Transcription discs

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Transcription discs are recordings of live performances generally referring to radio broadcast transcriptions on 10, 12 and 16 inch discs made before the advent of audiotape. Transcription discs were also used for the sound in early "Talkies", most notably the Warner Bros. Vitaphone system which used sound on disc synchronized to the film. Transcription recordings for radio were made for audition purposes only in the early years of broadcasting until the crash of the airship Hindenburg in Lakehurst, NJ on 6 May 1937. On that occasion a recording of the crash made for radio station WLS Chicago by announcer Herbert Morrison was allowed to be broadcast by NBC. Transcription recordings of major American radio networks became commonplace during World War II as recordings were distributed worldwide to American Forces Network (AFN) radio stations for troops in the field. Although the recordings were supposed to have been destroyed after broadcast many have survived and are the only record of many of the most popular programs of the era. Well known transcription recordings include "The War of the Worlds" by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air on the CBS radio network in 1938. Few transcription recordings of the earliest radio broadcasts exist and it is believed they were destroyed for their aluminium content during scrap metal drives during World War II. The discs themselves were made of an aluminum disc coated with lacquer or vinyl. Because of metal shortages during World War II the aluminum in the transcription discs was replaced by glass which rendered the recordings extremely fragile. A transcription recorder had a stylus which would electrically engrave the recording on the blank disc at a speed of 33 and 1/3 rpm, which later became a standard for long playing vinyl records. Transcription discs were rendered obsolete by audiotape and wire recorders and were discontinued by the 1950's.

[edit] See also

[Music Electrically Transcribed!] Walter J. Beaupre
Gramophone record

Radio Portal

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Fybush, Scott. [Frequently-Asked Question]. The Archives@BostonRadio.org. 
  3. ^ [Armed Forces Radio Services broadcasts]. Bing Crosby Internet Museum. 
  4. ^ [a b Bensman, Marvin R.. [A History of Radio Program Collecting]. Radio Archive of the University of Memphis.