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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.