Jingles and Stingers, Birthday Singing, The Jazzy Air Force, Some Medical Lectures, Letter to America, WGN and The Not-So-Fabulous FABIAN

 Happy Almost My Birthday!

I have a real hodge-podge of items today, so let's get right to it!

I ended the last post with some radio material.... well, I started it with radio material too, and only had radio material in it.... so how about starting this one with a neat little tape of some radio jingles and stingers? This tape comes from WGLI, an AM station on Long Island which is long defunct.

There is no date on this box to indicate when this is from, but it sure sounds like the '60's to me. I also get a kick out of the fact that these jingles are contained on a reused United Nations tape box. 

Anyway, here is the tape. I particularly enjoy the itemized numbered intros for each song that would have been in a countdown, and also that, on this tape, they count UP. 

Download: WGLI, Long Island, NY, Jingles and Stingers

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Switching gears pretty harshly, and apropos of my own celebration tomorrow, here are a gang of friends celebrating someone's birthday, by gathering around the piano and singing a whole bunch of songs.  

Download: A Sing-Along Birthday Party

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Next up, here is a jazzy program from those jazzy folks at the United States Air Force Recruiting Service. It's an odd sort of propaganda, that's for sure, and is titled '"Serenade in Blue". On it, we hear a variety of acts playing a variety of jazzy material, and interspersed with informational bits about such things as ways the Air Force is helping to prevent animal species from becoming extinct, and ways the Air Force is addressing the need to conserve energy (this must be from the 1970s...)

Download: The United States Air Force Recruiting Service - Serenade in Blue

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And now, here's something which is bound to appeal to the largest possible audience. Well, that's not actually true, but I digitized it more than five years ago and haven't yet shared it, so here it is. It is the second tape I've shared (of dozens that I bought somewhere, a LONG time ago), from our friends at the Medical Audio Digest .(Here is the first one.) This one is called "Obstetrics and Gynecology - Hirsutism and Virilism, Management of Endometriosis". I can just see you all getting up to dance now!

Download: Audio Digest, Obstetrics and Gynecology - Hirsutism and Virilism, Management of Endometriosis

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Next up, this is called "Audio Letter from Frank Smith in Australia to Larry in America", and I suspect that's all that needs to be said: 

Download: Audio Letter from Frank Smith in Australia to Larry in America

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Here's an oddity I just came across. Please know in advance that the recording quality here is quite poor. Who remember Fabian? I don't mean who remembers who he was - I was born in 1960 and I know who he was. But who remembers hearing his songs on the radio and seeing his early films when they were new? I sure don't. I have looked to see if this program exists at all online, particularly in better quality, but have not found it. 

Well, this is a somewhat backhanded documentary about Fabian, made after he had moved into movies, but entirely focused on his "singing" career. As alleged in those days and as still clear as day, the man simply couldn't sing. But that didn't stop him from having a half dozen hits, including a few top tens, entirely because he looked the part, which was what his handlers were talking about. 

You'll hear from the man himself, who clearly knew and felt like he was in over his head and didn't want to be there. The recording cuts off suddenly, just as Hollywood (where he did considerably better) was beckoning, so I don't think this is the entire show. But it's mighty interesting, if you can get past the terrible sound quality. 

Download: Documentary on Fabian

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And now a "Very Short Reel". 

What we have here is a Brief Segment of what was then a Chicago and midwestern powerhouse station (and now an insufferable embarrassment), WGN Radio, from July, 1953. The end of one song (a vocal) is heard, then a Freddy Martin Orchestra instrumental, which is back-announced as being the last song on a 20 minute program of music. This is followed by about 90 seconds of news, the contents of which date the recording nicely, reporting, as it does, on the imminent truce in the Korean War.

Download: Brief Segment of WGN Radio, July, 1953

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Queen Elizabeth in Chicago, A Labor Day Address, A Demo Reel, Gynecology and "The Dong With the Luminous Nose"

First, I wanted to thank the several people who wrote, either via the comment box or via e-mail, to share their thoughts on last months "BLOWOUT" post. I appreciate the kind words, the thoughts on that format, and the general reactions and impressions of my site. They are all deeply appreciated. It was a small sample, but the general feeling seems to have been that such a post, in which I share a huge volume of material, about which I have relatively little to say, and therefore with minimal text, is a welcome offering. I may do such a post as often as once every other post, at least until I've used up a significant portion of the 400 or so items I have waiting for sharing. For my other posts, I think I will try to cut down on the amount of typing I do, unless there is really something specific I want to pass along.

And now, on with the countdown: 

When I heard the news about Queen Elizabeth, one of my first thoughts was "I should share that tape of the time she visited Chicago". I've owned this five inch reel for decades, digitized it over two years ago, and if I could find it, I would scan the tape box for you. 

Elizabeth visited Chicago for a 16 or so hour visit, after visiting multiple sites in Canada. She arrived, as you'll hear, on a boat in Lake Michigan, and crossed Lake Shore Drive into Grant Park. For decades, that crosswalk was known as "Queen's Crossing", until the city removed the crosswalk and the stop light, a few years ago. I'll let the tape tell the rest of the story. 

Download:  Coverage of Queen Elizabeth's Visit to Chicago, 7-6-59

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As long as I'm sharing that tape, I thought I'd let you hear what was on the rest of that reel. Here's a short segment of WGN radio show called "Midnight Ticker", from the same day as the Queen's visit. 

Download: Peggy Cass on "Midnight Ticker", 7-6-59

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And, as often happens, the remainder of the tape actually contains something which was recorded earlier, and then partially erased by the later material. Here is the tail end of the final episode of "The Gisele MacKenzie Show, a television show which ended its run on March 28th, 1958

Download: The Gisele MacKenzie Show (Final Episode) with Cameraman Lee Mossman and Miyoshi Umeki - 3-28-58

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We also just celebrated Labor Day, and in honor of that, here is a broadcast Labor Day speech by the Vice President of the AFL-CIO, just a short 58 years ago. 

Download: Albert J Hayes, Vice President of AFL-CIO - Labor Day Address, 9-7-64

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For those of you who, like me, can't get enough of all things Top 40 Radio, I have just the thing for you. Here is a demo reel produced by (or on behalf of) Lee Sherwood, a journeyman DJ, Radio personality and radio executive. This sampling was put together in April of 1971, and is "scoped" - that is, the songs are cut out of the equation. Just listening to this, you can tell that he was that "journeyman", as I described him - still early in his career, this tape represents stops at several different stations. 

Download: Lee Sherwood's Demo Reel, 4-17-71

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Here's a performance of an old bit of nonsense verse with guitar. When I first spooled out this next tape, as soon as the person began reciting the poem, I thought, "I KNOW THOSE WORDS". When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was "The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear", a fantastic collection of prose, poetry and drawing which I still adore to this day. And for whatever reason, the performer here decided to do a little rendition of "The Dong With a Luminous Nose". The words aren't quite in the order here that they are in my book, but it's certainly the same Edward Lear poem. 

Download: Unknown - Edward Lear's 'The Dong With a Luminous Nose', with Guitar

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And now for something aggressively esoteric. Somewhere along the way I obtained a batch of reels which contain medical lectures and symposiums, under the umbrella title "Audio Digest". These would be sent on a monthly basis to doctors in various specialties, addressing issues within those specialties, from various aspects. The example I have today - this was the tape on the top of the pile, and one of only two of these that I've listened to so far - is on Obstetrics and Gynecology. It is a mind-numbing 57 minutes long, but I am really trying to give a sample of everything in my collection so..... ENJOY!!!

Download: Audio Digest - Obstetrics and Gynecology, Volume 15, Number 13

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And finally, here is our "Very Short Reel" for the day. It is, simply, an ad for a local bank. Here 'tis: 

Download: Pepper-Tanner - Community Bank and Trust Company Ad

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