1960: The 7th Game, Armed Forces Edition, News and a Ball, Alan King, Two Very Different Types of Singing

Before getting to this week's offering, I wanted to ask if anyone is having trouble downloading files. Two people that read my other blog have reported that when they try to download the files they get an error message saying "od.lk". I am unable to reproduce this downloading from any of my pages, and I am about as far from a computer expert as one can get, so I don't know the solution. This is apparently a problem with the site I use (Opendrive), but I can't find a solution, or even reproduce the issue. Is anyone having this issue, and does anyone know how to fix it? 

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Okay, well last time I asked if the baseball reel I found contained a broadcast that wasn't out there anywhere. It turns out that it is in fact a recording that is not available anywhere but in my basement. There were a lot of comments on this, both in response to the post and in my email. Rather than post them all or summarize them here, I'm going to refer you back to the comments at the bottom of that post, where you can read all about this recording (you'll have to scroll up a bit). Thanks for all of the information and feedback and encouragement to share this tape. 

You will also find comments on other parts of that post, including one from Snoopy, in response to the very short reel I featured, a comment that made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that!

Okay, so this is in fact a recording of the storied final game of the 1960 world series, but rather than the broadcast feed with commercials, it is the Armed Forces Radio feed, with Red Barber and Gordon Bridge doing analysis in place of those commercials. 

I'm going to assume that the recordist noticed that the tape was running out around the sixth inning, and chose to stop recording until the end of the game. I could be wrong about that, but for whatever reason, some pivotal action in the late innings is not heard here, and a whole lot of eighth inning scoring is missed. The sound quality improves and worsens at various points, but overall, it's pretty well recorded. 

Enjoy!!!

Download: The 1960 World Series, Game Seven - 9-13-60 - The Armed Forces Broadcast Version

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Someone asked if I have other games from this series, and unfortunately, I don't know - this tape is one of the many that got soaked in my pipe burst a few years ago, and while that didn't really damage any tapes, it did result in tapes which were originally all with their "brethren" so to speak - tapes I got from the same source - getting all messed up and placed at random in piles. And since about two hundred tapes got wet, it would be quite the chore to figure out if there were other baseball tapes among them. 

One of these days I will post pictures of the as-yet unlistened-to tapes in my basement. You might be astonished by their volume. There is no way I have enough days left on this planet to listen to them all. 

Oh, and a point of interest for some of you comes from someone named Jimmy, who emailed me a link to his archive.org posting of what he describes as "a very rare 1886 baseball game re-creation by Gordon McLendon on the Liberty Broadcasting System, circa 1950". That can be found here. Thanks!

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That baseball blast was the big item for the week, and I'm going to keep the rest of this brief, with several short or relatively short items that don't need a lot of introduction. 

On a falling-apart reel of Scotch Brand tape (I literally had to glue the reel back together to play it and find out what it contained), I found a recording of the 1957 inauguration of Eisenhower and Nixon, followed by the inaugural address. That event seems to be well documented, aurally and visually, elsewhere, so I just kept the part after that, which features a brief newscast and the beginning of the coverage of one of that year's inaugural balls. The station is KOIN, Portland, which has subsequently gone through a whole lot of name changes and which currently spews hateful messaging to the local population. At the time, it was a CBS station.  

Download: KOIN, Portland, 1-20-57 - CBS News and The Inaugural Ball

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Here is an endlessly entertaining little tape. A group of children - siblings? friends? relatives? who knows - spent some time singing a remarkable variety of songs, in a variety of styles, often trying to recreate the sound of the singers who made the songs popular. These range from Broadway hits to Jefferson Airplane (!). In the midst of all of this is a typical 1960's insult flung by one participant at another, for no apparent reason. The sound quality and volume both vary quite a bit - there are moments when the machine clearly was not working correctly - and I have edited out a few sections which were either not recorded on at all or were so quiet that trying to boost them into something listenable was impossible - in all, I streamlined this by about five minutes. Even if you don't (or don't particularly) like children singing for their own amusement, I encourage you to listen to this and see if you don't smile, or laugh, or both.  

Download: Some Children Singing a Variety of Popular Songs

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This one is called "Alan King on 'The Ed Sullivan Show', 6-2-68", and that nearly covers it. But it's worth noting that King (whose popularity I will never understand) mentions the tribute to Irving Berlin the previous week, and Ed's 20th anniversary show the following week. In truth, the Berlin show was several weeks earlier, and this show was actually the first of two planned 20th anniversary shows, according to this comprehensive website. The second half of the anniversary tribute never happened, due to the assassination, that following week, of Robert Kennedy. 

Incidentally, the show had pre-empted by a special for the Sunday following April 4, so there was no show following the assassination of Dr. King. I wonder what they would have done that week. Actually, I kind of shudder to think that maybe nothing special would have been done at all. 

Download: Alan King on 'The Ed Sullivan Show', 6-2-68

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Here's a little more than fifteen minutes of a few female singers with piano accompaniment. Based on the quality of the performances, I'm going to guess (or at least hope) that these singers, who seem to have been shooting for mastery of classical, or at least stage styles of singing, were very early in their training here. 

Download: Female Singers with Piano Accompaniment 

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Now it's time for our "Acetate of the Month". This is a short disc featuring someone who decided to continue to record (only on one side of the disc), despite the fact that a child was crying for most of its duration. Eventually a different child starts singing "Mockingbird Hill", meaning that this disc is probably from 1951 or 1952. And then the recording space runs out. 

Download: Audiodisc 6 inch Acetate - Home Recording - Child Crying, Mockingbird Hill

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Very short reels will return next time. 

More Baseball For All Star Week, A Few Short Speeches, Songs by Mike and Songs at Home, More Supreme Court and ALVIN!

It's All Star Week. And what better time of year to share yet another tape of early 1960's baseball, including part of an All Star game broadcast. 

Here's what was recorded on the first side of the tape. Most of this is game played between the White Sox and the Tigers in Detroit on July 3rd, 1962, but there are a few interruptions by other recordings, including a few double recordings along the way at another speed. And even more oddly, unless I miss my guess, it sure seems like this side of the tape begins near the end of the game mentioned, and then a short time later, it's early in the same game, and we hear the progress of the game from that point forwards. I'm not sure how that happened, but I didn't mess with this tape in any way, aside from adjusting the sound levels here and there. 

Download: (Mostly) Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7-3-62

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The other side of the tape contains a recording of the national broadcast of that year's second All Star Game (yes, they had two of them for a few years), at Wrigley Field. Again, there are a few (fewer, though) interruptions by other material herein. 

I'm sure this recording is available elsewhere online, and in significantly higher quality, but I've chosen to share this recording because it has a few local ads amidst all of the national ones (many of which feature player endorsements of various products) and because it has a local break-in at one point for a news bulletin about a local, at-that-moment-in-progress criminal act. 

Download: (Mostly) The Second 1962 All-Star Game at Wrigley Field, 7-30-62

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For those of you who are not enamored of baseball (although I can't fathom that such people exist), or of these somewhat hard to listen recordings, I will add that, at the moment, I am not aware of any further baseball recordings in my collection. That said, I may find more tomorrow!

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Three posts ago, I offered up a woozy radio broadcast of speeches made by members of Toastmistresses. Today, I have another tape of speeches, made more informally - and rather randomly - by what seems to be a similar group, this time a group of men. This doesn't seem to be a Toastmasters group - the name of the group is said at one point - I think - but I can't make it out. These speeches - and some of them barely qualify as such - certainly seem more off the cuff and less prepared than other things I've heard from participants in Toastmasters. 

Download: Members of a Toastmasters-Type Group - A Few Short Speeches

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I came across a tape which contained a greeting card with the following documentation inside: 

This therefore appears to be a demo reel by someone named Mike Davidson. The tape opens with a short testimonial (the beginning is missing) from someone clearly trying to sell someone else on this person's talents, and then the songs listed are heard. At some point, this tape of recommendation (or perhaps a copy) found its way back to the artist, and he seems to have sent it on to someone else, with an addition: As indicated by the handwritten note at the bottom of the typed list, there is a second version of one of the songs, arranged and produced later than the original version, which Mike Davidson apparently thought was a considerable improvement on the original. 

I have been unable to find out anything about this songwriter/performer, so maybe he never "made it" to any degree, but if anyone out there knows who he is/was and what happened to him, please share that information in the comments. 

Download: Mike Davidson - Songs by Mike Davidson

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Here is what the outside of the card looks like - the picture is shared upside down so that you can see the writing on the back

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In my last two posts, I featured the first two in a three episode series of "Continental Classroom" episodes, from February of 1963, all about The Supreme Court. Here is the last of the three programs I found on that reel. Actually, the most interesting thing here may be the short segment of the start of The Today Show from that same date, which was captured after the Classroom episode ended. 

Download: Continental Classroom - 2-14-63 - The Supreme Court, Part Three - The Court's Work Load (and a bit of The Today Show)

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Now here's something which I just love. I don't know how much those of you out there enjoy it, so I don't force feed it to you, but if this site was just for me, there'd be something like this every single time I came across it. 

Basically, it's people at home, playing instruments and singing, for their own enjoyment. I should clarify that it's people who are capable of playing and singing well, and not things like our pal Pete, from a bit earlier this year. I don't mean to say that these are virtuosos, but this is a lovely little listen for those who enjoy down-home folks making down-home music. 

At various points in this recording, there is ukulele, guitar (sounding like a mandolin at times), simple drumming and a recorder-like instrument (I'm not sure that's what it is), along with the singing.  There are several songs performed during the nearly half hour of music, including "Memories Are Made of This" (one of the greatest songs ever written, and done here simply and very sweetly), "You Tell Me Your Dream", "Chinatown", "Bye Bye Blues" and "Who's Sorry Now", among several others. There is a conversation early on, about some local radio performer and his take off on "The Old Philosopher", as well as a lame joke about Mayor Daley of Chicago, but once that's over, it's music, music, music.

That is, until about the 28th minute. I will say no more, besides to say that the last three minutes and ten seconds are something else entirely - several something else's - and that it's best if I let you listen without telling you what to expect. 

Download: Unknown - Music At Home (and a Bit More)

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For this post's "Very Short Reel".... well, this is more than a bit of a cheat. This came at the end of 35 or 40 minutes worth of someone's recording of the soundtrack to the film "Gigi". The person who recorded the album for later enjoyment (presumably him, anyway), chose to "back-announce" what the listener had just heard by doing a quick, brief "Alvin the Chipmunk" impersonation, and then interacting with "Alvin". Here is that bit of tape: 

Download: Unknown: "Alvin" Back-Announces the Album

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Even More Baseball, The "Do You Remember" Dance, The Country Music Story, and "Don't Sit On My Mother's Violin"

As I alluded to in my last post, I don't have a lot of time to write as much as I often do, or to get an acetate of the month ready, either. 

I do, however, want to make sure I refer people back to the comments about my last post. There are multiple posts explaining the details of the baseball offering in that post, and expressing a good deal of excitement over those contents. I'm glad to have shared them. There is also a shorter note expressing an equal amount of excitement over the posting I linked to, in that post, from Kyle - a post of Easy Listening Programming from the 1960's. 

There is lot of text in those comments, so I'm not going to repost them here, but I encourage you to have a look at them if that sort of thing is of interest to you. 

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I'll start with the segment that I know some people are waiting for - the remaining "Badly Recorded Baseball". This tape is considerably shorter than the one I shared last time, and at its worst, is nowhere near as bad as the worst parts of the last reel, but through much of it, there is a ton of static as well as interference from another station. But I look forward to the feedback on this one, which I'm sure is coming, and which will no doubt contain details about just what game(s) are heard here. 

Download: More (Largely Badly Recorded) Baseball, circa 1959

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Next up, both sides of a smallish reel of tape. The tape itself was a standard five inch reel, enough for recording perhaps a half-hour of material at 3 3/4 IPS, but it was two smaller reels spliced together, and the (shorter) one at the start of side one (and end of side two) was unrecorded. Side two was the more interesting of the two sides, but first.... on the recorded part of side one was the modestly (at best) interesting excerpt from The United States Armed Forces Radio Services, featuring some classical performances. 

Download: Brief Excerpt from The United States Armed Forces Radio Service

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The real (and reel) fun from this tape is on the second side, though, where some kids recorded themselves being kids. There is a brief performance of the hit song "Short Shorts", a longer segment of the song "Chances Are" - both of which likely date this tape to early 1958 - and then some general silliness. 

Download: Unknown - Short Shorts, Chances Are and Don't Sit On My Mother's Violin

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My longest offering this time around is one of those live performances I share from time to time. I don't know the name of this band, but it was undoubtedly a local dance band which played at various events, in whatever area Troy High School was/is in. I have a handful of tapes from this outfit, each one saying how many "men" worked the gig - in this case, as you can see below, it was "eight men". This is from Thanksgiving, 1956, and a dance apparently titled "Do You Remember?", if the writing on the tape box is to be believed. Travel back with me to a very different era and enjoy this anonymous dance band: 

Download: Unknown Band - Performance at Troy High, Thanksgiving, 1956 ('Do You Remember')

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In January, 1971, a series called "The Country Music Story", hosted by Johnny Cash, ran on American television. Someone recorded large portions of one episode, and here is that recording.

Download: Segments of 'The Country Music Story' With Johnny Cash, January 1971

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For my "Very Short Reel" this time around, I have a tape labeled "Interacting with a Bit of the 'Sgt Pepper' Album", and I think that sums it up fairly well. Here are a few folks, presumably at home, and presumably enjoying what was, at that moment, a still recently-new album.

Download: Unknown - Interacting with a Bit of the "Sgt Pepper" Album

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A Whole Lotta Hard-To-Hear Baseball, Some Cello Music and THE LAND OF OZ

First, I want to thank all of the people who wrote in, asking for more baseball, regardless of the sound quality. Your wish is my command. See below. 

Today's post has fewer items in it, but just as much in terms of length of recordings as have other recent posts. There are some things going on in my personal life which may impact just how much time I have to give to sharing and writing here for the next month or more, so the long baseball feature comes in handy. The next post may well be one of those blowout posts where I share a bunch of stuff without having much to say. 

I also want to share a couple of comments. First, with regard to the tape I shared in my last post, featuring a remarkable number of non-hits and near-musical-mysteries heard on (and taped from) powerhouse Top 40 station, WINS, Ken said: 

Here's a theory about the wide variety of music and number of obscurities on that WINS Tape. Back then I would tape songs off AM Radio in the same way, cutting out the DJ patter wherever possible. Not only that but it would get to the point every so often where I'd only "need" the more obscure records and only tape those, i.e I already had all the hits on tape. It's quite possible the taper was doing the same thing.

And then Kyle, who has been doing much the same sort of thing that I do, offered up links to his latest finds: 

I have 2 home recordings one of WLS-FM and a home recordings of Christmas from 1948 shared with permission of one of the family members the links are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vLlh1Dl7kQ and the WLS recording is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qnOlwoHPq8 

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Rather than begin with the baseball, I'm going to start with the tape I listened to this month that I personally found the most interesting. The only writing on the box appears on the side: 

And the contents of this 10" reel tape were consistent with that description. For this tape contains a two-part, one hour dramatization of the second of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz, very clearly made for radio broadcast at some time and in some place. I am not familiar with this book, although this version of it does intrigue me enough that I might consider reading the Oz books. But according to the summary on that Wikipedia page, everything heard in this dramatization does occur in that novel, although some events have been moved around in time, and large chunks of the story have been deleted entirely, a necessity, I'm sure, when working within an hour framework.  

I don't know that I think this is very good, per se - the performances are sort of ham-fisted and even the recording quality is not all that good (the opening few minutes are marred by some worn tape - I'm not talking about that section, just the overall mix). There does seem to have been some money put into this, judging from the quality of the music - although much or all of that that could have been from stock music cues.

One thing that's interesting to me is that there is nothing in this recording, or the box, that explains when or where, or for what station(s) or other purpose, this recording was made. I'd sure like to know. Anyway, it's a fun listen and I hope you enjoy it. 

Download: Unknown Radio Troupe - The Land of Oz, Act One

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Download: Unknown Radio Troupe - The Land of Oz, Act Two

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Now for the tape which a half-dozen of you asked for. Two posts ago, I shared some vintage Artificial League (AL) baseball broadcasting, featuring the White Sox and Tigers, from 1962, and I mentioned that I had a LOT of truly horrific sounding baseball from the same era. I wasn't going to share it, due to the sound quality, but was begged to. Okay, but you were warned!

Here is what I wrote to my closest friend, back in January and February, when I first scanned this tape: 

I have come across a tape which has the endings of a couple of radio broadcasts of Detroit Tigers games from 1961 - 4 20-61 and 4-21-61 so far (haven't listened to all of it yet). Just the final innings of each for some reason. 

However, the recording quality is TERRIBLE. The signal is weak - so weak you can't make out what's being said at times - and during large parts of it, there is interference (or perhaps some sort of double recording) of a different game entirely. As I've listened more to that baseball tape, the "interfering" broadcast has gotten louder than the Tigers broadcast (after the Tigers' game - it seems to be a recording of whatever followed the game), and now I can tell it's Big Ten Baseball - first day of the Big Ten matchups season, Illinois Vs. Indiana. Presumably also 1961, although I could easily be wrong. so that at moments you are listening to two sports broadcasts at the same time at roughly the same volume. 

The above notes were written before I finished listening to the tape - the first paragraph was written after listening to a shorter segment of it, and part of the second paragraph was an addendum after listening to more of it, but I'm pretty sure I was not done with it at that point - it is, after all, nearly two and a quarter hours long. At this point, I don't recall exactly what's on there that isn't captured in those paragraphs - although I do recall that in some later segments it's VERY soft and trying to boost it made no real difference, at least to me (perhaps you'll have more success). I just know that I'm not going to listen again!

But for those of you for whom this is manna from heaven, enjoy!

Download: Badly Recorded Baseball, circa 1961

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And finally, another entry from the David Hollister Tapes. If you don't know what this is about, please click on that lit-up phrase, which will bring up the first post in this series, and which will explain it. Short version - I have been gifted with a box of many tapes which belonged to - and contained the works of - a late composer named David Hollister. 

In this particular reel, we are treated to what are apparently outtakes from a recording session made for something related to "Bremen Coffee", perhaps a commercial for that company? I really don't know. The cellist's name is shown on the tape box, that portion of which is reproduced here:  

Please note that this is NOT the performance tape!

Download: From the David Hollister Tapes - "Bremen Coffee" Cello Music - Outtakes

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Please let me know if you would continue to want to hear these tapes - or if you would prefer not to, for that matter. I've already listened to the next one I pulled out of the box, and it had some VERY interesting material, so I will at least be sharing that one, but if there is no interest, I don't have to continue this particular series, much as I'd like to....

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The Very Short Reels feature will return in my next post. 

BASEBALL for Opening Day, Wife Beating Songs for Children, Life at Home in the Mid 1950's, Jazz from Charlie's Party and Beyond, and the Cow Goes Moo

Hello! 

I forgot to add this when I posted this, but I have tapes for sale. I also forgot to publicize the last two batches, which sold earlier this month. But these are still available. Nothing posted to this site is on any of the tapes listed in that auction. 

And now: Let's jump right into things. Major League Baseball got an early jump again this year, with two teams starting the season today in Japan, while the rest of the teams are still playing Spring Training. My Chicago Cubs - the ONLY team that matters - have a two game series of games that will count against the Los Angeles Dodgers - who have been the Spawn of Satan since at least 1976, maybe 1973 (I'm not sure about earlier) - before both teams go back to Spring Training. 

In honor of the Cubs opening the season, here are their Artificial League (AL) Chicagoland cohorts, the White Sox, heard over very poor reception in a game against the Tigers, perhaps from 1962 

(I'm guessing 1962 because the other side of the tape was a poor recording of part of the second 1962 All Star Game, at Wrigley Field. That broadcast, in full and in better quality, is on YouTube). 

I suppose it's possible that this broadcast is also out there already somewhere, but I have no idea how to find out if it is. I'm sure someone out there will know - much quicker than I would - how to date this recording.

Regardless of the appalling lack of CUBS in this recording, it's still a lot of fun. Plus, it's always amazing and encouraging to me, when I hear old baseball broadcasts, to realize how little has changed about the game, in the (in this case) roughly 62 or 63 ensuing years. That is, except for the damnable Designated Hitter rule, which is no Spawn - it is the direct work of Satan himself.  

Download: White Sox at Tigers, 6th, 7th and 8th Innings

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I was quite pleased and surprised to find a nearly complete episode of a show featuring Alan Mills from CBC radio on an otherwise nondescript reel the other day. With my folk music background and my history of working with children, Mills' voice was very familiar one to me, and this show was called "Folk Songs for Young Folk". 

I mentioned up there how baseball seems to be eternally the same in a lot of ways. Well, here we have the opposite: In what could not be a more clear example of how much times have changed, this show - which I'm guessing is from the late 1950's - is largely focused on songs about marital discord, including every grade school child's favorite subject, wife beating. It's all handled with the most pleasant and avuncular good humor, too. 

Download: Folk Songs for Young Folk with Alan Mills on the CBC

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The next three segments all come from the same tape. And as much as some - perhaps many - of you may find the first part too sickly sweet, I found it deeply endearing and memorable. It is an edited version of a considerably longer tape, a tape which mainly features the cries, gurgles and other sounds made by an infant named Paulie in late November, 1955. 

I have come across many such tapes - in the days before video cameras, I think it was fairly common for parents to audiotape their newborn's utterances. But that's not the focus of the segment heard here. For whatever reason, halfway through the side of the tape, the child's mother, Betty, begins thinking out loud about the baby, about his father and grandfather, about his development so far, etc., and.... well, like I said, I found it extremely touching. I hope you do, too. 

Download: Mommy Betty and Baby Paulie, 11-28-55

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On the other side of the tape are more baby recordings, from February of 1956, then, the following curious little segment, in which Betty complains that someone who borrowed the machine may have damaged it in some way (the recordings sound fine to me) and it order to test it, she will read from the Sears Catalog. Not, mind you, the products and prices, but rather, the advertising copy no doubt on the first few pages, telling the customer how wonderful Sears is. And for someone simply doing a machine test, four minutes seems sort of... excessive? 

Download: Betty Tests the Machine by Reading from the Sears Catalog

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After she's done expounding on the wonders of the Sears company, for the rest of the reel, we get to hear a fairly wonderful example of what local radio sounded like, circa 1955. I'm guessing 1955 as that's when the baby recordings started and this is what those recordings were erasing, at least up to the halfway point or more of side two. In this case, it's the long-lived, but now defunct WMAQ in Chicago, with a bit of midwestern daytime radio, typical of the era. 

Download: A Few Minutes of WMAQ, Chicago, Circa 1955

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The biggest chunk of tape I have for you today is the entire contents of a tape which came in a box that looks like this: 

The back of the box (below) says "Dixieland and Other Jazz From Our Annual Studio Party for Charlie Miller" featuring - I think I'm reading this right - Guy and Lenore Preston. If those names mean anything to anyone out there please leave a comment. Otherwise, I'm just going to let this go without further comment. 

Download: Dixieland and Other Jazz From Our Annual Studio Party for Charlie Miller, 1-7-73

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Now to my ears, where there is a definite break in the recording - at the 62:20 mark - the music returns with what sounds like a different session, even a somewhat different band, so I have broken that part of the tape out as a separate track, indicating that I think it's just a jam session from the same (or more likely, a similar) band. I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I separated out this tape. 

Download: Jamming with the Band from the Charlie Miller Tape

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Here's part of the back of the box: 

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For our very short reel, which is the homiest of home recordings, I have come up with a title which, I think, summarizes the contents nicely, without anything else that needs to be said. 

Here it is!: 

Download: Four Minutes at Home - Two Songs, An Interview, and the Cow Goes Moo

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More Vintage Baseball, The 1961 Oscars, Marge and Her Songs, More from Japan and the Trip to Vegas

Howdy Doody, everyone,

Last time around, I finally provided the New York Yankees tapes which had been a subject of discussion for a month or more. And that got me to thinking about how I have my own vintage baseball recordings. 

These are not nearly as historical (or complete, for that matter) as the Yankees/Red Sox games shared last time around, but they are a piece of my own history. 

I have no memory of falling in love with baseball, but it must have been a very sudden thing. I turned nine during the much-discussed CUBS season of 1969, and have no memory of it, or the excitement it caused. 1970 must have been my pivotal year. Because by opening day of 1971, I was enough of a fan that I feigned being sick on that opening day, in order to see the entire first game of the season. I'm sure my mom knew I wasn't actually unwell, but she seems to have gone along with it. 

And what's more, I taped parts of the game - essentially, all of the innings when the CUBS were up to bat. During the recording, especially in the early innings, you will hear me chiming in with comments and outbursts, as well as very soft conversations with my mother. 

Interestingly, play-by-play man Jack Brickhouse left the game in the later innings, in order to catch a plane to Los Angeles, in order to call a game for the then-fairly-new Chicago Bulls. I had no idea that they had a very good team in what was then their fifth season, but they were in the latter stages of the playoffs, and indeed, would lose the series with the Lakers, three games to two, that very night. So Brickhouse called two games in two different sports, half a country apart, in one day. 

Here is the tape.  

Download: Chicago Cubs Vs St Louis Cardinals - Opening Day, 1971 - 4-6-71 (Excerpts)

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The next day, I raced back to the TV to capture the end of the second game of the season, which decidedly did not go the way the first game had gone. As you'll hear, Brickhouse was back to Chicago by that following afternoon, to call another Cubs game. 

Download: Chicago Cubs Vs St Louis Cardinals - Second Game, 1971 - 4-7-71 (Final Innings)

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The latest nominations for Academy Awards, for films released on 2022, were just named a few days ago. And so what better time than now to share with you this lengthy recording of what I believe to be the entire 1961 Academy Awards telecast. I can't find that this is generally available anywhere, so this may be a particularly interesting recording for some of you.

Download: The 1961 Oscar Telecast

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Here is a tape which is one of a seemingly endless group of tapes which came from the collection of someone named Marge Magenheimer. Ms. Magenheimer (I'm going to type "Marge" from now on) seems to have written a couple of songs, and the tapes in question contain endless versions of those two songs in various settings and tempos, and with various singers.

This particular tape starts with Marge introducing an exciting moment in her life, when one of these songs, "Take Me In Your Arms" (copyright June, 1954) was to be performed on the radio by a pianist, followed by that radio broadcast. Then Marge sings the song with the piano. The radio performer then plays another of Marge's songs "You're a Lucky So-and-So", and she again sings over the broadcast. I can't tell for sure if she was part of the recorded broadcast, or singing over instrumental renditions of her song. I think it's the latter - that she was singing along with either a radio broadcast or a dub of that broadcast. 

There follows an instrumental version of Marge's third song, which might be called "So Long, Baby". 

The recording than appears to switch to a live recording by Marge, accompanied by perhaps another pianist, this time everyone performing live, in another rendition of "So Long, Baby". Or maybe this is still over a tape recorded backing. Anyway, this performance (really two shots at it, back to back) goes on for approximately three days. Or seems like it. 

Download: Marge Magenheimer and Friends Sing a Set of Songs - Circa January, 1955

Play:

~~

Returning to a project I've been working on for several months now, probably over a year, here is yet another audio letter from our young man in Japan, circa 1967. I'm still unclear as to exactly what he was doing there - certainly a student, not so certainly a soldier, but I'll keep the identification as a "student-soldier" consistent with the previous postings. 

Download: Another Student-Soldier Tape from Japan, 9-16-67

Play:

~~

And now, here's a tape I just listened to this week. The tape actually has about five short conversations on it, but all but one of them are recorded so poorly (low volume) and with enough low hum that no amount of fiddling on my part seemed to be able to make them decipherable. The one section that can be heard features a few folks, one of whom is a woman named Bill (not Billie, "Bill" - that's a new one on me), discussing a trip to Las Vegas, as well as the drive home, at some earlier time in their lives. 

Download: Bill and Friends - The Trip to Vegas, etc

Play:

~~

Our "Acetate of the Month" could not look more bland: 

But contained on that plain black disc with its plain black label, is heard a men's singing group, performing six songs all about the Sigma Chi fraternity. Here's the entire record: 

Download: Men's College Singing Group - 6 Sigma Chi Songs - One Side

Play:

Download: Men's College Singing Group - 6 Sigma Chi Songs - Other Side

Play:

~~

And finally, our "Very Short Reel" for this posting. The tape label promises to only provide us with a 60 second, Post-Christmas-Sale (from 1998) for "Car Stereo One" somewhere in or near Toledo, and that ad is heard, but the tape was previously used for two ads for Fritz Gifts & Collectibles Inc., of  Monroe, MI, just 20 short miles from Toledo. So left on the tape is the clunky introduction to those ads, 47 seconds of the first of the two ads, and two seconds of the second ad, so you'll hear those in sequence after the Car Stereo ad: 

Download: Car Stereo One & Fritz Gifts and Collectibles - December, 1998

Play:

All That Baseball, Audio Letters, Some Dubbing, Superman, A Short Concert and Some Ads!

  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I want to start with a bunch of housekeeping and thanks. 

First, thanks to everyone who continues to read and listen to my posts, and especially those who comment. I understand the purpose of the anonymous comment feature, but I sure wish I had a way of knowing how to respond individually to many of these comments which come through anonymously, or with a name, but no e-mail address. Please know I read and appreciate all of them. 

To a person named Kyle, who wrote that he is reposting some of this material to YouTube: I appreciate you doing that, and I found a couple of those postings. I would love it if you would include, in your re-postings, a link back to my site. That would give a little bit of publicity to the site, and to the additional material people can find here. Just a request. 

I also want to direct folks to the comments of my last post. "Old Guy", who has commented several times, and an anonymous poster (who might also have been "Old Guy") did some digging into the wonderful "Christmas 1978" tape that I shared. Between the two of them (or the one of him) they/he found out exactly who this family was, and provided more information on daughter Ginger, who was Miss South Dakota of 1977. Have a look. 

Next, I am very much overdue in directing folks to the YouTube page run by a frequent commenter to this site who goes by the name Timmy. His page is chock full of great - and often quite lengthy - radio broadcasts of the sort that people really like, based on what gets responses here. These date from the 1960's all the way into the 2000's. I listened last month, for example, to a great overnight appearance/interview by Flo and Eddie, a nearly three hour show from January 1st of 1977 on KLOS. His posts can be found here. Timmy has been a great pal and a true friend of my blogs. 

I also was lucky enough to encounter a gentleman named Charles who has a fascination with (and an enormous collection of) acetates, and who has been buying some of those from me (which I've mentioned a couple of times that I've been selling). He was delighted to find out who he was buying from, having been a reader of my posts at WFMU for years, and I was equally delighted to let him know I was still in business, here. He was kind enough to send along some fascinating looking reels that he had sitting around, which had belonged to a staff person at WABC-TV in New York. I have not delved into them yet, but if they contain what the boxes say they do, you will probably hear the contents of some of them, eventually, right here. 

Finally,  I want to make mention of a new correspondent - whose name I'm not sure I've yet been told - who is something of a kindred spirit to me, and who also has what sounds to be a massive collection of a great variety of sounds, some of which he has already started sharing with me (including an American's audio letter back home from Australia) and which, once I listen to it, I may request that he allow me to share some of it here. I am very much looking forward to whatever else our conversations may reveal. 

Oh, and one last thing - that final gentleman who I just wrote about, passed along some information I think is very helpful and worthwhile. He wanted to make sure I shared that libraries will transfer old media to digital formats for free, or, as they do in my local library, teach you how to do it and then let you do it for free. I'm sure there are some which will do this with reel tape, but most will do it with 8mm film and video tape. 

Thanks to everyone above, and anyone who I've forgotten to shout-out to. 

And now, back to the countdown: 

~~

Okay, I'm gonna start with the subject of much comment, e-mail conversations and requests and offer up the full baseball game recordings which I alluded to in an October post. At this point, I have no idea if these are the recordings which are already traded in baseball collector circles or if they are recordings of a different station than those traded tapes. I do know that the game I thought was from 5/31/61, and is labeled as such on the tape box, is actually from 5/30/61, and that means that both of these games DO circulate in those trading circles. But on the off chance that these are versions of those broadcasts unknown to the great number of baseball collectors out there, here they are. 

One note before anyone gets to the end of 5/30/61 and is frustrated - the tape runs out just before the last out of the game. The game probably continued for fewer than a half-dozen pitches (perhaps only one) after the recording here ends, but... the entire game is not here. 

Here's the relevant detail from the tape box:  

And here are the two games: 

Download: New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox, September 25, 1960

Play: 

Download: New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox, May 30, 1961

Play: 

~~

Okay, on to things I haven't been asked to share. I have several tapes- all from the same collection - which feature people doing dubbing work for films or television shows. At some point - which I can't seem to find right now - I shared at least one of these tapes, and someone told me what was going on, which is that dialogue is being re-recorded to be looped into the existing film or video soundtrack. . The tapes never have anything written on them which identifies the work being "corrected", and by their nature are quite choppy and nearly random. Have a look at the box, which seems to actually say "Pubbing", rather than "Dubbing": 

This one is more interesting than most, to me, because of the interruptions at a few points by sounds in the studio and in the street outside. 

Download: Dubbing - with Some Interruptions

Play:  

If anyone is interested in hearing more of these, I have at least a half dozen more. 

~~

Now, here's a tape I've been sitting on for nearly three years. But I never shared it, for whatever reason. It is a compilation of audio letters from a medical resident - his name is in the track properties - to his family. The early tapes captured here have fairly poor sound quality, but it get considerably better after about 30 minutes or so. At the end of the tape is a bit of odd music which was contained on the other channel of the tape at one point. 

It's been a long, long time since I listened to these all the way through, so I don't actually remember any details at all, but I remember that this tape was quite captivating. I hope you will find it the same. 

Download: Compilation of Tapes from a Medical Resident to His Family

Play: 

~~

Okay, so here's a tape called "A Concert By a Male A Capella Group". And that's the pretty much everything I know about it, although I will say that a bit past the 30 minute point, they sing a wordless song which will familiar to many people who found themselves enjoying a certain viral YouTube video several years ago. At the end, they sing two songs I just adore, "Hawai'ian War Chant" and "Dry Bones"

Download: A Concert By a Male A Capella Group

Play: 

~~

Okay, I truly don't understand what's happening here, and this is another one I've been sitting on for years, with no real reason for the delay. I'll just call it a Superman parody, apparently in front of an audience, and invite any of you who'd like to offer up any insight into it, to do so, please. 

Download: Unknown - Superman Parody

Play: 

~~

And finally, our "Very Short Reel". And I suspect this will the favorite offering of the post for some of you, as it is a short reel sampling the commercial work of a company called "Com-Track, Inc." Dating from the spring of 1968, it contains some melodies and slogans which will be very familiar to those of us who were around in those days, for some of the most iconic American brands imaginable. 

Download: Com-Track, Inc - Sample Reel - 4-26-68

Play: 

Hoagy Carmichael, An Impatient Grandma, A 1976 Aircheck, and How to Bisect an Angle

Greetings, 

I have another nice cornucopia of sound for y'all today, but first, I wanted to give great thanks, yet again, to Eric Paddon, who has been of great help over the years getting to the bottom of the history behind things I've shared. His recent note to me is so great, and so essential to the site and the post it relates to, that rather than just link to that post, which is here, I'm also going to repeat his comment in its entirety in today's post. It relates to the series of game show recordings that were posted in the middle of my last entry. 

Here's what he wrote:

The index of Gil Fates book on the history of "What's My Line?" reveals this particular program was part of the August 21, 1969 taping session for the show's 1969-70 season originally. That said, even if this was recorded in 1971, it would not be a "rerun" per se because syndicated game shows (which WML was starting in the Fall of 1968) in those days were "bicycled" to different stations and thus no two stations would be showing the same episodes at the same time. And if a station signed up to air the program after it had been on for a year, it would have the option of running the previous year's shows first! This practice continued with syndicated game shows up through the end of the 1970s and it explains why some stations would sometimes be airing a syndicated game show more than a year or two after actual production had ceased (or why in the case of "What's My Line?" some stations would be airing episodes featuring Bennett Cerf on the panel more than a year or two after he died). Wally Bruner is the host, and the panelists are Gene Rayburn, Nancy Dussault, Jack Cassidy and Sue Oakland (who did the on-air editorials for WCBS-TV in this era). A rare week when Arlene Francis was off.

The "Beat The Clock" fragment is more rare and potentially from an episode that doesn't exist (in contrast to the WML which is accounted for). The 1969-70 season was the first year of the BTC revival with Jack Narz hosting. That first season it was taped in New York, but starting in its second year, production moved to Montreal to save costs. GSN and BUZZR have never aired any episodes from the first season in New York which suggests they don't exist.

"Words and Music" would be the rarest of the three as NBC did not keep any of their daytime game shows. No videos have ever surfaced and only one other audio recording in the past. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpIRFQTfjDU&t=39s

Many, many thanks, Eric. 

~~~

And now, here's a tape that came with a sheet of paper stuff into the box that looks like this: 

The contents of the tape are as marvelous as that sort of haphazard capturing of it might indicate. Because here we have nearly an entire broadcast of a short lived show titled "The Saturday Night Revue" which ran in 1953 and 1954. Fans of Hoagy Carmichael will particularly love this tape, as he hosts the show and performs several of his best known songs.

These are interspersed with a few very draggy and fairly unfunny comedic sketches and other material. I find it interesting that they chose to do what to modern ears will be a very offensive Asian caricature introduction at one point, yet Carmichael seemingly knew well enough to change the words to one of his songs, a moment later, which contained a far less offensive (in 1953) word, singing that the Hong Kong Blues was about an unfortunate "southern" man. 

Incidentally, it's clear that the note above was written decades after this program was recorded - just have a look at the zip code, area codes and fax number at the bottom of the page. The writer also identified the Asian bit as "racist". 

The show is not complete - or perhaps this is parts of more than one episode - anyway, the tape ran out during a comedy sketch. And the sound/tape quality is fairly bad at some points. But what's here is a pretty good snapshot of a variety show in the early Eisenhower years. 

Download: The Saturday Night Revue, Circa 1953

Play:  

The flip side of the tape is a different animal entirely. I suspect it's from the same time period, although I really don't know. Our note-taker has offered up a few comments on the flipside of the page (see below), mostly saying that "Grandma is Crazy", and indicating that there is later a phone call in which we mostly only hear our end. 

I went back and forth about whether to include this 30 minute recording, and finally decided it was worth preserving for its acute level of real "around the house" feel. Anyone who has dealt with a relative with dementia will find the "Grandma" section familiar and probably a difficult listen, and that's all I'll say. And the phone call is entertaining enough, if you like such things - it would be easy enough with sound software to get a good portion of the other person's conversation, too. 

Here's that tape. 

Download: Recordings Around the House, circa 1953: Grandma Wants to Go Upstairs, A Phone Call

Play: 

And here's the flip side of that piece of paper:

~~~

Next, I have a "scoped" aircheck. Many - perhaps most - of you might know that when a DJ wants to promote his talent, for a new opportunity or any other reason, he or she will record an airshift or two, and cut out all of the music, aside from the section where he or she is talking. 

That's essentially what we have here, with a few odd differences. The DJ's name might be Lan Shepard. I can't tell for sure, and a web search was no help. He was definitely doing overnights on WWCO in Waterbury Connecticut, and combined parts of at least two overnight shifts into this short (12 1/2 minute) tape. 

What I find odd is that this scoped aircheck contains the newscast - which Shepard did not do - and some commercials, which doesn't sound like the DJ either. 

This also served to remind me - not that I've ever forgotten - how wretched most top 40 hits were in 1976. Blech. Actually, my favorite thing here is the concert ad at around the ten minute mark. Fleetwood Mac opening for Jefferson Starship!! Can you believe it? I'm sure that 1976 was the last time that would have been possible. 

Download: Scoped Airchecks - Lan Shepard, Overnight on WWCO, Waterbury Connecticut, June, 1976

Play:  

~~~

Switching gears pretty dang aggressively, here's the contents of one of those three inch reels I've mentioned from time to time. Both sides of the tape total just under eight minutes. On side one, a young person explains her (while I'm guessing it's a "her") project, "How to Bisect an Angle". When she's done, we hear the last few seconds of someone playing the ukulele. 

On side two, it's "Joke Time", and I find this to be a massively entertaining little four or so minutes with a group of what I'm guessing are middle school aged kids. The presence (at the end) of one of the Beatles' first two US hit songs in the background, and their enthusiastic singing along, date this to at least the late winter of 1964, and I'm guessing that it's from just about that time, and not much later. 

Download: How to Bisect an Angle & Joke Time

Play: 

~~

And finally, it's time for our "Very Short Reel". And here's a very short reel about a very short lived Baseball team, The Rochester Aces. They only existed under that name for a year - and it was a very good year, too, ending up in a trip to the 1993 Northern League championship, which they lost. You can read about them here. 

Download: Rochester Aces Promo - June 1993

Play:

And here's that tape box!:

Your Hit Parade, Local Basketball, The Newest in Stereo Sound and Much More!

 Good Day, Sports Fans (or not, if you're not sports fans, or if it's not a good day), 

Today, I have a supremely varied hodgepodge of recordings for you, selected from my bulging computer folder known as "tapes not yet used", including one which is literally labeled as a "hodgepodge", as well are my monthly acetate feature. 

But first, I wanted to pass along that I received a note from a creator of experimental music named James, who wanted to let me know he'd used some of the vintage radio recordings I've posted in one of his compositions. It's a very interesting track, and it can be found here. He is likely to continue to use my postings, after asking and receiving my okay, and I will continue to link to them. His main page is here. 

~~~

First up, a recording from 1950, contained on one of those tapes with yet another Scotch tape design which I missed, during my Scotch tape brand feature. This one is a variation of the one I identified as the second Scotch design, here, and also similar to the one I shared a few weeks ago, which I'd also missed the first time around. I still suspect the first one I just linked was the second design, but this one was either concurrent with it, and used with five inch reels, or came right around the same time. Here it is: 

So what's on this tape that makes it worth sharing. Well, it's "Your Hit Parade" from 1950. What we have here are portions of two episodes, both from early July, by the sounds of it. The only reason I'm certain it's not all from the same episode is that the first two songs heard, are heard a second time, later on, and that wouldn't have happened on a single episode of that show. 

The latter episode can easily be nailed down to one of the first two weeks of July, as the song that had VERY quickly hit number one (and I won't spoil the surprise) would have attained that position during that time period. Add the reference to a holiday - almost certainly the Fourth of July - and we have a date for these programs. 

A further note - the tape quality if fairly horrendous in the opening couple of minutes, ruining a version of "The Third Man Theme", which I consider one of the best hits of the pre-rock era, but the sound improves quickly after that, and another rendition of the song follows, later, anyway. 

At the end of the tape are a few remnants of other programming, including the introduction of a Percy Faith song, and what sounds to me like Vaughn Monroe singing is his typically godawful style. 

Download: Your Hit Parade, Early 1950, Parts of Two Episodes

Play: 

For those of you who like oddities (and very short segments), the flip side of this tape contains about 28 minutes of bland music from records, but then, at the end, there is some shouting, some whistling, some rifle shots (I think), and then someone named Bill tries out parts of a short speech several times. Given that this recording is made on the same damaged section of the tape as "The Third Man Theme" on the flip side, there is a short section here that also has poor sound. Here is that segment: 

Download: Shouts, Whistles and Shots, Then Bill Speaks

Play: 

~~

Now here is a lengthy recording which may be of interest to some of you (the Sports Fans mentioned above). With March Madness just about done for another year, it occurred to me that some might enjoy this tape. It is coverage of a High School basketball contest in Maine - no date is listed, but I'm guessing this is from the 1960's. Someone with more patience (and interest) than me can probably figure it out, based on the players mentioned. 

The radio station was WBLZ, which probably didn't stand for "Blood, Luggage and Zucchini", but I'd like to think that it did. 

The teams are Banger and Caribou, and we have nearly the entire game coverage, minus some commercials and any half-time coverage. A true bit of local sports coverage, of the sort which rarely makes it beyond its live broadcast. 

Download: Maine High School Basketball on WBLZ

Play: 

~~

Next up, here's another one of those ubiquitous Stereo Demonstration Tapes, which every producer of reel tapes and reel tape machines seems to have been obliged to produce, in the 1950's and/or 1960's. In this case, it's Bell Stereophonic Sound with a nearly ten minute production about the wonders of Stereo!

Download: Bell Stereophonic Sound - A Demonstration Tape

Play: 

~~

And now, here is yet another tape from our young man in Japan. Please see my previous posts for more of an explanation of these tapes, and my confusion regarding exactly what he was doing there. This is before he started using music on the right channels of his tapes, and unlike some of the tapes, this one's date is crystal clear - it's June 27th, 1968 (just one week after I turned eight, by the way). 

Download: Audio Letter from a Student-Soldier in Japan, 6/27/68

Play: 

~~~

And here is our acetate of the month. I don't know anything more about this disc than what it says in the file name, and I can't seem to find the record right now to scan the label. 

But it's an endearing little piece, featuring "Gail and Gram", with Gail, perhaps age four or so, telling the story of "Goldie Locks" (as it was spelled on the record). She is VERY dramatic, raising a laugh from Gram at one point. Very sweet. This is followed by three very short, the last two sung by Gram in a foreign language which I cannot make out through the surface noise. But I bet one of you can. 

Odd to think that, if the Gail heard here is still around, she's probably about 85 or 86 years old. 

Download: Gail and Gram - Goldie Locks and Three Songs, 11/23/40

Play: 

~~~

And now, two tapes which could probably be names as "Very Short Reels". First is the aforementioned "hodgepodge". I love coming across things like this, as their genesis is quite unknowable. While much of this tape is made up of minimal conversation around the house, those segments are surrounded by all sorts of recordings, as if things were recorded and erased at random, sometimes for only 5-15 seconds. I made this file some years ago, but I believe I remember correctly that this is all that was recorded on the tape. Almost an accidental performance of Musique Concrète.

The mention of George Smathers at the very start, identifying him as a Representative and not a Senator (and what sounds like a reference to him having won a senatorial seat, but clearly not in that seat yet), would seem to date at least part of these recordings from no later than 1951. 

I love stuff like this. 

Download: A Three-and-a-Half Minute Hodgepodge

Play: 

~~~

And finally, a tape which may be stretching it, a bit, in terms of being a "very short reel" and even more so, in terms of being worthy of sharing here. But I did digitize it, and it was waiting for me to use it, and I did address all you Sports Fans, so here it is. It is, quite simply, the merest short fragment of a baseball broadcast, all of 76 seconds in length, with more than half of that being essentially light crowd noise between pitches. Enjoy!!!

Download: Baseball Game (short fragment)

Play: