[78-L] 16 2/3 RPM

Sammy Jones sjones69 at bellsouth.net
Mon Aug 5 16:14:41 PDT 2013


Thanks for the info.  I've passed it along...

Was 16 2/3 ever available as a consumer format except for those in-car 
turntable systems?

Sammy Jones

David Lennick wrote:
> 16 2/3 was used for spoken word recordings as well as for some really
> long-playing jazz and popular albums from about 1952 (even some classical, 
> I
> think) but certainly not for radio transcriptions. However, Victor 
> recorded a
> few discs at 16 in the early 30s, and these are in the ARSC discography of
> 33rpm masters. So the speed must have existed at the time. The Talking 
> Books of
> the 30s played at 33rpm although England cut them at 24.
>
> dl
>
> On 8/5/2013 1:09 PM, Sammy Jones wrote:
>> Somebody over on the International Jack Benn Fan Club Facebook page asked 
>> me if I had any radio transcriptions cut at 16 RPM.  I told him I did 
>> not, and that 16 would be a pretty uncommon speed for radio recordings.
>>
>> He said when he worked at a radio station they had Gates turntables that 
>> could play at 16, and the speed was marked "transcriptions."  What would 
>> have been the purpose of that?  Compatability for recorded books for the 
>> blind?
>>
>> I'm reminded that there were records intended for in-car use cut at 16 
>> 2/3...
>>
>> DL, were those Sherlock Holmes radio shows/talking books from the early 
>> '30s cut at 16 2/3?
>>
>> Sammy Jones
>
> 



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