channel. Nickelodeon quickly expanded its audience reach, first to other Warner Cable systems across the country and eventually to other cable providers. It was distributed via satellite on RCA Satcom-1, which went into orbit on March 26, 1979, originally transmitted on transponder space purchased from televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

Nickelodeon's first logo, depicting a man peering into the wordmark (a la a kinetoscope), was created by New York-based creative director and designer Joseph Iozzi. However, the logo could not be trademarked since it featured a stock illustration. Iozzi intended to replace the logo with a period illustration of a boy in Nickers, a British flat cap and large suspenders, tiptoed on a stylish iron train step, but new incoming management never permitted the planned redesign. The logo was instead replaced with one featuring the wordmark in the Pinwheel typeface later that year.

Initial programming on Nickelodeon included Pinwheel (reformatted as a daily hour-long series that showed three to five episodes), Video Comics, America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks, and By the Way, all of which had originated at (or at least had some connection to) the QUBE studios in Columbus (Pinwheel would move to New York as its filming location). At the time of its launch, Nickelodeon's programming ran on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and on weekends from 8:00 a.m. to midnight Eastern and Pacific Time. Initially, the network was entirely commercial-free, and was used as a loss leader for Warner Cable's premium cable network Star Channel (later relaunched as The Movie Channel in November 1979), which would take over its space after its broadcast day ended. This decision was made mainly because Warner Cable thought that having a commercial-free children's channel would give them an advantage over rivals like HBO (then owned by Time-Life, Inc., whom Warner would later merge with).

On September 14, 1979, American Express reached an agreement with Warner Communications to buy 50% of Warner Cable for $175 million. Through the formation of the joint venture (which was incorporated in December of that year), Star Channel and Nickelodeon were absorbed into Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (later Warner-Amex Cable Communications), which handled the operations of the group's cable channels, while Warner Cable was folded into the separate, jointly owned Warner Cable Corporation. Beginning in 1980, Nickelodeon ran interstitials between programs, consisting of a mime portrayed by actor and mime Jonathan Schwartz doing tricks in front of a black background. New shows added to the lineup that year included Dusty's Treehouse, First Row Features, Special Delivery, What Will They Think Of Next?, and Livewire.

On April 12, 1981, the channel shifted its daily programming to 13 hours a day, now airing from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, seven days a week. The Movie Channel had become a separate 24-hour channel the year before, and Nickelodeon had begun turning over its channel space during off-hours to the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS), a fine arts-focused network owned by the Hearst Corporation and Hearst/ABC Video Services, which became the Arts & Entertainment Network (A&E) after it merged with NBC's struggling cable service, the Entertainment Channel, in 1984.

The Nickelodeon logo used from April 12th 1981 to October 1st 1984.

Also on April 12th 1981, Nickelodeon introduced a new logo designed by CBS head designer Lou Dorfsman, consisting of a rainbow wordmark in the Frankfurter typeface and a silver pinball illustrated by Bob Klein of Los Angeles-based promotion firm Klein &. Later that year, the Canadian sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television made its American debut on Nickelodeon, and became the network's first hit series. The green slime originally featured on that show would be adopted by Nickelodeon as a primary feature of many of its game shows and special events. Other shows that were part of Nickelodeon's schedule at the time included The Third Eye, Standby...Lights! Camera! Action! and Mr. Wizard's World.

In 1983, Nickelodeon began to accept corporate underwriting (a method common in public television) for its programming in order to increase revenue, which had stagnated as a result of low programming investment. Around this time, Warner-Amex began divesting its assets and installed Nickelodeon, MTV and the now-defunct Radio Television Station into the newly formed subsidiary MTV Networks.

1984–1991: Building the network empire

In early 1984, Geraldine Laybourne, who had been a program manager at the network since 1980, was named vice president of Nickelodeon, and made the controversial decision to begin accepting advertising for the network. At that time, Nickelodeon had lost an accumulated $40 million as a loss leader for The Movie Channel (which was later sold to Showtime after its poor performance). In addition, the network lacked successful programs (shows that failed to gain traction in its early years included Against the Odds and Going Great), which stagnated its viewership and led to it finishing dead last among all American cable channels at one point.

One of several versions of the "classic" Nickelodeon logo used from 1984 to 2009. This version, in the style of the original Nicktoons logo, was introduced in 1993.

Laybourne and then-MTV Networks president Robert Pittman fired the existing management, and hired creative directors Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman (both of whom had helped develop MTV's on-air identity and had just opened the studio Fred/Alan, Inc.) to assist them in restructuring Nickelodeon. Seibert and Goodman hired designers Tom Corey and Scott Nash of Boston advertising firm Corey & Co. (now Corey McPherson Nash) to redesign the network's logo; Corey and Nash came back with multiple sketches that all featured the channel name in the Balloon Extra Bold typeface on some sort of orange shape (i.e. a blimp, a rocketship, an airplane, and a splat). Seibert and Goodman initially chose only one of the proposed designs, but then decided to incorporate all of Corey and Nash's ideas into a revolving brand reminiscent of MTV's identity (which involved the logo in different patterns and colors). Seibert later recalled in January 2009:

“Alan pointed out that's how we'd made our bones, and besides, we were right, darn it. Movement was the way to go, constant change made for an energetic network, and kids were the most vital force in the world. Give them something they relate to: change. He was looking at the orange splat on [Corey and Nash's] page. Tom and Scott argued that orange generally clashed with everything and that would make the logo stand out [...] The splat could morph into any image we liked.”

―Fred Seibert

Fred/Alan enlisted the help of several animators and studios to create promotional IDs with the new branding. Notably, they also collaborated with doo-wop group the Jive Five (known for their 1961 hit "My True Story"), who contributed the channel's distinctive acapella jingle. On October 1, 1984, the new branding made its on-air debut, and was initially used in tandem with the 1981 "pinball" logo until that design was completely phased out in early 1985. Following the rebrand, Nickelodeon's viewership increased significantly, leading to it becoming the highest-rated U.S. cable channel among children by mid-1985. Nickelodeon would remain the dominant channel in children's programming for 26 years, even with increasing competition from other children's cable channels such as the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. Around this time, it also began promoting itself as "the First Kids' Network", due to its status as the first American cable network aimed at children.

After A&E became a separate 24-hour channel in January 1985, Nickelodeon ran text promos for their daytime shows during off-air hours before becoming a 24-hour channel itself in June. Some cable systems provided programming from a niche cable television service that had no room on system airing on the channel space. Pittman tasked Laybourne with developing programming for the late evening and overnight timeslot. To help with ideas, Laybourne again enlisted Seibert and Goodman, who conceived the idea of a classic television block modeled after the "Greatest Hits of All Time" oldies radio format after being presented with over 200 episodes of The Donna Reed Show. On July 1, 1985, the block, now known as Nick at Nite, was launched on Nickelodeon, and initially aired from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific time.

On July 18, 1985, Warner-Amex made the decision to divest MTV, Nickelodeon and the newly launched Video Hits One (VH1) into the MTV Networks company, which had just been made public. On August 9, Warner Communications announced that it had bought American Express' remaining stock in Warner-Amex for $450 million. On August 26, Warner announced that it would sell 31% of MTV Networks and 19% of Showtime/The Movie Channel to Viacom, who already owned half of the latter company under an agreement with Warner. Viacom later fully acquired both MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel for $326 million in November, ending Warner's venture into children's television until it acquired future Nick competitor Cartoon Network in 1996.

In 1988, the network aired the inaugural Kids' Choice Awards (previously aired a year earlier as The Big Ballot), a telecast in vein of the People's Choice Awards in which viewers select their favorites in television, music, movies, and sports. It also introduced Nick Jr., an educational program block for preschool-aged children which replaced the Pinwheel block.

In 1989, Laybourne was named the first president of Nickelodeon after spending five years as vice president. On June 7, 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios, a television production facility and attraction at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, where many of its sitcoms and game shows were filmed. It also entered into a multimillion-dollar marketing agreement with Pizza Hut, which provided the new children's publication Nickelodeon Magazine for free at participating restaurants.

1991–1998: Golden Age, establishing original animation, and expansion into scripted programming

On August 11, 1991, Nickelodeon debuted the Nicktoons brand with its first original animated series Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. The development of these programs marked a reversal in the network's strategy, as it had previously refused to produce weekly animated series due to possibly high production costs. The three series found success by 1992, resulting in the creation of the network's fourth Nicktoon Rocko's Modern Life in 1993, which also became a success. Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show both ended production around 1995, although Doug would be revived by Disney as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup in 1996; Rugrats, on the other hand, returned from hiatus in 1997.

On August 15, 1992, the network extended its Saturday schedule by two hours with the launch of the primetime block SNICK, which aired from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. Over the years, SNICK became home to shows such as Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Clarissa Explains It All. The success of the Saturday primetime block led Nickelodeon to expand its programming into primetime on other nights in 1996, with the extension of its broadcast day to 8:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (later extended to 9:00 p.m. from 1998 to 2009) on Sunday through Friday nights. In 2004, the SNICK block was reformatted as the Saturday edition of TEENick, which had debuted on Sunday evenings on March 4, 2001. The Saturday night block continues today and was not officially branded from 2009 to 2012, when the "Gotta See Saturdays" brand was adopted for the Saturday morning and primetime blocks. The TEENick branding, with its spelling altered to TeenNick, has since been used on the sister channel previously known as The N.

In March 1993, the channel enlisted viewers to come up with new logo shapes for channel IDs. The designs chosen – a cap, a balloon, a gear, a rocket, and a top, among other shapes – were mainly 3D renderings, and debuted alongside a new graphics package in June. After a three-year absence following its suspension in 1990, Nickelodeon resumed publication of Nickelodeon Magazine under a pay/subscription model in June 1993.

In May 1993, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Wonder to release episode compilations of the network's programs on VHS, which became top sellers. After Paramount Pictures became its sister company with its 1994 purchase by Viacom, Nickelodeon switched its distribution to Paramount Home Entertainment, who re-released Nicktoons compilations on VHS. In October and December 1994, Nickelodeon sold a syndication package of Halloween and Christmas-themed Nicktoon episodes to television stations across the United States, in conjunction with the new corporate relative Paramount Domestic Television.

In 1994, Nickelodeon launched The Big Help, a program intended to encourage activity and environmental preservation by children. That same year, Nickelodeon removed You Can't Do That on Television from its schedule after 13 years, and later debuted the sketch comedy series All That, which would go on to launch the careers of several actors and actresses, including Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Amanda Bynes, and Jamie Lynn Spears. Dan Schneider, one of the show's executive producers, would go on to create and produce several hit live-action series for Nickelodeon, including Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show (both spin-offs of All That), Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, and Victorious. Also in 1994, Nickelodeon debuted its fifth Nicktoon Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, which would also become a hit on the network.

On February 13, 1996, Herb Scannell was named president of Nickelodeon, succeeding Geraldine Laybourne. On April 29, 1996, Nick at Nite launched the spinoff channel TV Land, an extension of the block's "oldies" format (the channel's name was derived from one of Nick at Nite's original slogans). In 1997, Albie Hecht became president of film and television entertainment for Nickelodeon, before he left to become president of Viacom's TNN (later Spike TV) in 2003.

On July 10, 1996, Paramount Pictures released Nickelodeon's first theatrical feature film, an adaptation of the Louise Fitzhugh novel Harriet the Spy, starring Michelle Trachtenberg and Rosie O'Donnell. The film went on to earn twice its $13 million budget.

Until the 1990s, Saturday morning cartoons had been the most popular children's programs on television. However, due in part to the imposition of educational program mandates on broadcast stations in 1996, Nickelodeon and other youth-oriented cable networks (which were not subject to those mandates as they did not broadcast over the air) had an advantage by not having to comply with that mandate. By 1997, Nickelodeon's Saturday morning lineup had shot ahead of its competition, and would remain there for the next several years.

1998–2005: Silver Age and further exploring and marketing programs

In 1998, Nickelodeon brought Rugrats to the big screen with The Rugrats Movie, which grossed over $100 million domestically and became the first non-Disney animated film to surpass that amount. This began a trend of Nickelodeon making film adaptations of their animated series.

A 1999 print advertisement promoting Nickelodeon's 20th anniversary

On May 1, 1999, Nickelodeon previewed SpongeBob SquarePants directly after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards. After the series officially premiered on July 17, it became the most popular Nicktoon in the channel's history, consistently ranking as its highest-rated series since 2000. By 2001, a third of the series' audience was made up of adults, and the show was run in evening slots. A film adaptation was announced in 2002 and was released in 2004. The ensuing SpongeBob media franchise went on to generate over $13 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.

In March 2004, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite were separated in the Nielsen primetime and total day ratings due to the different programming, advertisers and target audiences between the two services. This caused controversy as cable executives believed that this manipulated the ratings, given that Nick at Nite's broadcast day takes up only a fraction of Nickelodeon's schedule. Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite's respective ratings periods only encompass the hours they each operate under the total day rankings, although Nickelodeon only is rated for the daytime ratings; this is due to a 2004 ruling by Nielsen that networks must program for 51% or more of a daypart to qualify for ratings for a particular daypart.

After 15 years, Nickelodeon Studios closed on April 30, 2005, and was converted into the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre in 2007. Afterwards, Nickelodeon moved its live-action series to Nickelodeon on Sunset (formerly the Earl Carroll Theatre) in Hollywood, as well as other studio facilities there and in other locations. The company continued to film at the Sunset location until 2017. In 2005, Nickelodeon premiered the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which became a hit series on the network.

2005–2009: Bronze Age, company changes, and music cross-promotions

On June 14, 2005, Viacom announced that it would split itself into two companies as a result of its declining stock performance; chairman Sumner Redstone stated that this was necessary to respond to "a changing industry landscape". On December 31, 2005, Nickelodeon and the remainder of the MTV Networks division, as well as Paramount Pictures, BET Networks and Famous Music (which was sold in 2007), were spun off into the new Viacom. The original company was renamed CBS Corporation and retained CBS Showtime Networks, Paramount Television (today known as CBS Television Studios and CBS Television Distribution), Viacom Outdoor (renamed CBS Outdoor), Simon & Schuster, Paramount Parks (which it later sold), and its other broadcasting assets. Both resulting companies would be controlled by Viacom's parent company National Amusements.

On January 4, 2006, Herb Scannell resigned from Nickelodeon after spending ten years as president of the network. Cyma Zarghami was appointed in his place as president of Viacom's newly formed Kids & Family Group, which included Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, and CMT Pure Country. In October 2006, the channel struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation to develop the studio's animated films into television series, starting in with 2008's The Penguins of Madagascar.

The Naked Brothers Band, a rock-mockumentary series that served as a continuation of the 2005 independent film of the same name and was centered on a preteen rock band consisting of two real-life brothers who write and perform the songs, was broadcast on Nickelodeon from 2007 to 2009, and was popular among children aged 6 to 11. By the time the show had begun its first season in February 2007, the band's song "Crazy Car" was on the Billboard Hot 100. In June, Nickelodeon entered a four-year development deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment (later Sony Music) to help produce music-themed television series, tie-in soundtrack albums and original songs for release as singles; Sony label Columbia Records would later release The Naked Brothers Band's first and second season soundtrack albums, which would both chart on the Billboard 200.

2009–2016: Rebranding and ratings competition

Nickelodeon's current logo, introduced on September 28, 2009. The logo was changed to a slightly darker shade of orange on March 10, 2017.

In order to streamline its brand identity, Nickelodeon unveiled a new logo created by New York City–based creative director and designer Eric Zim in January 2009. The redesign, which was the network's first in 25 years, is based on a custom font resembling Bauhaus (unofficially named Litebulb), and retains the trademark orange color of its predecessor. The rebrand was intended to be part of a broader revamp that included the Nick at Nite and Nick Jr. blocks, as well as sister channels Nicktoons Network, Noggin and The N (the last of which started as a block on Noggin and later became its own channel in 2007, replacing Nickelodeon GAS). Zarghami stated that the decision to rebrand all of the channels was made after management began putting their logos on the same business card and decided it "looked like a mess".

On September 28, 2009, the new logo made its official debut on Nickelodeon (although it was accidentally used by the network two days earlier alongside the old logo), coinciding with the rebrands of Nick at Nite and Nick Jr. and the relaunches of Nicktoons Network as NickToons (which it was previously known as until 2005), The N as TeenNick (named after Nickelodeon's similarly titled TEENick block that had been discontinued on February 2), and Noggin as the Nick Jr. Channel (which was retooled as an extension of Nick's block of the same name). On November 2, 2009, a Canadian feed of Nickelodeon was launched in a partnership between Viacom and Corus Entertainment (the owners of YTV, which continues to air Nickelodeon series), bringing the network to most of North America for the first time. The new logo made its debut in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2010, in Spain on February 19, in Asia on March 15, in Latin America on April 5, and in the Philippines on July 26.

Victorious, the only greenlit series produced under Nick's Sony partnership, ran from 2010 to 2013. The similarly music-themed sitcom Big Time Rush ran from 2009 to 2013, but Sony was only involved with that show's music and became involved with production midway through its first season. Big Time Rush became Nickelodeon's second most successful live-action show after iCarly, garnering 6.8 million viewers in its official premiere on January 18, 2010, setting a new record as the highest-rated live-action series premiere in the channel's history. During this time the network's "Dan Schneider-verse" style of sitcoms reached its height of popularity, with ongoing series such as iCarly and newly-debuting series such as Victorious, Sam & Cat, Henry Danger, and Game Shakers running at the time.

Viacom brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club into the Nickelodeon family by purchasing both franchises in October 2009 and September 2010, respectively. Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced a new computer-animated Turtles series and new seasons of Winx Club featuring CGI sequences. Both comprised Nickelodeon's strategy to reboot two established brands for new viewers; TMNT was intended to reach an audience of boys aged 6 to 11, and Winx was aimed at the same age group of girls. In February 2011, Viacom bought out a third of Rainbow SpA, the Italian studio that produced Winx Club. The purchase was valued at 62 million euros (US$83 million), and led to new shows being co-developed by Rainbow and Nickelodeon, including My American Friend and Club 57. That same year, Nickelodeon debuted House of Anubis, a series based on the Nickelodeon Netherlands series Het Huis Anubis, which became the first original scripted series to be broadcast in a week daily strip (similar to the soap opera format). Produced in the United Kingdom, it was the first original series by the flagship American channel to be produced entirely outside of North America.

The year 2011 saw Nickelodeon's longtime rating dominance in children's cable begin to topple. After having been the highest-rated children's network in the first half of that year, its viewership experienced a sharp double-digit decline by the end of 2011, which was described as "inexplicable" by Viacom management. The channel would not experience a calendar week ratings increase until November 2012 (with viewership slowly rebounding after that point), but its 17-year streak as the highest-rated cable network in total day viewership was broken by Disney Channel that year.

On July 17, 2014, the network televised the inaugural Kids' Choice Sports Awards, a spin-off of the Kids' Choice Awards that honors athletes and teams from the previous year in sports.

2016–present: Reviving older properties and expanding across platforms

In 2016, the network began to produce made-for-TV movies based on older properties, including Legends of the Hidden Temple, Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, and Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus; the former two premiered on Nickelodeon, while the latter two premiered on Netflix in August 2019. Also in 2016 the network premiered The Loud House, which became one of their most successful series.

In June 2018, Zarghami stepped down from Nickelodeon after having been employed at the network for 33 years and spending twelve years as its president. Veteran Nick writer/producer and then-Paramount Players president Brian Robbins was chosen to succeed her as president in October. In March 2018, Dan Schneider left Nickelodeon following allegations of misconduct.

In January 2019, Viacom acquired the streaming platform Pluto TV, and later made a channel for Nickelodeon, including specific channels for Dora the Explorer and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In February, Robbins announced a revival of All That (which had previously been cancelled in 2000 and 2005) executive produced by original cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, which premiered on June 15. In August, Viacom brought Garfield into the Nickelodeon family when it purchased its owner Paws, Inc., with plans for a new animated series.

In November 2019, Nickelodeon and Netflix signed a multi-year agreement to produce several original animated films and television series based on Nickelodeon's library of characters to compete with the Disney+ streaming service. Known projects include a music project based on SpongeBob SquarePants character Squidward Tentacles and feature films based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On February 21, 2020, the Nickelodeon animated series Glitch Techs premiered on Netflix, making it the first Nicktoon to premiere exclusively on the platform.

On December 4, 2019, Viacom re-merged with CBS Corporation to form ViacomCBS, reuniting the two companies after they had previously been split in 2005. As part of the merger, CBS announced plans to add content from Nickelodeon to its All Access streaming service (which would be renamed Paramount+ in March 2021). In 2021, CBS Sports began partnering with Nickelodeon on its coverage of the National Football League, allowing the kids' network to simulcast a youth-specific version of CBS' Wild Card playoff broadcast on January 10. Nickelodeon would also figure in CBS' coverage of Super Bowl LV in February, with special programming and Internet content pertaining to the game itself tied into the Nick brand.

External links

• Wikipedia page
• Nickstory Archives (wiki devoted to Nickelodeon broadcast history)
• Nicktoons: G.L.O.B.E. Archives (wiki devoted to NickToons broadcast history)
• TeenNickstory Archives (wiki devoted to The N and TeenNick broadcast history)
• Nickstory Jr. Archives (wiki devoted to Noggin and Nick Jr. Channel broadcast history)