A Virtual Time Warp To 1975......

I found this awesome YouTube clip that will REALLY take you back to 1975.

It's an unscoped aircheck from a rock station, "The All New K-Keg 92" KKEG-FM Fayetteville, AR from 1975.

Complete with music, jock and original commercials. The guy who posted this said he found it on an 8-Track tape somebody recorded and he transferred it on YouTube.

".....this was most likely recorded in order for the owner to be able to listen to the radio while driving through the dead-air area between Fayetteville and Little Rock that existed in NW Arkansas during the mid-70s......."

And believe me, this can take you there and beyond. I don't know who Bo James was, but he definitely had the right sound for this format.

This was what Classic Radio REALLY sounded like back in the day. You'll hear the Doobie Brothers cover version of "Jesus Is Just Alright" ad nauseum today. But NEVER the Byrds ORIGINAL.

See how much of this music you haven't heard in EONS - if at all. (Segues like Blood Sweat & Tears cover of "Ride Captain Ride" into "Liar" Queen anyone?)

KKEG is still on the air and still rockin', but they've moved up the dial to 98.3 FM. KKEG's original 92.1 frequency is now home to an ESPN sports station. 

Pop open a can of Tab and enjoy......

The Seeburg 1000

Before supermarket/department store background music was a mishmash of oldies and Adult Contemporary radio recurrents. 

Long before the digital music services (We're gonna need a shovel for this.) Before Smooth Jazz, before Muzak, before Easy Listening radio, there was the Seeburg 1000.

(Above: A promotional flexi-disc record extolling the virtues of the Seeburg 1000.)

At this layer of the background music archeology sits a microwave oven sized and shaped contraption that was probably the most BRILLIANT invention for it's time.

.

It didn't nuke burritos very well.

It played 9" inch 16 RPM records with a 2" inch spindle hole, with a playing time of around 40-45 minutes on each side, hopelessly incompatible with all commercially made turntables and phonographs (although you COULD play them on any record player with a 16 RPM speed, if you could get the record centered right - no adapters were ever made. But you would also end up ruining the microscopic grooves of these records because they used a far smaller sized stylus than conventional records.)

The records were distributed quarterly in boxes of seven. The operator was supposed to replace records in the system with new records of the same number (i.e. MM-125). Each box is labeled with the library type, date to place in service, and instructions to the operator.

These instructions also specified that each record set was to be returned to Seeburg after use. Upon return, the records were destroyed.

Complete Seeburg 1000 systems and records actually are very hard to find today. They are EXPENSIVE.......

They were manufactured by the custom products division of Capitol Records for Seeburg for use only on these machines (this music was never intended for commercial release.)

But it's certainly not the music that's fascinating about the Seeburg 1000. Watch how it PLAYS.....

(The precision mechanics of this system would impress a Swiss watchmaker. But were also a migraine to repair.) 

The Seeburg 1000 was used from 1959 to the mid '70s and was ubiquitous in department stores, supermarkets and restaurants of the day. 

Here's a site with more info. Plus a link so you can hear one playing 24/7....

http://www.seeburg1000.com/ 

Bronys

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The Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders

The Now Wave Sampler post I made earlier this month reminded me of the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders.

But I knew to dive into this would be pretty exhausting. Because, next to the NOW CD series and K-Tel/Ronco albums, they were the most successful compilation series ever. Especially in vinyl's golden age.

And Warner/Reprise did it all with mostly new and unknown acts then. Many whom went on to become superstars. Others languished in obscurity, and some became cult favorites.

During most of the '60s, Warner Bros. and newly acquired subsidiary Reprise (which was purchased from Frank Sinatra in 1963) were, next to Decca, one of the most staid and conservative record labels in America. However, by the mid-'60s, Mo Ostin Reprise label president promptly began to shake things up. He signed The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Frank Zappa, The Pentangle, Joni Mitchell - just about every demo tape that came across his desk to a deal with Warner/Reprise.

Most of these new rock acts appeared on Reprise Records while Warner Bros. itself remained mostly a Middle of The Road label. But soon, even rock was invading the schmaltzy Warner Bros. roster.

By 1969, Warner/Reprise had become one of the most (if not THE most) creative and unique commercial record labels of the era. With so many new and creative bands signed, they released their first "Loss Leader" compilation, The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook. The albums were compiled by Barry Hansen. You may know him better as radio's Dr. Demento.

There was no radio or TV advertising for the Loss Leader albums. They were promoted in magazines like Rolling Stone and on the stock inner sleeves of other Warner/Reprise albums of that time with sarcastic copy.

"These Warner/Reprise specials are full stereo, double albums in deluxe packaging. The double albums ($2 for two records) average about 28 selections, each of them is filled with the best of the artists' work, plus some extra collectors' items (like unreleased singles, even an Ice Capades commercial by our Van Dyke Parks).

You can't buy these albums in a store; they are available only by mail, for the ridiculously low price of $2 for the doubles, $1 for Zappéd, and $3 for the deluxe three-record set, Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies.

We can get away with that low price because these celebrated artists and this benevolent record company have agreed not to make a profit on this venture. We (and they) feel it's more important that these samples of musical joy be heard.

If you're as suspicious of big record companies as we feel you have every right to be, we avert your qualms with the following High Truths:

This is new stuff, NOT old tracks dredged out of our Dead Dogs files. If our Accounting Department were running the company, they'd charge you $9.96 for each double album. But they're not. Yet.

We are not 100 per cent benevolent. It's our fervent hope that you, Dear Consumer, will be encouraged to pick up more of what you hear on these special albums at regular retail prices.

That you haven't heard much of this material we hold obvious. Over 8000 new albums glut the market (and airwaves) each year. Some of our Best Stuff has to get overlooked. Or underheard. Underbought. Thus, we're trying to get right to you Phonograph Lovers, bypassing the middle man.

Each album is divinely packaged, having been designed at no little expense by our latently talented Art Department...." 

From 1969 to 1980, over 30 Warner/Reprise Loss Leader compilation albums were released, covering the hippie rock of the '60s through the singer/songwriter phase to New Wave.

Here's a listing of all the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders. Plus info on their rare CDs from the late '90s.

http://www.dustbury.com/music/wbloss.html
     

Your First Phonograph/Stereo

You probably started out with this.......

And moved up to a stock GE kids phonograph of the early '70s (also manufactured for Sears and Concert Hall under their house names...)

.....or if you were really lucky, you got one of these.....

Vanity Fair and Imperial "Party Time" phonographs were really cheap knockoffs. Made of cardboard, low quality parts and a stock design that was easily customizable for whoever wanted to license their images and product name to  it. That's why they were the most popular design of kids phonograph .....

The famous Michael Jackson Vanity Fair phonograph. Still made by VF/Imperial "Party Time" Clean, functioning units however sell for LOTS on eBay.....Way too much in my opinion......

Barbie Phonograph, made by VF/Imperial

Another portable record player w/radio, the Phillips portable. It was also made by Sony. and also sold under the then Phillips owned record label names of Mercury and Fontana. The blue Fontana labeled ones are the rarest.....

The GE Trimline 500: A very popular portable (allegedly), stereo record player of the early-mid '60s. They were popular as teenage hand-me downs from parents in the '70s because they were SUPER rugged and lasted THEM through high school and college. They were also SUPER heavy, but look at it! It was made of 90% pure metal parts! And it was built to LAST. The speakers were fully detachable and housed in steel cabinetry, just like the rest of this thing. And GORGEOUS sounding! With a dependable 40 watt tube amplifier with full bass and treble knobs (yet just a tad brassy, speakers being encased in metal boxes.) The plastic tone arm was a bit on the heavy side, but the automatic mechanisms rarely failed. Repairing one is also pretty easy and pasts are everywhere on eBay.....   

The GE Wildcat was a sleeker, MUCH lighter plastic cased version of the Trimline. While still a durable and dependable record player, the 40 watt tube amplifier of the Trimline had been replaced by a 20 watt transistor amplifier. But the basic mechanisms remained the same.....

The Emerson Swingmate

Fisher-Price's first REAL record player. It was designed as failproof as a kids phonograph could get (and believe me, NOTHING is completely failproof around a smart kid for too long....)

Click here for Part Two