How a forgotten 1949 Format War shaped the future of records
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- čas přidán 8. 11. 2019
- Once upon a time the 45 and the LP were rival formats.
This video tells the story of how RCAs beef with Columbia ended up shaping the future of popular music.
This is a video about the Format War of 1949. Later developments like 12" 45s, EPs, 16RPM records, styrene singles and those 45s with a raised stepped ridge around the centre that aided grip when used on a stacker player didn't feature in this story because they were introduced after the conclusion of this 1949 format war chapter.
Regarding the question posed at the end - a few people have mentioned that the record players in their country had single adaptors. This was not unusual. I've demonstrated a few turntables on this channel with the built-in 45 adaptors. If your turntable didn't have a built in adaptor - you could buy one. However that's the result - not the cause. The records came first - the players accommodated the type of records sold in that country. A country could have chosen to go with small or large holes - the decision on which way they went was the thing of interest - what was the common denominator? Why was a large spindle hole chosen in Germany, but a small one in the UK?
We think we have an answer - it seems that Commonwealth countries went with the small hole and countries with a US armed forces presence after the war were more inclined towards the large hole. However if you know any other info on this - please share.
Links to things mentioned in the video:
The UK Ebay seller who modifies and repairs old RCA 45 Machines (Affiliated Link) ebay.to/2uTY9WK
RCA’s Bizarre 12 Fact Rant bit.ly/2NvcL5v
Pink Floyd Wish you were here Vinylite Record (Affiliated Link): amzn.to/34L1NyC
Shellac Photo courtesy of Jeffrey W. Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org - www.forestryimages.org/browse/...
**UPDATE** If you want to see/hear one of RCA’s records from their first attempt at a 33 1/3 record - VWestlife has uploaded a video: • Playing a rare 1930s R... (The format was introduced in 1931 - and discontinued in 1933)
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You didn't even touch upon the greatest oddity of this format war: "33+45=78".
Dana Jorgensen D’oh.
I was gonna ask about that too.
I have wondered for some time how many multi speed players actually used fixed gearing that ran 78 discs at 78⅓ . Noting that the low speed of 16 is probably 16⅔ already. The speeds would then be 78⅓=45/36s, 45=27/36s, 33⅓=20/36s and 36⅔=10/36s
@@johncrowerdoe5527 Of all the record players that I've seen opened/disassembled none of them used gears to transfer motion from the motor to the turntable. They used either rubber belts or rubber wheels that pushed against the motor spindle, which had three radiuses. The RPM switch simply slided the wheel up or down the spindle. This system can achieve any RPM desired, simply by making the spindle with apropriate radius(es). IMHO any geared system would make the sound flutter in a frequency equal to the gears teeth passing each other. (This does not apply to the high-end "direct drive" turntables - but they have no gears either.) I believe that the story behind the record speeds is different (but I don't know what is it).
It’s a conspiracy!
The use of large hole 45's in Europe is simple to explain. After WWII, the US military had bases all over the European continent. Manning these bases were American servicemen who would bring their 45's and players from home, only to discover that the electrical differences, not only voltage, but frequency, would make all their popular music on 45's unplayable. The enterprising Europeans would then make players that would play 45's properly in their countries. The transfer of "technology" would result in European record companies adopting the 45 standard to allow records bought in Europe to be taken back to the US. My uncle brought back a beautiful Grundig stereo that he purchased while stationed in Germany. It will play 33, 45, 78, and 16 RPM records. The Germans didn't leave anything out. It required modifications once he got it to the US, but it still plays beautifully..... it's in my living room now.
I was going to say everyone adopted US standards after the war in the same way computer clone makers slavishly imitated the IBM PC; join the club and increase sales. For those of us old enough to remember, for a long time companies made a point of making their systems _look_ like IBMs, including the horrible key layout of the original PC keyboard.
German engineers never leave anything out. They throw it all in, including the kitchen sink
@@Caseytify Indeed and the same happened fro the FM stereo standards: a much better stereo coding method was invented in Holland than was already designed in the USA, but its much higher signal to noise ratio was no reason to stop the copying of the USA practice. Philips started the same with with color TV, trying to improve upon the USA NTSC (never twice the same color) standard. Luckily the German Telefunken company proved PAL to perform much better with stable color rendition and so was the French SECAM system for use in rural areas with lower signal strenght. Of course after analog TV went away we all got global DVB (digital video broadcast) standards by now for all kind of applications (by air, cable, satellite, on different storage media) and this continues as of today.
@@donthuis PAL is NTSC with the phase errors (showing as hue errors) removed by an embedded synchronization signal, and line alternation so phase errors appear to cancel each other out line by line.
In stereophonic radio, there is always going to be a lower s/n ratio for the same transmitter transmitting more data (two channels) with the same power.
@@Itapirkanmaa2 Even so the loss in S/N ratio of the competing stereo standard was much lower than with the USA practice. My Kenwood KT 8005 tuner on an FM outside aerial got me fantastic S/N in mono, once stereo reception was chosen hiss became noticeable, despite its double diode matrix circuitry for eliminating leak current effects. Water under bridge by now of course, this month even my cable network will stop FM distribution. FM in the ether coverage is dropping fast as well. DAB+ is all that remains and in the UK lower encoding speeds mean low quality in general. I believe there is a Techmoan video with such an observation from him
An odd omission on the history of "long-playing" records: Edison created a super-microgroove (450 TPI) disc, and put it on the market in 1926. It played at 80 rpm, and could hold from 12 (on a 10 inch disc) to 20 minutes (12 inch) of music per side.
It was not a commercial success, though: partly because they had to rely on dubbing from regular 5 minute masters; and partly because Edison refused to use electric pickup and amplification. Hence, to get any sort of volume, the reproducer had to be extremely heavy; and all that weight on a tiny diamond stylus on a microscopic groove was more than the Condensite record could stand for very long. Most surviving Edison "LP"s are found with damaged grooves, causing skips and repeats.
Seeburg had a Muzak format, 400 grooves per inch and 16 RPM. 50 minutes of music on each side.
@@hyzercreek I have some 16 rpm shellac albums of complete operas , which were my grandfathers .
I believe that the 33 LP also pushed the artists to right more good songs. People were reluctant to buy an entire LP if it only had a couple good songs on it when they could by the single for much less.
it also allows them to explore more ideas within the "theme" of the record
oh yeah them artists we're rightin them songs real good
No. Artists that write good songs as we have them today did not exists in these days. Look at what has been published than. This „provide enough good songs for an LP“ was developed during the 60er and 70er. The 60 pies was still predominantly a Singles market. Albums cost a premium then.
I always bought LPs because they were not that much more expensive than singles and held much more music , when I started buying records a single was around 50p and an album was perhaps £1:50 or £2
Excellent video. A couple of points to add: RCA nearly dropped the entire 45 RPM program in the early 50's. As you pointed out, they really were on the defensive, putting out ridiculous bullet points like the one you referenced, that blamed everyone for being too stupid to recognize the obvious superiority of their format over the LP. But they were getting a lot of heat from their artists too, so it was having a major impact on their hardware and software sales. What saved them was Seeburg. They had been in a long competition with Wurlitzer for the jukebox market, which Wurlitzer dominated throughout the 1940's. Seeburg was looking for a way to beat Wurlitzer, who had the best looking machines, but whose 20 play 78 mechanism had become obsolete. Operators were looking for more selections, and Seeburg had come out with a 100 play 78 mechanism in 1949. But it still had the problem of the small hole shellac records which were easily worn and didn't always work well in the mechanism. When Seeburg saw the 45, they saw their opening for a "Wurlitzer killer" and they introduced the M100B jukebox in 1951. That was the last time Wurlitzer held the top position in the marketplace. It also helped to really expose the 45 record as the format of choice for singles to the public. Jukeboxes were everywhere back in those days, and the mechanisms were highly visible. The vertical play format on the Seeburgs was like "magic". All this exposure really helped propel the 45RPM record into the mainstream. A good book that goes into this story is "Jukebox Saturday Night" by J.L. Krivine.
I don't think so.
I do seem to recall the M100B was the very first jukebox that could play 45s (even though it was basically an updated and slightly restyled 'A'. A lot of jukebox companies were scrambling to update their product lines and retrofit 'in service' models once the 45s hit, you're absolutely right about that.
My old man had an M100C that he'd bought from a restaurant that was closing - yes, the very model you saw on 'Happy Days' at Al's Diner and in the closing credits (not the one in the opening credits). You are right, that mechanism was the bomb to watch. If you've ever had one of those mechanisms apart, let me tell you... that thing was a jewel of mechanical engineering.
Actually, "45"s were king until overtaken by LPs in the late 1960s. It was Seeburg, who contracted with RCA to develop 45s. They were developed for jukeboxes. First, because more of them could be loaded into a smaller mechanism. Secondly, because the small spindle holes of "78"s had always been an issue where jukeboxes were concerned (that's why "45"s had the large center hole). If the spindle missed the hole on a 78 by the slightest bit, you had a cracked disc (78s were a little heavy and brittle)..Columbia developed LPs to replace "Albums". "45"s replaced "78" RPM singles, LPs replaced "albums".
A lot of Gangsters controlled the Jukeboxes in the late 40s to the mid-50s and reaped in the profits.
@@ProfStuartHalliday Gangsters ran a LOT of rackets in the '40s and '50s. It was tough to find a segment of society that the mob DIDN'T have its fingers in.
In the '60s drugs became a far more profitable enterprise to run.
Looking at how that RCA 45 rpm player has grooves on the turntable, I think it would have been cool if they had made those grooves to be actual record grooves, playing a message like "hey, you forgot to put a record on. Please put a record on now".
Lovely idea! I'm shocked that in all those years of spending time with record players, I never thought of that one; I am thus deeply indebted to you for realising the true potential of my record related existence. Fare thee well.
Genius!!!!!
Someone should make a vinyl slip mat with playable grooves.
@@LaskyLabs Yeah, that would be cool! They should call it..."Record".
@@andreasu.3546 i was unaware that records were made out of rubber
You've really made a mini-documentary here. Very interesting viewing, thank you. I grew up in the Netherlands until 1987 and I remember buying new 7" releases with large holes as late as 1986, although some did have small holes, so it may have depended on the record company and/or where the record was pressed.
A lot had punch-out holes too!
I'm still buying 78's, used, of course, except fot the Rivermont new 78 records on vinyl with a fine groove.
33:30 - Pink Floyd even included a helpful reminder in the song "Please turn me over" and recorded other parts - the first line is "We came in" and the last line is "isn't this where", so when played back to back it creates a continuous loop - funny guys!
Really cool
If you listen to a Pink Floyd record in headphones, really listen, you will find them filled with their creative use of the media in every way, taking you on a journey.... same album listen to on speakers still great but you miss the "easter eggs"... would say it startex wirh Wish you where here but thatz my opinion
Not many channels can make a 38 minute video that keeps you engaged for the whole time! Thanks and keep putting out this great content!
I second that emotion!
Like, literally hundreds can. And they've all got people commenting "NO ONE ELSE CAN DO THIS, NO ONE ELSE CAN MAKE AN INTERESTING VIDEO OVER 11 MINUTES OMG!!!1112222elvtolv", which is a bit weird but vOv
@@3DMegadoodoo You're right there are a lot, but compared to the total number of channels making videos, it's relatively small.
AMEN to that!
yeah but I was only here for the puppets. 38 minutes of EDUMACATION and NO PUPPETS! omfg it's like he's trying to get me to lern.
Found pressed into the vinyl of a single bought a long time ago "if you were born in 45 in 78 you will be 33 1/3" :-)
That's awesome! XD
A cursory Google search identifies the variant phrase "In '78, everyone born in '45 will be 33 1/3" as the slogan of Stiff Records, a rock label best known for signing acts like Elvis Costello, Madness, and The Pogues. (Of note, one of the cofounders left really early on to form another label, Radar, taking Costello with him, so I can't easily figure out a shortlist of internationally-known (rather than US or UK specific) artists on Stiff during their height.)
@@jubuttib That's how RCA chose the speed: 78-33=45.
@@SuburbanDon : It was all down to AC line frequency when the speeds were determined... and as most of these changes were implemented in the USA, then it was all based around doubling/halving rpm speeds of the players to determine the speeds that the motors needed to spin at.
@@SuburbanDon : Maybe they could; you'd have to take it up with the companies involved though.... That is something that the manufacturers decided upon way back in the 20's/30's.... line frequency was the key to the speeds.
There are plenty of videos here on YT explaining the history, and I'm sure Wikipedia has plenty of articles covering it as well.
Line frequency was the key.....
Also, about the raised labels in 45s -- if you notice, LPs from the mid-late '50s on had both a raised label, and a small raised lip around the edge for the same purpose. I don't believe those were in the earliest LPs, but RCA added them when they made the shift to that format, and it gradually took hold with everyone else. The reason for that was that LPs, having a much larger diameter than 45s, would bend at the far edge when played on a changer, and contact the record underneath. The raised lip was a way to prevent that, and keep the air gap between discs.
As well as the raised centres, in the 50s and 60s most UK singles also had a raised serrated rim around the label. The serrations were to stop the top records on a changer from sliding on the records underneath. It helped lock them in place. Great video!
Fantastic overview of old audio media!
The coloured 45s are just gorgeous!
Those rainbow colored disks makes me think of the Difference between Famicom carts and NES Carts. The Japanese Famicom got rainbow carts and the world got boring large grey carts!
I know, they are just so wonderfully colorful.
That's why a lot of artists when they release albums today, do so on coloured vinyl. They really are beautiful to look at!
Techmoan: "it's not something that would keep people awake at night".
Me: watches video in the middle of night
Same I swear I'm a 50 year old stuck in this 22 year olds body
@@ringerrefill9806 That's a good thing.
Watching it at 11 pm rn
Watching at 4:19am rn, LoL
Just finishing this video slightly after midnight...
Brilliant video, I've been buying singles and LP's since the 60's and up until now never knew their history or development across the 2 major companies. Fascinating history of the different colours of 7" records from RCA. I'm 66 now and as we say every day is a school day. Thanks for another brilliant piece.
31:59 Despite the apparent failure of 45s back in the day, it's pretty interesting how the once accepted idea of listening to a single 12" album from front to back has gone to the wayside in the modern music age. In a way, we've returned to and even embraced the 45's concept of playing and quickly changing over single tracks.
Exactly. The way it broke down in my house was the young people liked 45's and the variety, and the low cost. The adults liked the 'performance' of LP, and had a collection we weren't meant to touch.
Nowadays, everyone behaves like a child- ipso facto the rise of iTunes and death of the album.
@@Redmenace96 And now Spotify (and to a lesser extent Pandora) is replacing iTunes just as streaming mostly replaces DVD/Blu-ray.
Not unlike AM and FM radio...the apparent "failure" of FM and its rejection by the listening public since the advent of stations starting in the mid to late 40s to where FM took hold and surpassed AM listening in the 70s. Nowadays, nobody listens to AM hardly, except the big signal stations.
@@wannawatchu66 FM radio's early rejection wasn't helped when the FCC changed the frequency band in 1945, making all existing radios obsolete.
@@derek20la I heard the reason the FM frequency band was changed at least in the US was because the range was too large and would limit the number of broadcast stations.
A 38 Minute Techmoan Video? Christmas comes early this year 😎
38 minutes and not even any puppets, wow. (but please, MORE PUPPETS!!!)
@@ross-carlson Seconded. More puppets please.
Excellent less known facts thanks!
LP video )
This is too long to fit on a single side... needs a break in the middle.
That was one of your best videos about the history of old tech. I learned some things today. :)
Welcome to the Techmoan channel, my man!
Bob’s been a patron for a while.
*There's information about this in the video description text box.*
@@Techmoan what about 16rpm voice discs?
@@tarstarkusz That would be lovely format. It would stand hands and shoulders above feeble CDs.
After seeing this I have a couple childhood memories that stand out. In the late '70's I remember having actual boxed albums of 45's given to me as gifts. They were aimed at my age group and I thought they were neat because I'd never seen anything like it for grownups. I'm amazed the concept held on so long.
This change to LP records was essential to the amazing explosion of music creativity we experienced in 1965-1975
Back in the 70's I used to work in quality control at a record pressing plant. 45's where always made from lower grade vinyl than even the budget l.p's. The faster speed helped cover up the inherent surface noise.
Yeah, The problem was that the "vinyl" used in AMERICAN (NO I am not anti-American) recordings had a high carbon content. This is the reason that the "audiophile" Direct to Disc recordings were made in: Japan ; Germany and Canada. They do sound SUPERB, better than CD except dynamic range, which is only 65db!
Well it's true that the weakest link with any hi-fi is the quality of the record, all the majors in the US in the 50's did have a high quality product, but if you look at some indies such as Aladdin, Specialty and especially Sun, the quality is noticeably poorer
Christopher Floyd, you are right. 45 pop singles were always poorer quality than 33s and usually in mono only--no stereo at least for the first decade or two.
I collect 45's and have over 17,000 and when Columbia introduced THIER 45, it was on STYRENE, NOT VINYL and was of a poorer quality than RCA Victor's 45's made of vinyl. The other record companies discovered they could make cheap STYRENE 45's at a lower cost and they would wear out faster causing people to go out and buy another copy, so that's why I, as a collector seek out VINYL 45's over the hard plastic STYRENE 45 counterparts. Vinyl has a mellower sound and Styrene ones were prone to wear a LOT faster than a vinyl copy. It's interesting to note that the US is the ONLY place styrene was ever used to press cheaper quality records whereas all other countries stuck with vinyl.
@@TheOzthewiz CD's dynamic range is 96dB. Lolwut
Can you imagine the Dark Side of the Moon being played as a stack of 45 records?This needs to be a collector's release.
They released The Wall that way a couple years ago if I remember correctly.
wouldnt be any worse than listening to it on 8 track
Or Iron Butterfly's 17 minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida...
@@kepplerkeppler6407 There were quite a number of 7" 33 rpm records marketed as "extended play"; usually 2 or 3 music tracks on each side.
I looked at the track lengths and it wouldn't have worked since four of the ten tracks exceed 5 minutes in length. It might have been possible as a set of 7" 33 1/3 RPM records.
What a wonderfully informative video. This just sent me down the rabbit hole of 2 + hours of Lac and record manufacturing process videos. This is my favorite channel on CZcams right now.
These are more enjoyable then watching television programs. I love old tech and how things came to be, innovation is interesting, and not always about being the 'best'.
The entire Retrotech playlist should go on Discovery Channel. Much more interesting than sharks and nazis.
Next week on Techmoan: when Pedant Nazi Sharks Attack!
Why not launch own internet TV?
On the other hand, sharks that also happen to be Nazis would be interesting. More so if they have frikkin' laser beams.
... or the actual 80s movie "Surf Nazis Must Die!" which has phenomenal 3.7 rating on imdb
I’ve always felt that Techmoan would be a fantastic program to air on PBS. Mat has a PBS sort of quality to him. Maybe I’m crazy, who knows.
Why wasn't blues on a blue vinyl? Those maniacs.
don't you mean _vinylite?_
It's a matter of how blue do one really wanna get...
Or how about green for new artists, who are still "green."
That had to be the reason for the death of color.
@@One-Crazy-Cat Some labels continued to use colour vinyl with no fanfare. A lot of Fantasy records' jazz in the early 60's was on coloured vinyl. I have a record on Pacific Jazz - Eddie Harris if I recall- which is on really dark blue vinyl. Late 50's / early 60's I believe. The Fantasy titles I've seen (Cal Tjadar for one) on red vinyl made no mention of this on the cover. So I guess it was not a marketing ploy but then one might ask why...?
I began my personal journey on 45s, but in the early 60s I also became interested in knowing of the song writers, musicians, producers, and the many awesome album covers, so I quickly migrated to LPs in the mid-60s. Never purchased a single 45 after transitioning. I'd just buy the album...hoping to be pleasantly surprised with at least 4 or 5 good cuts on a LP.
Anywho, gave my large album collection to my son in early 2000s, and just sent him the link to this CZcams. Great job! This is a historical classic. Should be in the Smithsonian in DC, or in a similar place in the UK. Glad to see your work continues with first class quality. Kudos to you and thanks.
Honestly these long information episodes are so relaxing, i can listen to audio format history like a bed time story when its spoken by Techmoan
You just blew my mind with the origin of the word "album"
"Our formats better that that format"
"Oh hey we're a third company who just made our turntable able to play at different speeds and machined a spindle adapter, now you can play both".
That's honestly how all format wars ought to go.
However, that wouldn't work in today's age of technology, because developing a "compatible" player that could play more than 1 format, would cause an army of lawyers running down your doorstep who whine and complain about patents and licensing like a bunch of entitled 4-year-olds. How *dare* you implement something compatible with our "standard" without paying for it.
The Recordable DVD Format War ended that way.
DVD-R and DVD+R were beaten by the DVD+/-RW combo burner drive almost immediately.
And thus the war was oft forgotten.
Except there was a third participant which truly lost that war. DVD-RAM.
@@maighstir3003
DVD-RAM is pretty niche for its cost and functionality, imo. That quick access is only useful for pure data operations. Normal DVD playback is almost always sequential data reading with the occasional seeking being the only exception.
What's cool about format wars that end in a tie like the 45 vs. 33 1/3 is that both formats wind up having their uses. What Matt didn't get into was the 45's popularity with radio stations...DJ's, radio ones especially, tend to focus on playing just one hit song from an album at a time and THRIVE on the variety that comes from being able to just pick and choose songs as they go. The 33 1/3 just would've been too cumbersome a format for that purpose. However, the 45 was PERFECT for that, so in the age long before digital media, radio DJ's made their playlists using the 45 rpm records. This applies to jukeboxes as well of course, as 45 rpm records allowed for the most popular hits to be easily stocked and played from with no problem. However, for those at home who love being able to listen to an entire album all in one go, the 33 1/3 proved to be the way to go for them...and once rock and roll came about and you startd getting concept albums being released, it was the 33 1/3 that provided the perfect format for them. However, the 45 even found success in the home market with people who liked being able to pick from their most favorite songs with store releases of popular singles on 45.
So, all in all, both formats were victorious in their own way and music listening back then became quite the experience. In fact, I would go so far as to say that due to the more varied applications of the 45, that RCA's format actually DID come out a bit on top...while neither format died, 45's were being used in more applications than the 33 1/3, so...yeah...a round of applause for RCA on that one...😅
Just fascinating. As a teenager in the 1970s this was how I purchased and played music. I would never have thought that the 45 and 33 1/3 discs we all took for granted were the result of a format war.
Fascinating video, Really enjoyed your fact filled, well researched and interesting trip down memory lane. You have a new subscriber.
The other piece of the puzzle is the magnetic tape recorder, also developed after WWII. This allowed songs to be recorded separately and edited into a master for the new long play records.
Excellent observation. Magnetic tape did indeed make a world of difference in the record industry.
A lot of 45s also had raised "teeth" around the outer edge of the label
to avoid slipping when stacked. Another really interesting full of facts
Techmoan vid, excellent, cheers Matt.
That was found mainly on UK released 45's
I have got a few 12 inch "lp" box sets that have a thicker outer edge to prevent disc sagging when being stacked on a changer or laying flat.
I was just looking for this comment. As a kid I got to know which of my 45s I could stack where to stop them slipping due to outer label teeth.
Ah ya beat me to it.
@@soulfunktionphotos5763 I have some German releases with "teeth".
Born in 1960, I had both formats as a kid, and young man.
I learned a lot, I did not know today.Thanks for the post.
I always lamented the high noise floor, with the crackle from scratches, that was out of time, with the beat of the music.
Though tape did not have the scratches problem, I still did not like the high noise floor.
That is why I was so interested in the new digital format, when it was first being developed, and brought to market.
Now I am 60 years old, and I recently bought my first brand new LP in 30 years.
I got it to play on a record player, that once belonged to my dad, which I lovingly restored, including a new phono cartridge (needle), that amazingly enough can still be purchased new.
I did this purely for the novelty, not because I think vinyl records sound better (they don't).
A funny thing though, is that now I am into a kind of music (in addition to the regular stuff I still like) that features weird and chaotic noises.
And for this kind of "music" the scratches are a bonus not a problem.
I should also mention, what fun adventure it is, shopping for records, in an old basement of a thrift store.
They are inexpensive, and full of surprises, with interesting cover art and inserts.
Hope you all have a wonderful day.
I have been watching your videos for years, first from Argentina and now from UK. This is one of your best! Never before commented in any of them but now I would like to thank you so much for all of them, you are all ways good company!
Back around 1965 or so, I was a young man, well a boy really, still in High School. My best friend and I used to make trips out to the local dump grounds, as we came from "the wrong side of the tracks and had limited funds for any new "toys" as it were. Well on one trip, I found an old AM receiver, it had the input jack for a turntable, but at the time I just wanted something that could play tunes. There was no speaker with the unit, so we made our way over to the piles of wrecked cars, where I ripped the radio speakers from 3 or 4 old wrecks, and took the whole lot home in the basket of my bike. When I got home, I took an old book case, a narrow one, and mounted the speakers on a bit of plywood, then screwed that onto the face of the wooden bookcase. I put the receiver on the top shelf, and it turned out fairly nice. I talked mom into giving me an old blue dress she had worn out, and used that for a grill cloth. The whole unit went out to the shed that we had behind the house, that once was a grainery before the town grew out to encompass the old farm house we live in. Well a few weeks later on another raid on the dump grounds, I found the deck version of that .45 RPM player It took me a bit to figure out why i couldn't just hook a speaker to the RCA jack that was coming out the back of the deck, but another kid had seen one before and explained it to me. So I hooked her up, and we started buying .45's from the teen club, most were taken from old jukeboxes when the dealers reloaded them, we paid a half buck a piece for them. My buddy knew one of the DJ'S at the local radio station, so we began going up to the studio when he was on duty and he would fix us up with the demo's that they kept getting of new records. I still have some of them, they have "PLUG" stamped on one side.At any rate, I can still recall making love to the girl next door for the first time on the bed in that shack, the dim light coming from an old 6 Volt Headlight hooked to my electric train transformer, and that record player spinning The Doors "Hello I Love You won't you tell me your name!" Ah the golden memories of youth, they keep us young and active even in our late 60's!
Thanks for the memory, I was there with you (in your story anyway)
I did the same in the 80's, I even managed to match the impedance correctly. My stepdad held on to old car speakers for a reason only he understood.
And after all these years I now know why it is called an "album". Thank you for that!
I seem to recall, back in the late 50s early 60s, you could by a auto changer record player that had an adaptor that slid over the spindle and took a number of 45's with the centres knocked out, but used the auto changer for the 45's as well as LP's. I too enjoyed this little piece of history. Keep up the good work.
This was really interesting. I always knew about the raised label, i noticed it when I was a kid and figured out its purpose. Remember some records had little grooves round the label to stop them sliding when used on a stacker?
Same ... I figured that out myself as a child when nobody could tell me ... the records also always had that other circle which I eventually figured out much later... the circular groove where the mould screwed onto the press, usually (on records with the smaller hole) close to the spindle hole but on some 33s (usually older ones) this was closer to the outer edge of the label, sometimes referred to on 33s as the 'deep groove' - which erroneously came to signify high quality.
At 19:47 you ask a question and I have the answer. The term "Blues and Rhythm" was coined in 1948 by RCA to replace "race records". In 1949 Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records (he says in a much later interview) switched it to Rhythm and Blues and thought it sounded better, and Ahmet agreed so they used that term. Atlantic was by far the biggest producer of records for blacks, RCA was behind them and a dozen indie labels that made records for black people, like King and Specialty and Chess and Federal and DeLuxe and Decca and sooo many others. They all grouped together and used the Atlantic Records term, and forgot RCA term, and in June of 1949 Billboard changed their list from Harlem Hit Parade to Rhythm and Blues, everybody thought RCA was for squares (whites) anyway. However, I have a 1990s RCA compilation of their black records of late 40s and early 50s, and they called it RCA Blues and Rhythm! You should seek out that CD it's fantastic. RCA recorded lots of R&B but failed to promote it, trying to find a white guy who could sing R&B instead, and buried that catalogue in '56 to promote Elvis. I know the English magazine called Blues and Rhythm, I wrote for them even. I'm guessing they use the RCA term on purpose and I'm sure they are aware of it.
Excellent history, I sort of remember some of this I was born in 47
You are wised
You seem to be an encyclopedia on two feet (I hope so, not on one foot), I wish to ask a question more to answer it. Why after the SWW RCA coined a new name for black music? Was it is because there were more white buyers, especially white college kids, was it for sanitization of black music, RCA keeps the rhythms and ask the white singers to perform or was it for political conscience matter? At this time the line between races begun to be less definite ... in music. Why RCA have a good catalog?
@@pingouin125 the line of Black and White music was getting stronger
@@tesmith47 THank you for your answer. If the line was getting stronger, was it because it was crossed more and more often? What was Elvis in this perspective, understand as black music, sung as black did but by a white. The end of the line or the inverse?
One of the few long format CZcams channels that stays interesting through to the end.
I can't express enough how much I enjoy your informative videos of retro tech. I have so much appreciation for all of the time, research and investment that you put into these very well produced videos. Side note: you never ask for anything from your viewers. Thank you Sir!
What fun! I learned a bunch of things from this video, thanks! I had always thought that what kept the 45s from touching each other when stacked was that they had raised edges, not a raised center. Excellent stuff.
At 74 years of age, When I was a small child 78 rpm was the standard issue. When I was 6 in 1952, got a 45 rpm player and some children's records of yellow transluscent plastic with blue labels. From there I've gone through the 33 rpm, 16 rpm, experimental 8 rpm, CD and I keep allo my music on SD cards. Back in the day (1958-66) the big advantage of the 45 setup was you could create mixed artist "playlists". The LP system tried to keep up by doing that but the 45 system still had the advantage of being able to DIY the "plalyist" whereas with mixed-artist LP', by then called "33's" you had to take what the companies offered
No cassettes? And making your own "mix tape"?
Me, after cassettes, I used to burn my own CD single playlists, and shortly later I found CD players would be able to play MP3 data files on a CD (where you could get about 200 singles on a single CD). At that time I found most people like randomizing what was on the CD.
There was a time with MP3 players (I never really got into those, my wife did) I think people might still have MP3 players, but I now use a USB with about a thousand tracks of my favorite tracks, and still have plenty of space left for all the music I'll ever add in my lifetime (and I might be 57, but unlike most older people I still enjoy a lot of modern pop music made). I estimate my 32GB stick should be able to hold about 32,000 minutes of music, or about 8000 singles! (and USB sticks are getting bigger all the time)
This is the best video you've ever done. I have been in love with 45's since I could sit up in front of a record player. You absolutely nailed it.
I would have liked to hear those records too.
I agree. Most of his videos are awkward+hard to get through. This worked for him.
Uno de los videos mas instructivos sobre la historia de la industria de la música que he visto, gracias Techmoan.
I was born in the 60's but your video is as if I had discovered vinylITES only yesterday. Thank you so much! This is the first channel I patron and you fully deserve it!
This is
masterpiece. I fully enjoyed it. I love the question of the idea of an album not existing without the success of the LP. Though the future of cassettes might have helped change that. Great video. I enjoyed the sassy list from RCA as well. Thanks for the quality work once again.
Also I saw the name Roy Harper listed for lead vocals on Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd and made the connection between Hats of to (Roy) Harper by Zeppelin.
Given that cassettes came out in the 60s, an album like Wish You Were Here still could have worked even if the LP didn't exist, given that cassettes are also double sided and have at least as much playing time as an LP.
'I don't think Mozart was around in 1950 to comment...'
Great presentation, and I love your dry humor. :)
"Unless it was Henry Mozart..."
I agree on the light, dry humor, like a fine wine it's an accent to the main course, adds to it without overpowering it.
Even if he was around, where would he post his comment in 1950... in the newspaper?
or Falco
Back in the 1970's, I remember my parents had a phonograph that could play speeds of 78, 45, 33, and 16.
16-2/3 rpm was actually used for "talking books" supplied by the Library of Congress to the blind.
my first player had all 4, i remember slowing down my beatles record for fun
Great video, Matt. You took an almost unknown subject and turned it into a fascinating story. You then related it to each of us record-o-philes (I’m living in America and they just make up words over here!). You make,” Great Telly”, as we used to say.
Simply one of the best channels on CZcams
If 45's persisted and the album on "vinylite" faded into the background - I think tape would of taken over. It would seem logical that after an artist had released a number of records it would be desirable to own all the records on one tape or album.
And RCA did intitially have a cassette format in the 1950s. One that was possibly supported on units with a 45 only record player I'd imagine.
@@GeoNeilUK Yes seems like a good idea.
One of the drawbacks of tape is that it isn't "random access" - that is, to get to somewhere in the middle, you have to ffwd over everything before that; with an LP, you just put the needle down where you want to start.
I think this may be one reason reel-to-reel tape, which had a mini-boom in the 60's, never took hold.
Fred
You mean would have and not would of.
@@ffggddss Tape would likely have caught on for the classical/opera music market, the same sort of market the LP was intended to address. In those cases there wouldn't have been the interest in picking out individual tracks.
Of course, in a market where "albums" were on tape and singles on 45 (wasn't that the name of some compilation?), I do wonder if the Compact Disc format would ever been thought of, or how it would have differed from what we have. And of course there was the failed concept of albums on SD/MMC cards.
I have watched this video three times in the last year and it's one of my favorites. I learned a ton, thanks!
Brings back all manner of memories listening to my Mom's & Dad's vertical Victrola with locking doors to the left and right to hold single-sided thick 78s, a huge speaker in the center, and crank arm handle on the side, a little reservoir for needles up top, all enclosed in a handsome wood cabinet. Then later on we had the auto-changer with support for all 3 speeds, the adapter for 45s and so many album boxes of music to choose from. Music and sing-a-longs were a huge part of our lives. We even had an electronic piano from Thomas so we could play from sheet music with headphones so as not to disturb others.
I knew your father; we fought together in the format wars.
If it's not already, I think this needs to be a t-shirt.
Before the dark times, before the digital download.
Veterans of the format wars
I fought in the video tape format war. I worked for Sony, selling Betamax.
an elegant format of a more civilized age
Fantastic video in every respect. Deserves to be broadcast on TV - it is much better than most of the crap on there. 😊👍
@@danieldaniels7571 I remember when TLC used tor run shows like Connections, The Day the Universe Changed, and The Secret Life of Machines.
@@dougbrowning82 All favorites of mine; in fact, I bought the DVD set of the first series of Connections.
Do people still watch TV? I thought TV today was like most formats at the end of a format war: clearly obsolete, largely abandoned, and moribund.
@@Xezlec the vast majority of people around the world still watch TV. CZcams etc is preferred by younger people but all the billions of oldies still watch their soaps. 😋
In my lifetime we went from LPs/45s to Compact Cassette to 8-Track to CDs to MP3... Of course, there was a small collection of 78s in the house that never got played, and no one I knew had to scratch for a good reel-to-reel deck. The fact that I have about 4 days worth of audio files on my phone still amazed me.
The quality is far too good for the BBC
I have been watching your videos for a long time . Some electronics I like some I don’t but, the way you explain gives a lot of information and makes it very interesting. Just like to say well done there are viewers that keep watching. Thank you
You sir, have the widest range of audio history artifacts imaginable - I've watched most of your videos - UK pensioner
Agreed, the amount of audio history tidbits I've picked up from watching his videos are immeasurable. - US retiree
*artefacts
agreed - AU... student
agreed, he deserves the Nobel peace prize too.
I could listen to Mr. Techmoan for hours and hours. I grew up with most of the technology he talks about and it's a real learning experience.
Many thanks for this highly informative & enjoyable documentary. I´ve been watching it repeatedly and will keep doing so! Greetings from Vienna
Wow this was an excellent video! Learned a lot and also enjoyed a bit of nostalgia. The fact that shocked me was the origin of shellac, insects made the raw material for music records! Glad I am subscribed to the channel.
Loved this. As soon as you started talking about concept albums perhaps not existing without LP I immediately thought of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
Just to add, the CD would probably never have existed either, we would all have music recorded onto minidisk, or even something similar to the Zip drive, with single tracks being the norm. Would have lead to a larger number of small single hit recording artists, and most big bands would not exist, simply because of the time limit on the tracks cutting them from a large audience.
@@SeanBZA so basically we would have just skipped to the SoundCloud era of today
Mark DeRoller Pink floyd the wall ?
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida would have never happened. The full song is a 13-minute side!
what would DJs play when they had to go to the bathroom? This would have decreased sales of beans in foods. Chipotle would not have been created.
I wish the colour coded discs had stuck around. They look so good.
I miss colour coding generally, it was big for a long time, green to go, red to stop or record etc. with things arranged in ways that divided up the content or operations into organic groupings and even sizes that denoted function.
Around the mid 80s all tech started to be black and silver with white or black text arranged in neat grids, meaning you have to read everything and look at the symbols, as in holding your TV remote up to the light and squinting at it to figure out it’s line 2 and 3 buttons from the left to mute, oh and hold right to skip, double tap it to fast forward and hold alt shift X whilst whistling Dixie and standing on one leg for one frame step.
Ok I made that last one up, but dammit sometimes it feels like that.
A multicoloured and tactile world of buttons and colour coded objects was just friendlier, too, one look, grab or click, you’re done. I mean they didn’t make Star Trek TOS look that way purely so people were getting their money’s worth from colour TV, it also looked like you’d know which button to jab or object to grab without having to read it all first and check the manual whilst the ship was exploding! ;)
the problem would have come about later when there were "crossover" styles.
At 21:14 that sounded so familiar. We had Eddy Arnold with Don't Rob Another Man's Castle and Little Angel With The Dirty Face only as I remember, the green vinyl was a little darker green. We had about four yellow children's records and a few blues and reds. Nice to see these again; thank you.
As someone who grew up listening to records (and has been personally collecting for almost 20 years now), this video really gave me a new appreciation of the formats of the LP and 45. Mr. Techmoan, your channel is great all the time, but this video in particular is exemplary. Kudos to you, sir.
I’m only 5 minutes in and this is already the most informative video on the history of analog music formats in the early 20th century I’ve seen. Keep it up!
This has been the most interesting thing I have seen on CZcams for quite some time.
This is really fascinating and illuminating. One of your best videos! I've watched your videos before but have not subscribed until now. This video made me pull the trigger, so to speak.
Thanks for this! Im a big fan of your channel! This mini, epic doc now makes me want to buy a refurbished RCA victor 45 changer more than ever!
that is interesting that the 78's came in like ALBUMS like a book of photos and that's why we call them albums today
Yep!! I learned something amazing today
That was my biggest takeaway as well!
I have albums of 12 " classical 78s (inherited from my Grandfather) that dwarf the albums that Techmoan showed. Up to 2 " thick and with embossed covers.
@@davidfaraday7963 With 3 minutes per side and maybe 40-50 minutes total that would be somewhere around 13-17 sides for eight or nine records, all in their own paper sleeve and in niclely bound hard books.
I always thought any format with a collection of songs is referred to as an album
Having lived through that period as a young man in the USA I remember the advertising arguments well. One factor also in the popular press of the day, was the idea that RCA under David Sarnoff, was very imperious and so some of those deliberate differences were dictated from on high. At around the same time, RCA had relegated the much less noisy FM radio in the U.S. to obscurity by leaning on the FCC to use the frequency for Television, whose standards they also controlled. Edwin Armstrong committed suicide when RCA succeeded in bankrupting his investments in the lower frequency band.
One technology that improved the LP that Columbia had and RCA did not at first, was the ability to cut the masters with less groove noise using a heated cutter head in the new plastic material. To some degree the faster 45 RPM was sold as having a quieter surface for the reproduction of popular songs originally mastered on 78s. I do also remember that certain shops in the town I lived in, with somewhat shady reputations, had covers of popular songs by unknown artists in seven inch records with the small holes you show us here. It seems that to produce them for the RCA players there probably was a licensing fee. Those cover artist records were much cheaper.
Honestly I'm interested. Tell us more.
Just tell us more about that time period.
Could the 45-rpm records with small holes from unknown artists have been records smuggled in from Europe - or even imported legitimately, taking advantage of the big difference in wages and costs between the US and Europe in the post-war period?
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏 and good video 🥰😍
@@weseld1 Yes, up until the 70s, British artists would "Cover" US hits, and we would rarely even know that an original existed, unless we were keen followers of music.
This is one of the most informative CZcams videos I've ever seen. I can remember being introduced to records and learning about how they come in two sizes, looked and felt different, and had different size holes in the center. I always found that so bafflingly weird. It all makes sense now! It's crazy how both sort of took on a life of their own--45s got the single market and 33s got the album market. Thankfully we live in a world where almost all turntables play both.
Man you need playtime on BBC, the quality of this channel is incredible
Video is almost 40 minutes long but it felt under 10 minutes.
wait what.. oh. your right. and its already over.
Wow, I have a short attention span yet watched this from beginning to end. I had no idea it was that long!
That's the beauty of this channel. Even things I have no interest in otherwise, he makes it interesting. I became a patreon supporter because I've watched every video of his like 5 times each now if not more. The videos on compact cassette and minidisk are particularly good
Someone once said..."In '78, everybody born in '45 will be 33 1/3!"
Tim....Ha...that was clever..!!
And what about 16?
HAHAHAH lol thats true!
Absolutely brilliant as usual. Interesting, informative and so well presented. Thank you for sharing.
A great video bringing out the history of record formats - without this video I would never have known.
Many thanks for all the time and trouble you devote to your videos. Your work is appreciated more than you will ever know. Always interesting, even-handed and engaging, honest but amusing. Thanks again, sir, outstandingly good work.
35:47 Why a large hole? My guesses:
- A large hole always fits, using an adapter. A small hole isn't compatible with large hole jukeboxes.
- A large hole costs less vinyl/vinylette. It's just air.
easier to handle
@@quantumbits I don't know if that was the reason, but it ended up being a very good selling point. You could grab a stack of 45s with one hand without touching the grooves and easily carry them anywhere.
Also for a while you had turntables with a center adapter that automatically selected the speed: pressed down the speed was 33 1/3, and else 45. That might be a reason too.
@@Pilarm68 Yes, RadioTVPhonoNut featured one such unit in one of his videos some time ago:
czcams.com/video/TLn3aLondZk/video.html
Those changers came along quite a bit later after the 45 was introduced, and they'd have never sold in the UK or anywhere else the 'small hole' 45s were common.
@@Pilarm68 I smell a connection to the (assumed) fact that 7 " 33 rpm records always have a small hole, just like 10" and 12" 45s (maxi singles) - they could have made it large, but what for as those never were played in a jukebox; and 50s era changers, as well as later auto speed players, may already have had fallen out of fashion at that point ...
So happy with you’re lessons. Thank you very much. Greets from Belgium !
Hello Matt, thanks for yet again another fantastic video. This is just a pure nostalgia overload for me and dare I say many others. Many blessings my friend. Paul.👍
I love how that early LP featured the colombia logo and information larger than the actual album artwork
Thanks for this interesting history. Never knew the two sizes started with yet another format war... I always simply thought smaller 45 were for singles and LP for albums.
Not mentioned in this video :
-REAL Jukebox releases not only are in 45rpm with large hole, but the label is made of two strudy metal plates, with markings pressed on the plates. Jukebox operators were normally NOT allowed to use sticker labeled retail 45rpms! It was a different licensing business. I'm pretty sure, knowing how the disc industry was and still is, that the fact that early jukebox offered "windows" to view the disc playing were not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for rights managements....
-And also, nowadays some albums are offered in 45rpm, but on 12" discs. Often on heavy (thick) discs, these are sold to collectors and audiophiles. And ends in multiple discs boxset, much like RCA envisioned album packaging at the time.
Very informative. I never knew there was a vinyl war. I just figured that you got the 33 1/3 lp's for the full album and the 45's if you didn't care for most of the songs on the 33's. I also recently enjoyed listening to my entire collection as I recorded them onto my computer. Saving them in both uncompressed .WAV format and the awesome lossless compressed .FLAC format.
It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting here listening to dude talking about things that I will probably never find anyone to talk to about... and my wife always asks how I know all these weird facts I keep telling her... 😅 Awesome video as always! Very informative!
The raised “grooved” section around the label on 1960s UK 45s has been mentioned already but the snap in spiders also had a raised bump which was meant to lock in to other spiders to stop slipping.
Nowadays, spiders are used in music videos ( #BillieEilish *has entered the chat* ) :P
philtorpey whoa! clever! never noticed that
@Frank Winkhorst Yeah, my Kenwood KD 500 has the same metal adapter..
In the USA, RCA released popular artists on 33 1/3 7 inch disks for a short time. There were usually four songs, two per side. It had a large spindle hole.
Those transparent colored 45s look absolutely wonderful!
Thanks for all of the Quality content over the years....I can't think of one video of yours that I didn't enjoy.
Shellac? So basically every 78 record was made by The Beetles? (Beatles? get it? yes? no? I'll get my coat)
You could though take the records you no longer liked, dissolve them in alcohol, and use them to refinish your furniture, the best way of recycling.
You could warm up a vinyl record, and turn it into a flowerpot.
No wonder they are still among the best selling artists, they started making records half a century before they were even born
LOLOL. Very good. :-)
Abby road
I remember having one pickup with a needle on both sides that would be flipped with a lever that had LP on one side and 78 on the other - the unit of course had a speed switch for 33 1/3, 45 and 78. (and that rectangular thing that fit over the small rod to allow for auto changing of the 45's)
I wish this was a college course I could have taken. And you as the instructor. Fascinating. Clear and very accessible, the manner in which you presented. Bravo!
My nephew is in his early 20's, and he is genuinely interested in diving into the appreciation of the "vinyl" records format of yesteryear. I recently gave him many of my old (33 1/3) records, as he is planning to purchase a turntable soon. I've still got the bulk of my collection in tact along with a stack of 45's. I sent this video to him so that he can learn more about the origins of records and why they were so popular back in the day and why they are so popular again now. Thanks for a great video.
Forget Spotify - that 45 record player is dope.
spotify may or may not be dope
but the 45 rpm player has to be hip or cool or boss.
Is dope a good thing?
yes it's a good thing
Imagine if they had done it with cd singles. I'm sure they would have come up with some way to play both sides of the format had taken bigger hold generally with 45s.
I agree darkside
This channel puts out really good content. I your comprehensive style of analysis. Thank you!
Thanks for making videos like this . It was great deep dive into music history
I remember when I was a small child in London in the 60s my grandparents had 7 inch albums of My Fair Lady and other shows - and I'd heard no mention of 7 inch albums since then so it's nice to know I hadn't imagined that as a format.