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Transcription Mystery Disc #181
I had to give this one a good wipe down before I even tried to play it just to get the grit and sand out of the grooves.Obviously this one has gotten wet and stayed wet and rusted, cracked and started...
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DJ Chet Atkins
Born in 1924, Chester "Chet" Atkins is known today almost entirely for his country guitar picking. He was also a lifetime radio man and that is no exaggeration. He was an ARRL member, and earned a Ham...
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Morse Code Book Cover
I can't pass by something like this and not make the effort to work out what the code says.The Morse code that wraps around the left, top and right side is "-.-. --- -. ... - .-. ..- -.-. - .. --- -....
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The LP RPM Paradox
Th LP rpm paradox is one that Patrick Hughes and George Brecht never tread uponas Bill Watterson bravely once did: The Calvin and Hobbs comic above deftly summarizes the situation. If any two points...
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Net Neutrality On Trial!
This is pretty important. Net Neutrality goes on trial this week. Net neutrality is an idea, and a good idea that we've all come to rely upon for our access to data be it medical information, news,...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #182
This is a paper-core Presto home recording acetate. It spins at 78 rpm and has a center start. That always throws me. It also came into my possession filthy, cracked and looking rough. It's labeled in...
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Radiotelephone Abbreviations
I have here the March 31st 1942 edition of Army Air Forces Radiotelephone Procedures. It's a fine and condensed tome, mostly concerned with wind and weather reporting than technical nuts and bolts. But...
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The Lazy Bill Lucas Show
Lazy Bill Lucas is an interesting figure in both blues and broadcasting. Born in 1918, into a Arkansas sharecropping family he had the credentials of a blues legend, but he spent his early years...
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Brittingham's Radio Center Restaurant
Brittingham's Radio Center Restaurant was located at 6113 Sunset Boulevard. It was in CBS Columbia Square which at the time housed KNX-AM, and later both KCBS-FM and KNXT-TV. CBS continued to use...
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The KFBK Garden Show
Fred doesn't know it but he solved my longtime problem with pepper seedlings. In the world of gardening radio shows there are far more that have passed than are on the air presently. The most famous of...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #183
 This metal core, 8-Inch Recordisc has an outer edge start and spins at 78 rpm. That's all fairly normal. The label reads "Hillbilly Stuff" 9/28/46. So my interest was piqued to say the least. The...
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Wi-Fi Potatos
Broadcasting a radio signal inside any structure is a challenge. I've covered one corner of this topic previously in a 2008 post about radio in tunnels. There is a similar situation encountered today...
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Dolphins of Hollywood
In 1948, John Dolphin, a former car salesman, opened the Dolphins of Hollywood record store. In that era of segregation, when dark skin was so rare in media, here was a man who was a business owner,...
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Toy Transmitters
This idea has really run it's course. With the new popularity of mobile devices with children, hearing their voice come out of the radio loses it's gestalt.With modern technology these transmitters can...
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J. Aku Head Pupule
Many people in media take on stages names. It may be to appear more ethnically neutral, but more often it is to make their name simpler, shorter and easier to remember. He was born Herschel Hohenstein,...
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Transcription Mystery Disc #187
This is an 8-inch metal core, Duodisc acetate. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. It consists of a single track well timed to fit, probably through practice. It's labeled in pencil "Take...
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Letters of a Radio Engineer to his Son
There was once a book titled Letters of a Radio Engineer to his Son, written by John Mills and first published in 1922, published by Harcourt. You can download it free here, courtesy of the quality...
View ArticleThe Media Revolution on FM Radio
This was actually really good. Thank you Steve Wolfson. PART ONEPART TWO
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Telegraphic Codes
I've written a bit about Telegraphic codes in the past. You can read about one here. But I recently came across a list of other telegraphic codes. These are for the most part utterly obscure and I will...
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La Colpa De Ella Radio
In 1497 Giovanni Cabotto sailed to North America. He was sponsored by the English who refer to him in their text books as John Cabot. He was probably the first Italian in America. Subsequently around...
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