Thousands of historical Armed Forces Radio & Television Servicerecordings found
 

On 2011-02-09 22:36, D. Peter Maus wrote:
On 2/9/11 22:20 , wrote:
On Feb 9, 3:55 pm, "D. Peter wrote:
On 2/9/11 14:36 , bpnjensen wrote:





On Feb 9, 10:29 am, ∅baMa∅ Tse wrote:
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Workers renovating a fitness center
at Joint Base Lewis-McChord made an amazing find dozens of boxes full
of old records and radio broadcast transcriptions.

Some 30 boxes were discovered in a 16-inch wall space when workers cut
into a gym wall, which used to be part of the Old Madigan Hospital
complex.

Officials say among the items discovered were 16" vinyl recordings
that date from 1942 to 1960 that contain popular music and programming
recorded by the Armed Forces Radio Service and the War Department,
which were provided to military radio stations to inform and entertain
service members around the world. In all, there were more than 8,000
radio broadcast transcriptions uncovered.

"I was like shocked," said JBLM Archeologist Dave Sadler. "Walked in
my office -- great googly moogly."

To illustrate how historically significant the find is, the New York
Library only houses 800 of the old records.

The records were played on the Madigan Hospital radio station (KMAH)
for patients at the hospital, and include recordings by World War II-
era musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Eddie Arnold, and
Rosemary Clooney. Jazz great Louis Armstrong tunes received
considerable air time, and in 1952 he made a personal visit to the
KMAH studios.

The base's Cultural Resources Program will preserve these valuable
artifacts, and is researching other ways to retain and share the
history with other agencies.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/115591809.html

KOMO TV VIDEO News
Reporthttp://www.KOMOnews.com/news/local/115591809.html?tab=video

I wonder about the 16" figure. LPs have always been 12", but there
were 16 RPM recordings made for various reasons. Could that be what
they are referring to?

ET's at radio stations were often 16" in diameter. I have several,
and the Gray Research turntable to play them.


16" records. The ones I've got were cut at either 78 or 33, so they
could be replayed on any turntable. Not really vinyl, they're acetate
coated aluminum discs. Usually with a second hole near the center for a
drive pin to fit through, so the disc doesn't slip on the platter when
the cutting head is in place. You can tell when there was a new engineer
on duty, he drops the cutting head so the stylus cuts through the
acetate into the aluminum.

I got some in the 1950's because my dad was cheap.

I was building some electronic equipment for the 1958 local science
fair. Rather than buying a chassis, my dad had this great idea of
getting some of the transcription disks from a local radio station, and
then having me make the chassis by having a local repair shop do the
bending.

So, we spent a long evening at KMOX transmitter outside St. Louis and
came home with a couple of 16" transcription disks. I stripped off the
black plastic and marked the disks for bending.

The local shop bent them for me, commenting on my cheap dad. He was well
known for cheapness.

Yes, they were indeed aluminum as I found out for sure the hard way in
attempting to solder ground leads directly to the chassis.

It was a heck of a lot of work to save just a few bucks, but that was my
old man and his cheapness.

Who knows what treasures I destroyed, or what daily drivel I destroyed,
in saving a few bucks.

Then too, many people didn't value radio that much in the twilight of
the OTR shows, and the dawning of TV as the medium of entertainment.