A Christmas Triple Play!

With Christmas visible on the horizon... no, wait, that's just a Cement Mixer rounding the corner three blocks away. But I'm sure I'll be able to see Christmas soon...

Anyway, today's post features three Christmas recordings and two very short recordings.

NOTE: My Download/Streaming site seems to be having intermittent interruptions of service today. If the files don't work, please try again in a few hours. 

First up is a tape made at a station right here in the village I've lived in for 27 years - and, I'll add, the largest burg that is identified as a village in the entire country - Arlington Heights, IL. The station has changed call letters several times, and formats even more often, but in the '70's, it was WWMM. 

And on Christmas Eve, 1976, Santa stopped by at WWMM and answered phone calls from children for God knows how long. The tape that I somehow acquired is labeled "Part Five" of the recording of Santa's visit. 

Here's what's on that tape!: 

Download: WWMM, Arlington Heights - Talk to Santa, 12/24/76, Part Five

Play:  

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A more traditional Christmas recording, of the sort I think I've shared every Christmas week for the last three or four years, is heard on the following recording. I believe, based on the other markings on the box (below) that this is probably from 1954. It features three generations of a family, celebrating Christmas morning. This runs at a natural pace, not frenetic in any way, and you may find it slow moving at times, but it is a nice flashback, and enjoyable for those who enjoy the "fly on the wall" sort of recording. Please enjoy "Nana, Dada, Dana, Peg and Me" celebrating Christmas Morning. 

 Download: Xmas Day Opening Gifts with Nana, Dada, Dana, Peg and Me

Play:  

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Last time around, I shared a short tape featuring a child named Tex, recorded in 1955. I actually have two tapes from this child, the one from 1955 and one from 1953. While that name indicates the speaker is probably a boy, a few readers/listeners agreed with me that other clues more strongly suggest it is a girl. Here's what I wrote last time: 

I recently obtained two ancient, three inch Scotch brand reels, each labeled as being from a Christmas in the mid 1950's. I played them this week, and was quite surprised to find they were recorded at the super-slow speed of 1 7/8 inches per second, which I didn't think was an option on tape recorders until the next decade.  Even at that slow speed, there was only space for about six minutes of recording on a side of these particular tapes, and only the first side was used. 

The tapes were labeled 1953 and 1955, and the contents make plain that those dates are correct. In each of them, a fairly young child decided to record greetings for the rest of the family, without their knowledge. 

Here is the 1953 tape, containing greetings for both Christmas and New Years. It's very quiet for the first 15 seconds, but the volume gets corrected. He or she also gets two Spanish songs mixed up. Each of these tapes is joyful and unique, the recordings of an clearly intelligent, creative and loving child, albeit one who was apparently incapable of carrying a tune....  

 Download: Unknown - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, 1953

Play:  

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With college football having just announced their playoffs for this season, I think it's perfect timing to share this odd little tape, which, rather than capturing a radio broadcast of an actual game, captures the moment the score becomes final, followed by a brief wrap up. The game in question was played between Alabama and Tennessee, in October of 1968. The last few seconds of the tape are then filled by someone singing a badly remembered version of two lines from the 1968 Al Wilson hit song "The Snake". 

 Download: Wrap Up of the Game: Tennessee 10, Alabama 9, 10/19/68, Plus a Bonus

Play:  

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I don't think that recording quite qualifies as a "Very Short Reel", because it actually comes at the end of a slightly longer tape which had nothing but recordings of someone's record collection. 

But this one comes from an honest-to-goodness three inch reel, and not even a full three inch reel. 

Here are three promos for a show on Canadian station CKPC, hosted by someone named Austin Willis, probably around 1963 (based on a little research), and sponsored by Matinee Cigarettes, apparently a Canadian product, one which I've never heard of. 

These are prime examples of the sound of radio promos of the day, catchy and creative, with the exception of the casual racism expressed in the final one of the three....

 Download: Three Promos for "Matinee with Willis on CKPC"

Play:

A happy holiday to all of you, and let's hope 2021 is at least a little bit better!

Bob