Wednesday, June 21, 2023

A '79 Demo Reel, A '53 Audition Tape, Demonstrating Stereo, Old Timey Music, Continental Classroom, Etc. Etc.

Your host is back yet again, with another batch of fabulous reel to reel sounds!

To start, here's a fellow named Walt Jackson, working for country station WMPS in Memphis ("68 Country!") in the fall of 1979, and capturing that work on a demo reel, no doubt in order to further his career at a larger or more prestigious station. 

Download: Walt Jackson Demo Reel - '68 Country', WMPS, 9-13-79

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On a related note, here is a fellow named Charles R Hughes, some time in April of 1953, trying to sound like he's already on radio station WFUV-FM, a non-commercial station in New York which was then still relatively new (it went on the air in 1947), but which is still in business today. Or maybe that's "still in non-business" today. 

The clues that he is not already on the station? Well, first, the tape box is labeled as an audition. But also, the stories he is reporting, while all from the early Spring of 1953, are not all from the same date or week. He gathered together some recent stories in order to provide an interesting newscast audition. 

Download: Charles R Hughes - Audition Tape for WFUV-FM, Circa Mid-April, 1953

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Here's that tape box: 

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Next up, here are the sounds contained on yet another one of those "Stereo Demonstration Tapes", the ones which typically came with your new tape recorder to show off what it could do, or perhaps which also might have been used by salesmen in the store (or in the home) to make that final push in a potential sale to a customer. In this case, it's an early effort by a corporation which would later become a powerhouse in the home audio field, Sony. As always, the examples range from sound effects that travel from speaker to speaker to orchestral music.

Download: Sony Stereo Pre-Recorded Demonstration Tape

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And here's that tape (I don't have a box for it)


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And now, something considerably more... homey. Here is a gathering of friends and/or family, in the fall of 1959, working together to perform some traditional music as well as pop songs of the past in a very homely, amateur style, for almost exactly an hour. I'm sure this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love this stuff. 

I cannot find the tape box for this just now, but the information on names and the date, below, are from that box. 

Download: Music at Home - Bill, Vernene, Ida and Ralph, 10-9-59

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"Continental Classroom" was an effort by NBC-TV to offer some educational matter to viewers in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Each season focused on a different subject, including Physics, Chemistry, Math and Government. You can read about it here. The 1963-64 season actually consisted of reruns of Government episodes from the previous season. I have a batch of tapes from someone who periodically recorded episodes of the show, and, from that 1962-63 season, here is an episode on "The Legislative Process". If you want more of these, let me know!

Download: Continental Classroom - 1-63 - The Legislative Process

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And now, it's time for our "Acetate of the Month". In this case, it's an acetate which contains what sounds like a College Glee Club running through a series of songs, contained on both sides of an Audiodisc acetate which has nothing written on its label. 

Download: College Glee Club - Unlabeled - One Side

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Download: College Glee Club - Unlabeled - Other Side

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And now, our "Very Short Reel". Here we have a young woman who is overjoyed to have won.... some sort of contest and is very thankful to everyone involved. 

Download: "An Evening That I'll Never Forget"

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