[78-L] 78rpm speed

[neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com]

True, there were other speeds, but did the average home user of 
phonograph records know about radio transcriptions and movie 
soundtracks? I doubt that the average record buyer knew that Edison had 
attempted an LP format at 300 or whateveritwas LPI. I think that most 
likely, as stated, records were either standard (what we call a "78") or 
something else, like the early LP attempts, which go back to cylinder 
days. "Long playing" options would be the variation from the norm, but 
even this is not correct. Motion pic soundtracks were only, to my 
knowledge, recorded at 33 1/3, so that was the norm for that format. I 
believe I've seen some ETs that were produced for classroom use, or 
maybe could be used for either broadcast or classroom use. Or maybe they 
repurposed ETs for distribution to classrooms to make more money. Home 
recordings and ETs would be the place to find different speeds 
available. So rephrasing the question, when did home players with 2 
speeds (78 & 33) become common enough to be recognized by the consumer 
for what they were? Late 40s to my knowledge. When did 33.3 become 
common enough to be used in classrooms for audio visual presentations 
(assuming my premise to be correct)? Can someone point to a catalog and 
say 'this is the first example of a classroom record player with 33 
speed on it'. Again, for consumer awareness, I'm thinking late '40s. 
Maybe Mike Biel can answer this. (I assume that  players for radio 
stations had 2 speeds from the beginning of the ET era).

joe salerno

David Lennick wrote:
> But since the slow speed (33 1/3 RPM) was in use as early as 1926 for sync 
> soundtrack discs and radio stations were playing discs of both speeds after 
> 1931 and 33RPM "Program Transcriptions" were marketed by RCA Victor that same 
> year, the answer has to be a lot earlier, even if the general public didn't 
> have reason to refer to "78s" till 1948..even then, the term "standard" 
> remained popular for quite a while. The introduction of the "45" probably 
> heralded the general use of speed designations. Lacquer discs, both studio and 
> for home use, usually had boxes to check "78" and "33" on the labels.
> 
> dl
> 
> Royal Pemberton wrote:
>> I'd say following the advent of the LP and the 45, so circa 1948/1949.
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 3:34 AM, <L78rpm at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>> When, please, were the objects primarily associated with this list  first
>>> called "78s"?   This seems a reasonable question, I believe,  given the
>>> adjustable speed mechanisms on early disc machines, and the suggestion
>>>  that some
>>> brands should be played at 80rpms (or something other than  78).
>>>
>>> Paul Charosh
> 
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