[78-L] RCA record prevue

[Michael Biel]

Francesco Martinelli wrote:
> in an Ankara shop I found a bunch of vinyl 78 with indication RCA Victor 
> record prevue, DJ copy. I guess they were used for broadcasting since 
> they're not in a very good shape and many of them have duration handwritten 
> in big letters on the labels. I bought one by the Sauter-Finegan orchestra 
> but it's full of crackle. Were these released on vinyl for DJ and on shellac 
> for general market, or these late 78 were already on vinyl?
> Thanks for any info,
> fm 
Surprising to see these records so far from home!  Yes, you are right, 
these thin vinyl pressings were not used for the regular commercial 
copies, but RCA had developed a very, very quiet shellac in the 50s that 
was just about as quiet as shellac and even wore a little better if not 
misplayed.  By 1956 some commercial pressings were on a hard, stiff 
plastic, probably some type of mixture.   I have a plastic Elvis 78, but 
most are shellac.  The thin vinyl did show up on some RCA Custom 
pressings and some educational series album sets. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com