WELLESNET MESSAGE BOARD

I've been blessed in the field, Terry!

I did hear some vintage radio recordings as a kid. I believe the first was in History class - that original commercial release of WOTW, that Orson hated. I was intrigued, but it's not like I then planned to get deep into a field that (at least in the States) had essentially been on life support for decades! As often in life, Things Just Happened That Way.

Re: line recordings. Yes, before satellites, phone lines and shortwave were the only means of getting a signal over distances beyond the limited A.M. range. They were common, and when circumstances were perfect, sounded pretty good. (Of course, not as full or rich as the best off-the-board, in-studio transcription.)

- Craig

You're keeping good company then, Craig.

Sammy, then, has Welles' original copy of the broadcast from Harry Smith Recordings (if that's the company name.) It was done as a "line check" (over the telephone?) direct from CBS, rather than over the air (as the Lady Esther series was recorded, with mostly inferior results due to interference from a local station on an adjacent frequency and a distant station on the same frequency.) BUT, Welles was given a dupe of WOTW, not the master recording (that's something I'd never heard or suspected.) I wonder if Welles even knew? A few years later, that dupe was copied again onto glass disc, and THAT is the copy that Lilly has (which is now incomplete at that.)

On Randy Riddle's site, I think he mentioned noise which can occur from a line check, but I'm really unfamiliar with the medium; this is the first I've heard of it.

Seth mentioning that when you have the mains hum at exactly 60 Hertz you know you're playing the discs at the correct speed is ingenious; of course they would be but I'd never thought of that.

Was just about to post that, Terry.

This is, of course, the labor of love by my fellow radio aficionado Sammy, that I've been hinting about for quite a while.

And yes indeed, he and partner Seth have beat the bushes to locate the best originals (many of which are slightly incomplete, at the various disc change points), and the material sounds very promising...

Here's to their project's completion!

- Craig

Nice find, Terry. The clips from the broadcast sound very promising.

Includes info about the new restoration of WOTW by Seth Winner and Sammy Jones (at about the 1 hour 12 minute mark.)

Yes, it's an upgrade to existing copies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ZjJnf8nWw

http://www.aes.org/events/145/broadcast/?ID=6264