[78-L] Audio yearbooks

[Rodger J Holtin]

I'm posting this potentially off-topic question here because so many of you
guys sift through a lot of LPs, too, and the answer to my question may
actually be on the 78 format.

 

We have all seen and probably have yearbooks from high school or college
days. Has anybody ever seen a genuine audio yearbook on LP (or any audio
format)??

 

My alma mater did so from 1961-1974. The basic format was much like the
Edward R Murrow series I Can Hear It Now - narrative and audio clips from
various campus activities including speeches by visiting dignitaries such as
Senator Albert Gore Sr., governor Winfield Dunn, even Chet Lauck ("Lum" from
Lum n Abner), talent night, the roar of the crowd and final score of the
homecoming game and so on.

 

My reason for asking is that said Alma Mater is celebrating its
sesquicentennial next year.

A member is of the sesqui committee found this to be a remarkable revelation
when he learned about the very existence of such records and asked me if any
other school I knew of ever made anything like it.  Short answer was I
didn't know, but have found a couple online since then.

 

The Rowan County, KY High School appears to have made one in 1978 (Doc
Biel's neighborhood about the time he moved there, methinks.) It shows up on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9TGD6TKFU; apparently transferred by Doc
B's class or a successor, anyway.

 

The Phillip Barbour High School in WV made one in 1978 that shows up as a
$24.61 bargain on Amazon, and I found the Bayshore High School, Bradenton,
Florida appears to have included an Evatone Sound Sheet, or something like
it as an insert in their printed yearbook. Part of it is also on Youtube -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXFUWl2AZWY

 

I've only plowed through 100,000 records in op shops and flea markets. I'm
sure that's but a very small fraction of the combined plowing of this group.
I've seen hundreds of records by RCA Custom, Columbia, Century, Custom
Fidelity and Recorded Publications of school choruses, bands and one by a
theatre group, but never another yearbook-like compilation. I even found a
school chorus record on the Audio Yearbook label, but no clue about anything
else from them. It would seem they may have had the idea for such a
compilation but all that I know to exist is a single chorus record.

 

Can anybody correct or corroborate what I've found? The bottom line to this
is whether or not my alma mater holds the distinction of being first (1961)
at this format.

 

Further, can I beg you to cross post this query on any other lists you might
be on with wider LP experience for greater coverage of the question, please?

 

Rodger Holtin

78-L Member Since MCMXCVIII

 

For Best Results Use Victor Needles

 



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com