[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [ARSCLIST] NBC chimes and routing
I've always believed that CBS did some "pre-emphasis" on their lines in the
days when top end rolled off at 5,000 (cycles) and they wanted to sound a
bit brighter on their AM outlets. On good recordings made off the CBS line
at WCCO, there's a slight amount of mid-band 'stridency' in the audio which
no doubt disappeared when heard on an AM radio.
I don't know if this had anything to do with compensating for their in-band
signaling for the "Net-Alert". (The Net-Alert signal was a short burst of
audio around 2900hz, modulated at something like 20hz. If will be familiar
to folks as the famous "chirp".)
Mark Durenberger
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] NBC chimes and routing
At 03:21 PM 2008-06-04, Mark Durenberger wrote:
Some of us older-timers remember the "pause for switching" when they
re-routed the network for a West-Coast feed. This happened as late as the
mid-50's.
You could hear clicks down the line during the (5-second?) silence and
could almost imagine all the folks at the AT&T Toll Boards pulling and
re-inserting patches to reverse the feed.
I recall on one occasion being given a behind-the-scenes tour of 30 Rock
and the radio network in the early 1970s, and I _think_ I recall that
there was a switch that would "reverse the network" and that by then it
was semi-automated. I don't recall exactly what I was told, nor who was
with me, but I've been thinking about that since this thread started.
While not NBC-related, I have a recording that was made at KMOX, St. Louis
off the CBS network feed. It is from 1963, and is the premiere recording
of David Diamond's setting of the Gettysburg Address -- it was presented
in Kleinhans (sp?) Music Hall in Buffalo, NY, on the 100th anniversary of
the Address. I also have a Gerard Schwartz (sp?) recording with the
Seattle Symphony of this work with Dr. Diamond being present for the
recording on CD from the 1980s?
What is amazing is that the two performances practically overlay each
other. What is sad is how much was lost in the lines, presumably from
Buffalo to NYC and then from NYC to St. Louis, although another route is
possible.
I use this as an example when I give presentations to archivists about how
important the provenance and history of a particular recording are. How
did this recording get to be made? Where? What feed?
If there was an old Ampex running that night in Buffalo, THAT would be the
tape to preserve, not a copy at the end of a line made in St. Louis,
though that is better (marginally) than nothing.
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.