The 1950's on the Radio and at Home with the Coughlin's, Charlie Louvin Fandom, More Shortwave, and The Reasons People Buy Cars

 Before I get started with today's offerings, I would like to direct you to the comments from last time, and the way that three regular readers/commentators) figured out the teams and date, broadcaster and broadcast medium (and even the inning!) of the very brief baseball segment. One of them further delved in further and determined the date of the high school basketball game I posted. Aren't researchers amazing? Isn't the internet amazing? Have a look at the comments at the bottom of that post. Thank you, Ken, Snoopy and Eric!

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And for this week's post, I'd like to start with more Shortwave from Australia. And that's because, within the last month, I have made the acquaintance of Thomas Witherspoon, who blogs about, and has a shared archive of, Shortwave Radio and Broadcasts. His blog is here and his shortwave recording offerings are here. He has kindly written a post about this site, and cross posted one of my previous shortwave recordings. Glad to have met you, Thomas - you are clearly a kindred spirit to me and to those who read this site. 

Anyway, in honor of this meeting of the minds, I found yet another Shortwave broadcast in my collection to pass along. In this case, it is again Australian Shortwave, from Spring of 1968. An I will acknowledge right off the bat that the recording quality is abysmal. It starts poorly and gets worse and worse as it goes along. This is actually why I hadn't shared it before. But I thought the time was right to offer it up, terrible quality and all. 

Download: Australian Shortwave, Spring 1968

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And now we move on to the complete contents of another reel of tape, an old favorite of mine which I've owned for decades but only recently got around to digitizing. This is a recording made in the home of someone named Coughlin. The first side features part of a local Chicago daytime also featuring someone named Coughlin, specifically a show called "Coughlin's Corner": 

I believe, but am not certain, that this is John Coughlin, who went on to be a much beloved weatherman on Chicago television, and who you can read a bit about, here. This is a slight, but enjoyable 16 minutes or so, featuring Coughlin and a sidekick named Rainer, playing a few hits of the day - that day apparently being the mid-winter of 1957 - reading ads and making comments on the records and other such things as daytime hosts were known to do. 

Unfortunately, this was recorded from a radio with a microphone in a room, rather than line-in, so it's not the highest quality in the world, but it's not bad, either. 

Download: Coughlin's Corner

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The flip side of the tape is recorded at the slower 3 3/4 IPS, and therefore, has about twice as much time recorded on it, all of which are home recordings from the Coughlin Home. Just over half of this side is taken up with the singing of various pop songs, accompanied by piano. This is not the most scintillating part of the tape, but I decided to include it for completeness. By the way, a small portion of this recording was actually at the end of the first side of the tape. 

If this is not to your taste, I still encourage you to have a listen to the portion that follows after this sound clip.

Download: Recordings Made in the Coughlin Home - Pop Songs with Piano

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The remainder of the tape features a small child, containing a portion that I find this deeply endearing. I didn't set this up to correspond to Easter, but the first moments of the segment feature a performance of "Peter Cottontail", After another song (and a moment of an adult singing), the same child is allowed to bang on the piano and make up a song. Rather horrid and adorable at the same time. Then we have a rapid fire version of The Three Little Pigs.

But the centerpiece of the section starts at 6:45, and it's a mock interview with "Mrs. Gene Autry", with (I believe) the same small child taking the part of that interviewee, followed by a similar interview with "The Bride of the Year", Marjorie Coughlin. I encourage you to listen, if you enjoy whimsy to any degree, or just the guilelessness of children. The little girl's joyful noise just as the machine is being turned off is worth the price of admission. 

Download: Recordings Made in the Coughlin Home - Small Child Sings and Talks, and Mock Interview

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And now for something very, very specific, perhaps not only one of a kind in terms of being the only tape with this recording on it (of course), but also one of a kind in terms of the participant, the recipient and the subject matter. 

For here we have a gentleman in Germany recording an audio letter to someone named Pat, who was, at the time, the President of the Charlie Louvin fan club in New Rockford, Pennsylvania (I can't actually find that there's a town by that name, but that's what he says). He includes plenty of Louvin music, which, I would have to guess that the recipient of the tape would already have owned... 

The date is January 18th, 1968. And I think that just about covers it. 

Download: A Tape to Pat, the President of the Charlie Louvin fan club in Pennsylvania, From Germany, 1/18/68. 

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By the way, have you been wondering why people buy cars? If so, YOU'RE IN LUCK!!! Because for one night only, I have Dr. Ernest Dichter to speak on that very subject!

Download: Dr. Ernest Dichter On Why People Buy Cars

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As you'll hear, this seems to be some sort of mix between the actual interview, and various attempts to get retakes of certain questions just right. 

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And now the moment you've all been waiting for: our Very Short Reel™ of the day. This item is one of multiple short reels I have containing advertising for Firestone Tires. I previously shared three ads from 1967 or 1968 within this post, just about a year ago. In this case, it's two ads intended for use across the middle of January, 1969. The style of these commercials remind me more of ads I've heard from the late 1950's, than they do of other ads that I've heard from the late 1960's. 

Download: Two Firestone Tire and Rubber Ads - For 1/13/69 Thru 1/24/69

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Here is the reel box:  

The box indicates that there is an insert in the box. Here is that insert: 

Finally, here's a fun little request from the producers of the commercials, stuck right on the reel itself: