Radio transcription disk labels

[richardh]

Richard,
I was shocked to see something written on one of the labels you have. The 9th one down (Frank Sinatra disc) has the call letters KMJ and a 1948 date written on it. I live in Fresno, California, and KMJ has been the longest lasting station on our AM dial- it is still in business today as a news/talk station. Interesting!

-Shane

Thanks for the info Shane. I must admit I assumed that the letters were the intials of the person who had played the disk. Thats certainly a long running station. Out of interest do the letters stand for anything in particuar?

I also see that the station were a bit "naughty" as according to the disk notation they actually broadcast it before the "dont play this disk before" date printed on the disk.

Solophoneman (any anyone else!) - it would be great to see other examples others here have of these radion transcription disks.

RJ

[Shane]

Ooooooooooh. I took a chance that KMJ might have a wikipedia entry, and indeed it does... with a wealth of info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KMJ

[PhonoJack]

This may be a little bit off topic, but I listened to my favorite radio transcription records while in Vietnam. Some old vets (well not so old, I'm still a kid) uploaded these transcription records for this period, for all to share, incredible stuff.

Below are the links to Chris Noel's broadcasts (she was every servicman's girlfriend from sunny CA) familiar to most Vietnam servicemen who could get radio, which was just about everyone. Although the NVA (with some help from Russia) tried to jam AFN without much luck. I think AFVN had a 50K watt transmitter somewhere near Saigon. Even Charlie listened, especially to those ‘love songs’.

Funny how those radio broadcasts worked. Years ago, Chris’ broadcast could send you (back to the world) as you managed boredom and sometimes fear. Now when at home, her voice and some of these songs send you back to Vietnam so quickly even if for only a few minutes. Not flashbacks, soundbacks!

Everyone can appreciate this ‘acceptable music’ fit for every fighting man located at:

http://ansel.his.duq.edu/afvn/chris.html Enjoy! They're free, chances are you paid for them.

Many board members are familiar with Robin Williams portrayal of Adrian Cronauer, morning wake up call, Gooooooooooooood Morning Vietnam. Another better know DJ then was a young fellow named Pat Sajak, well known now he's the host of Wheel of Fortune.


Jack



Opps, NVA North Vietnamese Army; Charlie, you better not ask; Armed Forces Network AFN

[solophoneman]

Here is that Transcription disc I managed to find a few years ago. it is a very heavy thick shallac record, 78rpm and center start, and 16". I can't remember what the subject matter is, I don't have a transcription turntable, and played this at a friends house a few years ago.

[MordEth]

solophoneman,

Great image, thanks for sharing it with us. I spent a bit of time Googling the company, and was surprised to see that most information regarding them was in conjunction with ‘The Cinnamon Bear’. Here is perhaps the best passage I found detailing the company:

Not surprisingly, syndication soon became big business — and, in April of 1931, a company destined to become one of the biggest producers in the industry opened for business.

Most TRANSCO 16" transcriptions carried this standard label, with specific show titles and numbers typed and/or stamped in ink The Radio Transcription Company of America, Ltd., based at 1509 North Vine Street in Hollywood, entered the market by specializing in the production of recorded programming “in the Hollywood style.” Using the smooth and sophisticated style of Los Angeles-based radio stations as their role model, TRANSCO specialized in musical “band remote” programs by the likes of Tom Coakley, Anson Weeks, Phil Harris, Gus Arnheim and Jimmy Grier — popular West Coast bandleaders who quickly found their fame increasing with their regular radio appearances. These shows were an immediate hit, bringing some of the style and glamour of the movie colony into homes all over the country.

It helped, of course, that these programs offered some of the best-recorded syndicated material on the market. Leasing the studios of Freeman Lang for their recording sessions, these early shows were designed to give the listener the impression that they were hearing a band, live and in person, playing for dancing at a posh nightspot like the Peacock Court of the Mark Hopkins Hotel or the famed Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel. Sponsors were thrilled with the opportunity to be associated with such high-quality product and TRANSCO was on its way.

In 1932, TRANSCO began to diversify, presenting a wide range of recorded comedy, variety, and dramatic programs to supplement their ongoing musical shows. Among the productions in these early years were human interest shows like "Strange Adventures in Strange Lands," nondenominational religious programs like “The Country Church Of Hollywood,” light collegiate musical comedy fare such as “The Calibama Co-eds,” and “The Laff Parade,” a fifteen-minute variety show with host Ken Niles that was a virtual carbon copy of similar shows heard weekly on the networks. TRANSCO even produced a multi-part adaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's “The Deerslayer” and an old west musical/adventure program titled “Pinto Pete in Arizona.”

Talent for the majority of these shows came most often from the KHJ stock company, a group of diverse and talented actors and musicians who could seemingly do anything on demand and for a reasonable fee. (It helped, of course, that KHJ’s dramatic director Lindsay MacHarrie also served as TRANSCO’s production manager.)

From the start, and throughout its history, TRANSCO was simply a production and sales company. They owned no studios of their own — their Hollywood and Chicago offices were simply distribution facilities — and the pressing of the discs themselves was generally done by the American Record Corporation's Hollywood plant, which was Columbia Records former West Coast factory.

(Quoted from this Cinnamon Bear page on Radio Archives.)

Does that sound correct to you, with what you know of the label?

— MordEth

[solophoneman]

Yes thanks, I googled that same information when I first acquired the record, Certainly an interesting history tapping into the bands and entertainment in the Hollywood area. Wish I could remember what was on this record, but I know it is not one of the bands mentioned in the history, I believe it is some recreation of a novel or some radio serial or something like that, but I would have to play it again to be sure, and don't have my own transcription turntable to acomodate a 16" Center Start record.

[richardh]

WoW, nice disk. I'd love one of those Transco 1930's disks - trouble is living in the UK I just don't think one of those 16" shellac disks would survive the journey...however the Radio archives do great transfers of these disks and I have many of their presentation sets....the ones of broadcasts from the Cocoanut Grove in the (now demolished) Ambassador Hotel have to be heard to be believed...amazing sound quality.

RJ

[cdbpdx]

Syndicated radio programs were usually shipped to radio stations under a contract which almost always included a clause that stated the transcriptions must be returned after broadcast so unauthorized broadcasts could be avoided. They were to be destroyed upon their return. Easy to think that more than half of all produced were destroyed in such a manner. The original number of the discs can be somewhat determined by knowing how many radio stations carried a specific program. Cecil and Sally show was sent to 53 radio astations at it's peak. Assume a few extras were made for breakage and promotional efforts, then figure more than half of those or more were likely destroyed, you come up with a pretty small number of survivors for each program.

CDB

[Viva-Tonal]

I have three of these Standard Transcription Library discs with Les Paul's trio; on one of them they back singer Pat Kay.

The Orthacoustic disc is a 12" disc that is under 2 minutes long....it's Eisenhower exhorting people to join the National Guard, circa 1947. Apart from the outermost radial inch, the rest of this side of the disc was originally blank. But someone with a disc recorder heard a live performance of Spike Jones and his orchestra doing their version of 'Ghost riders in the sky' (uncensored, with the bit about 'I can do without his singing, but I sure would like his dough' intact; this was dubbed out of most, but not all, copies of the actual release of this song on record) on a radio station, and wanted to record it, so the otherwise-blank part of this record became where this recording was attempted, at 78 rpm. It's plagued with grooves that cross over each other, speed wobbles from disc slippage, interruptions in the cut, and grooves that become duller and noisier as the cutting stylus dulled very quickly from trying to cut vinyl!

The reverse side has the 'RCA Victor' version of the 'spider web' backing.

[scullylathe]

The "Calling all cars" are pressed on an early form of vinyl which when tapped sounds like it would shatter if dropped - needless to say Im not going to put that one to the test!

Yes, I have many pressed transcriptions and they do seem to be more brittle than a regular vinyl pressing. Vinyl formulas used for pressing records varied greatly years ago and even some commercial pressings like early Royal, Robin Hood (a kid's label), Remington and a few others are quite brittle compared to later pressings from the mid-50's.

Be careful with early lacquer discs because if you find one with a tiny brass ring in the center it's made of glass. During WWII due to metal shortages, manufacturers started making the substrates out of thin glass. Usually the label from the manufacturer indicates "glass base", but if another label was applied it may not say anything. The brass ring is the giveaway. The only "home" recording blanks that were glass sold under the brand name "Clear-O" but I'm not sure who made them.