[78-L] Drink any good records lately?

[David Lennick]

This appeared on 88sOn78s.  dl

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After some years at Chicago's WNIB, I was an announcer and producer
at WFMT in Chicago for 35+ years after 1972. One of the WFMT
announcer's responsibilities was to prepare, edit, and then read the
newscasts scheduled for our shifts. Until the current management
reduced WFMT's newscasts to little more than headlines, we had three
wire sources for news. One was Reuters. In addition to their very
thorough stories about "hard" news. Reuters periodically sent brief
droll ones about quirky things. This story came over during one of my
shifts. I love it. I didn't save the year, but I think it was the
1970s.

    "Drink

    "Shepton Mallet, England, July 2, Reuter --

A magistrate's court here was told today of the local destitutes' top
drink -- boiled
phonograph records.

    "Scotsman Thomas Duncan, 50, said the hit beverage was made by
breaking up and boiling old 78 r.p.m. records.

    "Duncan was jailed for stealing two brass vases from a house where
he went for water to dilute his favorite drink.

    "The police analyst in this town about 20 miles (22 kilometers)
south of Bristol is to study Duncan's claims.

    "Reuter 1935"

    I brought the story home and framed it. It's on the wall of one of
my rooms full of 78s.

    Don Tait