The (very exclusive) 16 RPM Club.

[vansteem78]

Not a fanatic but I have a few. Some are clear red vinyl. Those are twelve inch. Much music and lasts way to long. I guess I do not like to sit and listen that long. Then some with large hole in the center I guess for a juke box? Now wondering where they are! LOL Neil

[Marco Gilardetti]

I'm quite often listening to this Seeburg 1000 internet radio these days - I have to reckon that the guys at Seeburg made an excellent job and it really motivates me to be more efficient and upbeat at work!

The radio features no commercials, but very sparsely (once every dozen tunes perhaps) a voice announces that listeners can make donations to the radio. Once, the registered voice of Kiss' drummer (unfortunately I couldn't memorize who of the surviving two) said that after an exhausting gig he likes to relax by listening to the music of Seeburg 1000!!! It really left me open-mouthed, and the folk is eccentric enough that it may actually be true!

[Orchorsol]

I'm quite often listening to this Seeburg 1000 internet radio these days - I have to reckon that the guys at Seeburg made an excellent job and it really motivates me to be more efficient and upbeat at work!

Marco, get out of there IMMEDIATELY. They are poisoning your mind! We don't want to lose you!

[52089]

I'm quite often listening to this Seeburg 1000 internet radio these days - I have to reckon that the guys at Seeburg made an excellent job and it really motivates me to be more efficient and upbeat at work!

The radio features no commercials, but very sparsely (once every dozen tunes perhaps) a voice announces that listeners can make donations to the radio. Once, the registered voice of Kiss' drummer (unfortunately I couldn't memorize who of the surviving two) said that after an exhausting gig he likes to relax by listening to the music of Seeburg 1000!!! It really left me open-mouthed, and the folk is eccentric enough that it may actually be true!

It's surprisingly "addictive", isn't it?

[Marco Gilardetti]

Indeed upbeat is the word, if you get me!

I just wish the radio had three channels and that I could choose between the "Basic", "Mood" or "Industrial" programs...

It's amusing how sometimes you recognize the song as an evergreen standard that you also own on some 78 RPM.

[Marco Gilardetti]

I've heard his voice again! He's Eric Singer!

[EarlH]

I ran across a large stack of those 40 years ago in a car dealership warehouse that my Dad got the job of cleaning out. But they were all either elevator music, or promotional stuff for Cadillac's & Pontiac's back in the 1950's into the 60's. It seems like they were all center start records and they pushed the tone arm off the record at the conclusion so the system went silent instead of having to listen to the needle in the run off groove. I remember thinking at the time that having it do that was kind of a clever idea. I kept none of that stuff though, but it was kind of interesting. Must have been about a thousand 1949 Pontiac calendar's in that mess, and I did keep two of those for many years.

[marcapra]

I have some 16 ⅔ rpm records. They seem to be from the mid 50s era. All of them are spoken word recordings with things like A Treasury of Great Poetry with Louis Untermeyer, Shakespeare's Sonnets, all of them, read by Ronald Colman c. 1956, and The Three Musketeers by Dumas, and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, etc.

It always irks me when people refer to these records as only for the blind. Poetry is meant to heard, not read, so in the case of poetry and drama, at least, I defend spoken word recordings. This is coming from someone who has all 37 of Shakespeare's plays on London records complete, but they are LPs.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Due to the covid emergency, I'm doing a lot of data entry for the hospital, and when the pile of documents gets really high, while I type I have plenty of time to listen again to Seeburg "radio". At least, I'm a bit entertained. Indeed it's a type of music that is pleasant to listen to if you concentrate on it, but is not distracting if you're concentrated on something else. To my surprise, the more I listen to it, the more I realise that the "Seeburg band" was fairly good, and occasionally some nice solo or fill may kick in, or some piano played with a very decent mood and elegance can be heard.

The funny thing is that - very sparsely - there still are the voice announcements by Eric Singer, the "cat" from Kiss, but they've been updated and he now mentions the lockdown and how this music could lighten up our days while we're in isolation. I really wonder if he listens to this music when he wants to relax (you never know...), or if he happens to be a friend of the "dj" of the Seeburg radio, who knows? Amusing, either way.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Kevin of KAB USA has recently released a "Half Speed mod" that can be installed on Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntables, which basically enables a quartz-locked 16 RPM speed on this highly regarded record player.

Personally, I have waited many years for this release, and have cooperated with Kevin in order to add it side by side with the pre-existing "Broadcast Standard" mod which added 78 RPM. Seemingly, the two modules were never addded together on the same machine before.

My Technics SL-1200 unit now features all four speeds and I'm so happy that words can hardly express. I made a clip to celebrate this long awaited event but also to spread some information: to go through some technical sides of what has been done to the turntable, to discuss how the new speeds were achieved and also to show how they are engaged. It's on my YouTube channel in case anyone would like to watch it:

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)