Kings Island was nationally promoted in two well-known sitcoms on ABC. Each filmed an episode on location at the park: "The Partridge Family" in 1972 and "The Brady Bunch" in 1973. The Brady Bunch was produced by Paramount Television, a large Taft Broadcasting shareholder. The park also held several world-record-breaking events. In 1974, 69-year-old Karl Wallenda set a world record for the longest tightrope skywalk at a distance of , which was performed off the ground. The following year, Evel Knievel successfully jumped fourteen Greyhound buses on his Harley Davidson at Kings Island, clearing a distance of – a record that wasn't broken until 1999. The longest successful jump of his career was also his last major stunt, and the nationally televised event was broadcast live on ABC landing 52 percent of the TV audience for that hour with an estimated 55 million viewers. Park executives favored the national exposure and additional revenue being generated by record-breaking, newsworthy events that kept the park at the forefront of the industry. To keep momentum going, Kings Island spent years researching and designing a mammoth roller coaster, The Beast, which opened in 1979 as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world. It was designed and manufactured internally by the park.