Re: When did radio stations start playing records?

[gbfmif]

a redirect to


rec.radio.broadcasting, rec.radio.info

as I think David or Rich could answer this

[ RRB Moderator Note: At the request of the moderator of rec.radio.info, I
am setting followups to specifically *exclude* that group. He has asked for
this setup on anything crossposted into RRI. ]

chartquest1954 wrote:

> HI--Did radio stations play records before the settlement with the
> musicians' union (in, I think, 1947)? This is part of the history I
> just don't know, but I think that Johnny Mercer was one of the major
> proponents for having recordings played on the radio, is this true?
> One reason I am trying to figure this out, is because I am fervently
> seeking radio station "top ten tunes" listings from any era up to
> 1956!! I understand these were sometimes printed in local newspapers,
> perhaps on the Radio page? Perhaps they were also printed up
> "looseleaf" for public distribution as well? I'd like to find at
> least *some* of these (any help out there??), as well as finding out
> any history of these so that I can have some idea of the scope of what
> I'm seeking. It has been my impression that most stations playing
> Popular Music had some kind of "top ten" (or other # of songs), but of
> course there's no guarantee they were distributed in any form of
> print.

[R J Carpenter]

"gbfmif" > wrote in message
...

> > HI--Did radio stations play records before the settlement with the
> > musicians' union (in, I think, 1947)? This is part of the history I
> > just don't know, but I think that Johnny Mercer was one of the major
> > proponents for having recordings played on the radio, is this true?

Recordings were played as a regular staple by the mid 1930s. As an example,
Arthur Godfrey was the wake-up (morning) man on WJSV (now WTOP) during those
years. He signed the transmitter on, took the readings, signed the log, etc.

In many cases these were 16-inch vinyl transcriptions from libraries rented
to stations. They didn't have the surface noise problems on shellac disks.
They were often of higher audio quality, especially the "World Broadcasting
Corp" ones. They were sort of jumbo LPs. with 4 or 5 cuts on a side.

There was the day that Benny Goodman's band cut 50 tunes for World (IIRC).
The members got $50 each for their efforts. Translated into today's dollars
that would be like $800 or $1000 - a respectable sum.

Remember that there were only about 750 US radio stations in 1940, and a
large percentage were on the networks. Networks didn't play records.

Stations playing the latest hit 78-rpm records appeared by 1940 or earlier.

In 1940 a major city like Washington,DC, had the four network stations and
two independents. The independents were record-based. WWDC was very much a
latest pop hit station.

Richmond, VA, had only 3 radio stations during WW2. They were on the 3 major
networks. There would be a morning DJ, and also one during part of the
afternoon. The (NBC) station I know most about never played records - only
transcriptions.


And Johnny Mercer was a latecomer. Wasn't he a co-founder of Capitol
Records, and thus would benefit from their products getting broadcast
exposure. Capitol had their own transcription service/library, which
probably included everything from their 78-rpm releases.

[David Eduardo]

This is a very complicated issue, going back to the ASCAP monopoly, which
ended withthe forming of BMI. Then the musicians' union required of many
stations payment, or even the maintenance of an in house band to be able to
play records.

I'm not an expert; you might seek out info on Barry Mishkind's site or do
some web searches.

"gbfmif" > wrote in message
...
> a redirect to
>
>
> rec.radio.broadcasting, rec.radio.info
>
> as I think David or Rich could answer this
>
> [ RRB Moderator Note: At the request of the moderator of rec.radio.info, I
> am setting followups to specifically *exclude* that group. He has asked
for
> this setup on anything crossposted into RRI. ]
>
> chartquest1954 wrote:
>
> > HI--Did radio stations play records before the settlement with the
> > musicians' union (in, I think, 1947)? This is part of the history I
> > just don't know, but I think that Johnny Mercer was one of the major
> > proponents for having recordings played on the radio, is this true?
> > One reason I am trying to figure this out, is because I am fervently
> > seeking radio station "top ten tunes" listings from any era up to
> > 1956!! I understand these were sometimes printed in local newspapers,
> > perhaps on the Radio page? Perhaps they were also printed up
> > "looseleaf" for public distribution as well? I'd like to find at
> > least *some* of these (any help out there??), as well as finding out
> > any history of these so that I can have some idea of the scope of what
> > I'm seeking. It has been my impression that most stations playing
> > Popular Music had some kind of "top ten" (or other # of songs), but of
> > course there's no guarantee they were distributed in any form of
> > print.
>
>

[Ty Ford]

Hi,

I reviewed the Digi 002 for radio World recently. To get the point across
about what sorts of effects the Pro Tools LE software could do, I produced a
promo and stuck it up on my website. Some folks have commented;

(A) It's pretty funny.

(B) You can do ALL of that with one mic, a laptop and PTLE?

Does this mean I'm falling back into the gravitational forces of my
"production rat" radio roots?

Please help.

Regards,

Ty Ford





For Ty Ford V/O demos, audio services and equipment reviews,
click on http://www.jagunet.com/~tford

[Rich Wood]

On 13 Feb 2004 03:02:13 GMT, gbfmif > wrote:

>> HI--Did radio stations play records before the settlement with the
>> musicians' union (in, I think, 1947)? This is part of the history I
>> just don't know, but I think that Johnny Mercer was one of the major
>> proponents for having recordings played on the radio, is this true?
>> One reason I am trying to figure this out, is because I am fervently
>> seeking radio station "top ten tunes" listings from any era up to
>> 1956!!

Very often the musician's union required one of their members to be
present when records were played. When I first came to WOR in 1991 I
was told their last sound effects person had only been let go a few
years before. It took a long time to get the union rules changed to
face a new world of recorded music. Many stations who are still in the
buildings they used 20 years ago probably have one large studio big
enough for an orchestra or 4 studios carved out of the big one.

Before 1440 Broadway was refurbished I saw the old studios. It was
clear lots of live stuff originated there for both WOR and Mutual.
They were studios you couldn't economically duplicate today. Air
locks. Spring suspensions (WOR is just above the crossrails of nearly
every subway line in the city in Times Square). If you were to try and
record music without those isolated studios with today's ultra
sensitive mics you'd have every car sounding like a low rider. The WOR
Radio Network uses 20kHz satellite channels. I can picture every
subway train that passes sending a 25Hz component that would trigger
automation systems that use it.

Rich

[unitron]

"falling back into the gravitational forces..." or just getting sucked
back in?
Yeah, it sounds like production, all right, though I thought I heard
accult for occult and perduction for production, but maybe that's just
the result of MP3 on a cheap sound card (I've been mostly away from
audio for almost a decade so I don't know how good or not mP3s are
supposed to be).
I fully intend to steal the phrase "rusty ribbons", by the way,
although you can make magnetic recording sound a lot more impressive
and modern by referring to it as "molecular re-alignment" and you left
out an important component of "Blue Star editing", a good splicing
block.
You've reminded me just how much I miss doing production. I've been
working the board for church services lately and it's really unnatural
feeling to have all those sliders and knobs at my fingertips but never
to get to go "on mic".

[Scott Dorsey]

chartquest1954 > wrote:
>
>HI--Wow that sounds cool, actually seeing a station as a stand-alone,
>serving a major metro, and doing local live 24/7! I wish that was
>more commonly the case. I live in a radio desert of either
>predictable playlists, or jukeboxes, or music for the college set.
>I'd be listening to stuff in say NJ, Bulgaria, CA, Denver, Peru, etc.
>if I had a computer at home...but, as far as "when did radio stations
>start playing 78s?" question, I am actually more trying to figure out
>when did stations start compiling "top ten" hit charts, which I am
>very avidly seeking. Not knowing the history, I don't know what to
>tell dealers in old newspapers, etc., what to look for. I AM PROBABLY
>LOOKING FOR "TOP TENS" PRINTED IN NEWSPAPERS before 1957 or so, most
>of all. I think they're more likely to turn up than the hand-out
>flyers. I would be grateful for any information on the existence of
>these (so that, if nothing else, I can know which newspapers to seek
>in which cities), or to find anybody who clipped any of these out of
>the paper. If you email me >
>you'll get a message to me faster, probably. Thank you all...
>

I think what you want are old Billboard magazines, not newspapers. A
trip to your local library will get you a pointer to Billboard on fiche
going way back.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."