The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd pose the question in the title above. I've seen the odd collector appear in newspaper articles or television peices - and the same is about to happen to me.

A few months back, I bought a copy of Edward VIII's abdication speech on a 12" record. Since it was before I bought a deck capable of linking to my laptop, I did what most people do and film their gramophone playing the record. I uploaded it and thought nothing more of it.

A few days ago I got a message from a lady who is from NHK TV, the public service broadcaster in Japan. They are making a documentary on Edward VIII's life and they wanted to use my gramophone in their production! Evidently because I was the only person to film the disc (thus proving I had a copy rather than simply uploading the audio with photos attached) they took notice and got in touch.

Next thursday, my house is going to be invaded by a film crew from Japanese national TV, a flock of very elderly people who remember the abdication and a TV crew from my university who are covering this story for their purposes.

Since I'm a journalism student, I told my lecturers as I thought they would find it interesting. All of a sudden I'm being included in press releases that are going out to all the local and national media outlets, and I even got an email from our Vice Chancellor congratulating me.


So yeah...next Thursday will be unusual to say the least. Has anyone else appeared in the media for their hobby?

I have had the opportunity to be featured in the people section of our local paper and I respectfully declined. I did not want everyone to know what I have and where I live. It's not that I don't like to share my hobby with other people or groups. I have invited several grade school classes to visit my basement. I've been the program at several clubs and organizations and enjoyed sharing my hobby with them.
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I think you should enjoy your time with the media. You deserve it. Jerry Blais

I've had articles in the papers about me three times, twice when I was in high school when the novelty was more about my age as much as about my hobby (yes, they had newspapers and printing presses back then!). I find it interesting that in spite of my very specific efforts to explain to the reporters what things are correctly called, etc., they NEVER get it right. Makes me wonder how accurate all news reporting really is. The last time I was in the paper, the article described me playing a record by "Big Spider Beck" (I'm not kidding!)

Yes, I did a live radio interview in 2004 when the our society celebrated its 25th anniversary. Originally intended to last only 11 minutes, we talked for over 40 and then we had to stop because of the end of the program. In that same year we were filmed for tv when I was a free-lance journalist. Both things were great fun to do. By the way, I was the last one of my family to appear on national tv, my then ex-wive and two kids had all preceded me.

I hope yopu enjoy the opportunity I'm sure you'll represent the hobby well. Let us know how it goes.

S-B-H

I've been featured a few times, starting when I was 14 and, like John M, it was as much about my age as my hobby. I've had two articles in our local paper, once in the early 1980s and then again about 6 years ago. On that one I made a very big deal with the reporter that I did NOT want to discuss values. I'm tired of all the "how much is it worth?" or "wow, these must be worth a fortune" type questions. In the end he went behind my back and interviewed other collectors to get some idea of values, and published it. I went ballistic on the editor. He defended it by saying it was relevant to readers. I reminded him that I had insisted on keeping that out of the story for a good reason: security. After a long discussion he apologized profusely and acknowledged my point, and said that they would be revising their editorial guidelines thereafter.

A San Francisco TV station did a pretty good report on my collection in 2001, good enough that I posted it on my website. But although the producer of the segment honored my request to avoid any talk of value, the anchor who appeared right after the segment aired made a comment about how I was "sitting on a fortune". I decided I'm through with media requests now....

My most unusual experience was when I got a call from Lucasfilms, whose offices are very near me. They found me online and wanted to record the sound of various phonograph motors to use for sound effects in some movie, the name of which escapes me now but which was universally reviled when it came out. A tech came to my house with a ton of gear and recorded various motors, various cranking sounds, and so on. Then he made a recording of all ambient noise in the air, whatever that was in my quiet neighborhood. That was so he could use that dead sound and have the computer delete those seemingly imperceptible sounds from the background of the recordings they would use. No money on that venture but I got a free tour out of it for my wife, daughter, sister-in-law, and her kids to the very secretive Lucas workshop to see the amazing sound and film labs and tour Lucas' restored Victorian. I remember they were dubbing the latest "Star Wars" into Russian at the time.

Big Spider Beck - LOL. That one cracked me up a little.

I've noticed a recurring theme here, it's a bit of a shame how the media seem obsessed with the value of your collections - the whole "it's old so it must be worth a lot" idea seems to be common, which is a shame.

I like the Lucasfilms one, I bet that was an interesting tour!

During my radio interview we talked about record collecting in general and spent some time discussing a very special CD of our society, containing advertising records made by famous Dutch artists. Not once was there a reference to value. So, yes be careful about what you disclose and nevertell your precise location. I had my collection insured for 30,000 euros, which was the maximum cover I could get without having to specify a detailed list of what I really had. It would have taken me months just to list every record in my collection and then I would have been forced to make a monthly update on my new finds. I started making a database of all I had, but stopped because I preferred to listen to music.

The "Big Spider Beck" is a classic. I can't top that!

Sounds like media inaccuracy is pretty much the same everywhere. The last article about my collection (all pre-1930 stuff) that appeared in a local paper about 3 years ago was titled "Vinyl Rules!" To be fair, the author approached me later to apologize for the headline. He's a guy in his 60s and knows the difference between shellac, wax, and vinyl. But the 30-something Editor reportedly fancies himself a brilliant composer of headlines, and insists on doing them. Watch out, Horace Greeley!

Over the years, various local papers did articles - - at first focused on my age ("Fifteen Year Old Brings Museum's Victrola Back To Life", etc.), then all about the strange guy who subjects his wife and kids to these obsolete "boom boxes" and the usual drivel wherein names and dates were mangled. Even so, these articles usually resulted in a few phone calls from people with items to sell. In the rural area where I live, publicity among the various villages has never caused me any problems as it might in a city.

One of the TV stations in a nearby city broadcasts its Morning Show live from remote locations each weekday. These can range from a local peanut butter factory to a dairy farm, school, or private airport where the owner has built a replica of an ME 262. About five years ago an acquaintance contacted the station and suggested they approach me about doing a live feed from our house. My initial reaction was horror, but the more I thought about it, I decided at least I wouldn't be misquoted. At 3:30 one morning, the remote unit pulled into our driveway and hoisted a huge satellite antenna. They dragged cable up to our 3rd floor and set up their audio. From 5:00am until 7:00am, they would broadcast segments from 30 seconds to 8 minutes long. I had prepared several demonstrations (including having the female host record her voice on tinfoil) and everything went surprisingly well - - with never a mention of values. What really blew me away was how many people are watching TV at that hour of the day! For months afterward, folks were telling me that they watched the show. My only complaint was the cameraman seemed overly attracted to the close shot. When I'd say something like, "Here's a Victrola that was sold in 1913," the audience saw either a cabinet knob or a full screen of the sound box. Even Nipper with a Berliner Gramophone were never shown together. You could count Nipper's toenails while listening to the story of how the "His Master's Voice" painting came about. Oh well... It could have been much worse. Vinyl Rules!

George P.

I had almost forgotten until now, that when I was in high school we had 'TV classes' that were broadcast from production facilities at the Board of Education to auditorium-like classrooms at schools throughout the county. IIRC, during my junior year, my TV History teacher got wind of my hobby and told headquarters, and I was invited to the studio to tape a segment. I brought an Edison 'Home' E w/metal cygnet, a Victor III w/spearpoint horn, a 'Musical Casket No. 2' paper-roll organ, a 'Chautauqua' cob organ, a 15.5" Regina Style 11 disc music box, and a Griesebaum mechanical singing bird box. For several years after that, total strangers my age and a little younger would point to me when I was out somewhere and say, "Hey! You're the guy with the old record players!". That was always good for an odd unexpected surprise!