Worried About Fewer Young People in our Hobby?

[phonogfp]

On December 20, several members of the Antique Phonograph Society hosted what they called a "Pop-Up Music Museum" at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. If you're like me, you may never have heard of Rose-Hulman, but it is a top-tier technical school located near Indianapolis.

This is the third year (I think) that these exhibits/demonstrations have appeared, and they seem to be more popular every year. Here's what Dr. David Chapman of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences had to say after the event:

From my perspective it was a huge success. Every year the size and impact of the event has grown, and yesterday was the most significant yet. And that location! I hope I can request that every time.

Around 500 students attended the exhibit/demonstration throughout the day, and this year even the college president stopped in to see it as well. Local news coverage can be seen here:

WTHI-TV, Terre Haute 12/20/2018 Website Story

https://www.wthitv.com/content/news/503273932.html



WTWO-TV, Terre Haute 12?20/2018

https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/a-t ... 1669567619



WTHI (CBS), Terre Haute 12/20/2018 5 p.m. Newscast

http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaCenterPlayer ... TWVkaWE%3D



WTHI (CBS), Terre Haute 12/20/2018 6 p.m. Newscast

http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaCenterPlayer ... TWVkaWE%3D



WTWO (NBC), Terre Haute 12/20/2018 6 p.m. Newscast

http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaCenterPlayer ... TWVkaWE%3D



WAWV (ABC), Terre Haute 12/20/2018 Live At Five Show

http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaCenterPlayer ... TWVkaWE%3D


The Antique Phonograph Society can help others who wish to offer similar events, and the APS "Program In A Box" for public schools is in its final stages of completion. All this is to acquaint young people (of various ages) with early recordings and talking machines.

Isn't this they type of activity you'd like to support - - while enjoying the benefits of membership?

It's Time To Join for 2019!

https://www.antiquephono.org/join-us-home/

George P.

[cjstoessner]

I am happy to hear of this event and the response! I demonstrated some rather basic machines at an outdoor living history event last summer and was quite surprised about the amount of young people coming up, asking questions, etc.

Even though values go up and down, the underlying interest in the history of sound and phonographs is still strong. I am rather new to the Antique Phonograph Society but I think the work they do is worthy of support.

[soundgen]

there are Fewer Young People in any Hobby EXCEPT taking pictures and posting them on Twitter Instagram Whats-app etc etc , hobbies are DEAD !

[Mormon S]

there are Fewer Young People in any Hobby EXCEPT taking pictures and posting them on Twitter Instagram Whats-app etc etc , hobbies are DEAD !

There will be fewer people making reproduction pieces as well! This is why I want to learn to produce parts, if not there will be none in 30 years...

[gramophone78]

George, don't worry, be happy. As long as you and others like myself enjoy collecting these machines....who cares... .

[phonogfp]

George, don't worry, be happy. As long as you and others like myself enjoy collecting these machines....who cares... .

I'm not worried, but some people are.

George P.

[Marty Bufalini]

This is just great!!! I wish we had more opportunities like this to educate and interest the younger folk.

There does seem to be an interest, though. When my kids friends (in their 20s and 30s) come over, most are fascinated by my phonographs and ask me to play them, which I gladly do. They seem to be genuinely fascinated by them, in particular, the cylinder machines. Most have never seen a cylinder machine or cylinders except in museums of pictures. They are amazed at the sound and technology. I'll even pull out and play the Roosevelt or Taft cylinders and play those for them. They love it as now these historical figures have come alive for them

And then there is the orthophonic. When they hear a good record played on that, they cannot believe the volume and fidelity that is NOT electronically amplified. I keep a cut-away picture of the horn handy to show them what it looks like.

Our house is packed on Christmas day with these younger folk and my kids -- who love the phonographs -- play Christmas records on the orthophonic.

We do a Sunday family dinner ever Sunday (of course!) and my kids will play the phonographs because they like to!

[jmad7474]

As one of those no-good, pesky Millennial brats I have to chime in and say that this hobby is NOT dead among "the yute" - those of us who can afford to indulge in buying antique phonographs and records are enjoying a good market where collectors of our parents' age and older are looking to downsize their collections and are usually eager to give them to us cheap. That is, of course, provided they were not viewed as investment vehicles by those same collectors (jukebox collectors, anyone?)

In addition, the ease of finding old-timey recordings on the YouTubes and the like have led to a resurgence of interest in this hobby, as people can now become exposed to a huge chunk of recordings from the 1920s onward via digital music uploads and streaming services. This has been a huge factor, since few people have access to a 78 rpm turntable but they can still hear the music originally recorded on them. I do not know if this would encourage an avid listener of such recordings to actually go out and buy a wind up phonograph with records, but it is certainly better than nothing!

[Jwb88]

I'll throw my opinion in:

Lately, I've noticed quite a few young people interested in acoustic phonographs. I brought a tabletop victrola to the local antique mall recently and it sold while I wasn't there. The employee who sold it (about age 20) was very excited and pleased that she was able to insert the crank, read my brief instructions, and get it to play music for the customer. Honestly, I'd never seen her eyes so bright, and she said the customers were equally happy and excited. It seemed to have made quite a stir among the employees there who were all under 30.

One thing I've noticed is that young people (let's say 30 and under) seem interested in them quite a lot if you bring up the topic or have a machine in front of them. They're very curious about how it works. However, (and this is entirely anecdotal) I find that if a person over 40 or so and has no existing interest, they're much harder to get interested. I've met two people over 40 who never even knew wind-up phonographs existed. I'm not kidding, and it's still surprising to me, considering the opportunities to see record players with cranks in a variety of cartoons, movies, etc.

But there's one thing that uninitiated Boomers, Gen Xers, Millenials, and Zoomers have in common: "Can I play, like, regular vinyl on it?"

If it were easier and more affordable to make your own acoustic records, cylinder or disc, I think there'd be even more interest. If good Edison recorders with sharp styli were as common and low-priced as a Model C, well, imagine!

[epigramophone]

The doom mongers have been predicting the decline of our hobby for years, but we are still here.

In recent years some overpriced machines such as the big HMV Re-Entrant models have fallen in value, but the demand for portables and anything EMG/Expert related remains as strong as ever. When I show my classic car at events I usually take a portable with me, and find that it often generates as much interest as the car. The questions I am most likely to be asked are :

Did you restore it yourself?
Can you still get the needles for it?
Where are the batteries?

......and from several other classic car owners :

Could you find one for me? The answer to that last question is yes, and I have!