[78-L] Columbia classics

[DAVID BURNHAM]

It was David Hall, in The Record Book: New International Edition (1948, page 
177. Several paragraphs about other media including film, tape and wire, the 
limitations of each, and the still rosy future for disc recordings:

"Not only will the use of vinylite in manufacture make feasible the recording 
of a wider range of frequencies, but there are strong possibilities that 
methods will be worked out whereby fifteen minutes or more of music can be 
accommodated on a single record side. This has been the case for many years 
with radio transcriptions, most of which are recorded on 16-inch discs 
revolving at 33 1/3 rpm as against the standard 78 rpm 10-inch and 12-inch 
records for home use. Already there are plans afoot to market such 
transcriptions in large quantities through retail channels, and to make 
available turntable pick-up assemblies on which to play them through one's 
present radio or radio-phonograph. At the moment, two-speed (33 1/3 & 78 rpm) 
turntables of good design are fairly high in price (one made by the radio Music 
Corp. of East Portchester, Conn. sells for around $80), because greater 
precision of workmanship is required in their manufacture. However, if 16-inch 
transcriptions do begin to find a mass market, we shall undoubtedly be able to 
obtain well-designed, inexpensive turntable-pickup assemblies on which to play 
them. Naturally, if modifications are made in either speed or pitch (number of 
grooves per inch) of 12-inch discs to allow of longer playing time, it will 
mean that new-type turntables, pickups, or both, will have to be made available 
to accommodate the new type records."

So he allowed for both possibilities but definitely seemed to think that 
commercially issued 16-inch discs weren't unthinkable in 1947. The book was 
copyright 1948 but his predictions on all topics referred to "by the end of 
1947 or..".

dl


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I wish I'd known you were going to copy all of this before I did.

db