Reader's Digest......Electronics?

You probably don't instantly think of your grandma's favourite magazine when it comes to audio equipment. But it is true. Reader's Digest really did sell stereos, radios and tape machines under their own brand name in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

8-Track Tapes From The '80s

Contrary to popular legend, the 8-Track wasn't quite dead in the 1980s. It was dying and on life support. They were phased out by the major labels for retail sale by 1983. But not truly dead until 1988 when the very last licensed manufacturer of new commercial 8-Track music tapes, the RCA Music Club quietly discontinued them.

The Phono-Sonic Fireplace/Liquor Cabinet Stereo

 

It looked like a gorgeous (artificial) fireplace.....

.....that turns into an awesome stereo/liquor cabinet.

The Phono-Sonic Liquor Cabinet/Stereo w/ artificial fireplace is one of the coolest designs ever for a console stereo. Surprisingly, it was also made and imported from communist East Germany for the American market. Like the Soundesign Trendsetter, they are extremely rare in good condition.

They originally came with 3 speed turntables (33/45/78 RPM) AM/FM Stereo receivers and 8-Track tape decks, but cassette decks were added in the late '70s. The speakers were enclosed behind the red velvet and latticework on either side of the fireplace. The cheese points are off the scale with this one!

 

Charted History Of The Music Player

(Click to enlarge)

 From ShortList

1978 Sears Stereo TV Commercial

In your choice of 8-Track or Cassette.....

The History of Stereo and Quadraphonic Sound

When audio recording began, there was only one sound source (monaural or "mono"). The horn of a cylinder or gramophone record player. And all was well. For most people.

For others, something was missing.

You see, the epitome of a perfect recording is not just an incredibly good performance artistically, but also how lifelike it sounds.

The first is actually easier to achieve than the latter. The most lifelike sounding and the very best artistic recording rarely come together. Even today.

The very first experiments in binaural reproduction (an early form of stereo) go back as early as 1881 (no joke!) At a theater in Paris. The sound was transmitted through two telephone wires to special headsets that received the audio. This was used in hotel rooms and by special subscription service. But it didn't garner much attention, simply because the tinny headsets and 19th century telephone line quality audio was so bad.

An early two-channel playback system, developed and sold in the early 1900s, used a two-channel phonograph cylinder and two mechanical pickups and horns. But it really didn't sound good and the early recordings themselves have been lost to time. To make stereo sound acceptable on a commercial scale, vast improvements in monaural audio fidelity would have to be achieved.

Here's another early attempt at stereo, it's mono, but used a delay effect.

Enter radio.

There were experiments in stereo broadcasting going back to the early '20s. They utilized two radio station frequencies, two radio receivers (VERY rare in most homes of that time) and a special headset that connected into the outputs of both radios and at a time when most earliest commercial radio stations were very competitive, very hard for stations themselves to negotiate (the earliest duopolies of stations didn't happen until the late 1920s.) But again, this was early 1920's AM radio fidelity, while still an enormous leap from the telephone lines of 1881, still had it's own problems. including skywave interference from distant stations, hetrodyne squeal, harmonics from nearby stations and electrical interference.

However, recording had moved from acoustic recording horns to electrical microphones and reproducers. With the dramatic improvements in recording fidelity, the idea of stereo recording was again revisited. In the early 1930s, Bell Labs and RCA Victor made experiments in hi-fi and stereo recording, independent of each other.

Here's an early RCA Victor Mono Hi-Fi recording session with The Paul Whitman Orchestra in 1933.

Here's a VERY early experimental single groove stereo recording made by Bell Labs in 1934

Magnetic tape was also being developed. The first magnetic recordings were made in 1898 on steel wire and the first magnetic tape was invented in 1928. For the most part, they were merely experimental, first because the lengths of wire or tape needed to make reasonable quality recordings were astronomically long. Second, the tapes were made of steel or paper backed magnetic tape, making them prone to breakage. It wasn't until the mid 1930s when German scientists developed the first successful hi-fi tape recordings and it was initially used for Nazi radio broadcasts.

The very first Stereo system offered to consumers was reel to reel tape in the mid 1950s. But they found limited acceptance. Reel tape was awkward, bulky and expensive. Most records however remained monaural - except for a few made by Cook Laboratories. These records were binaural. as mentioned earlier and used headphones instead of speakers for the best reproduction.

They also used two grooves with two cartridges and pickups

  

Single groove full stereo records were finally perfected by 1957 and were sold by 1958. They were an instant sensation. But there were still millions of monaural record players and the heavier tone arms would ruin a stereo record. So record companies made records in both Stereo and Monaural (aka "Mono") versions until 1968.

Stereo radio was also being developed. First using a revival of the AM/AM experiment of the 1920s. When FM was established in the 1950s, AM/FM radio combos experimented with using FM for the left channel and AM for the right.

Yes, there were actually tuner components that allowed you to hear FM on the left channel and AM on the right. This crude form of stereo radio was obsolete by 1961 when multiplex FM Stereo was invented.....

Stereo sound is great. And when it's recorded with care, it can be breathtaking in it's own sense of realism. But you're still only getting what's coming from the front of you. Not the ambiance from the rear as you would in an actual live performance. In the early days of stereo recording, most of the early stereo recordings tried to emphasize the stereo ping-pong, left to right, right to left sound, which is fine if you weren't particular with the realism of sound, just the physical effect of stereo sound. Something to show off your fancy new stereo and what it can basically do to your friends.  

Many early stereo studio recordings (especially those early stereo records from the late '50s and early '60s) were deliberately mixed to highlight these effects. But most pop/rock recordings were originally mixed in mono and later run through a gamut of fake stereo enhancements (echo chamber, reverb, vocals on one channel, instrumentation on the other) instead of going back to the original multitrack studio tapes - if available, and creating a true stereo mix. If it couldn't be done, and in most cases regardless in my opinion, it should have been left alone. It wasn't until the mid '60s when true stereo mixes of pop/rock albums became the norm. The technology and science of stereo recording was improving

And then came Quadraphonic.

Quadraphonic was first used as far back as 1953 (using 4 track tape) in Europe and introduced to the American market by the Vanguard Recording Society in June 1969. Then RCA followed with a Quadraphonic 8-Track tape

In the early 1970s the very first Quadraphonic LPs came out. But there was a problem. There was no uniformly compatible system for making Quad LPs. There were three incompatible systems SQ (developed by CBS Records), CD-4 (developed by RCA, no relation to Compact Discs, which wouldn't be invented for another 10 years) and QS (developed by Sansui).

This created a lot of confusion. And the government wasn't willing to step in and saw this solely as a civil matter beyond their authority (which would be repeated for AM Stereo in the '80s. But what made AM Stereo different was it was a form of radio transmission and that usually automatically falls under government jurisdiction.)

But it was the consumer that suffered the most. Because most labels allied with one system of Quad or the other. For example, if you liked Santana and had an SQ Quad system, you were in luck. Santana was a Columbia artist then and Columbia used SQ exclusively. However, if you also liked The Doors, you were toast. Elektra used the CD-4 Quad system and while those records will play on an SQ system, you won't get Quad sound (and the basic stereo separation of a CD-4 Quad record was not very good on an SQ Quad system. Or even a basic stereo.

 

Click to enlarge and read

There was no true winning system in the Quad war. But it seemed like SQ had far more advantages than CD-4. SQ used creative phasing, while CD-4 Quad records required a special stylus and since the system was encoded using something very similar to how FM Stereo radio is encoded at a very high inaudible frequency. So there was a serious record wear problem. If the portion of the groove where the frequency was encoded was worn, the Quad separation of the CD-4 Quad record was gone as well.

And what about Sansui's QS system? I don't have any personal experience with QS, but I have heard it said the QS system was very similar to SQ.

And like the early stereo recordings, studio engineers of the time were eager to utilize all four channels sonically in every way possible. Including putting each instrument on it's own channel. They had to. You see, most recording studios are acoustically dead places, so there was no way to capture the ambiance of a live recording. They could add artificial reverb and echo to the rear channels (as with the early fake stereo records), but it would sound AWFUL if played on a conventional stereo. So most didn't. I say most because I have heard some REAL atrocities in Quad.

Usually the very best sounding Quad albums were the classical albums recorded specifically in Quad.. They captured the sense of depth and space far better than most pop or rock albums.

Click to enlarge and read

The Quad fad had pretty much died out by 1978. Mostly out of consumer exasperation with the competing systems. But also the extra baggage of two extra speakers. But multiple-channel sound was revived by Dolby for use in movie theaters in the late 1980s

Today, the children of Quad, the DTS and Dolby Surround systems are used in home theater setups and even as a limited edition CD/DVD series - AGAIN with competing and incompatible systems, SACD and DVD Audio. They were introduced in the early 2000s. But like the Quad LPs of the '70s, they too have largely vanished due to consumer frustration as well as indifference.

Automated Radio Stations

Many people have a disgusted view of radio these days. And who can blame them? They lament the lack of personality, the bland repetitive playlists, the high commercial loads per hour and most annoyingly, the "liner cards" (trust me, the jocks more than anyone HATE these. They know you're not stupid and it's embarrassing on both ends.)

Seriously, what the fuck is "Now Playing An Even Better Mix of Continuous Lite Favorites With More Variety and Less Talk....."

How many of you have heard something like that on the radio and screamed back at it "Well DO WE, NOW? DUH!"

(Please remember it's all radio program director ego masturbation and does not represent the opinions of those who are/were forced to say it, strictly verbatim, to keep their jobs.)

Many of us will look back at the radio industry deregulation of the '90s, which lifted ownership caps on how many radio stations one corporation could own in one city from one AM and one FM to 8 total (5 FM and 3 AM stations. Or vice-versa) as the beginning of bland, stale, canned sounding radio. And to some degree, they're right - it just went south on a MASSIVE scale after that. But corporately programmed, bland boring radio been around longer than you think.

When the FM radio band was finally established in the late '40s it had a really slow start. One was most stations were co-owned with major local AM stations and simply simulcasted their AM programming on FM 24/7. Others simulcasted most of the time and would produce nightly programming. And the rest were upstart independents that focused on their music. Mostly classical music and easy listening/show tunes. Always accentuating the "high fidelity" of FM. 

When FM Stereo debuted in 1961, it wasn't much of a game changer at first. Few stations adopted it immediately and it wasn't until the early '70s when most stations did. So apart from a few daring originals, FM was stagnating.

So in 1966, the FCC decided to do something about it. It wasn't in the back pocket of lobbyists at it is today. So it mandated that all AM/FM combo's FM stations have a mandatory minimum of separate programming from their AM stations.

The radio industry was not happy. Many AM/FMs actually didn't even have separate studios for their FM stations. But they had to get something - ANYTHING to fill all this new airtime. This meant hiring people who will work really cheap, which led to the progressive rock era OR.....

Enter the radio automation machine.

It was first invented in the 1950s, but it didn't work very well because the very first ones played 45 RPM records using a jukebox-like mechanism. The selector mechanism that put each record on the platter had to be cleaned and well lubricated. Often. Otherwise, the selector would not properly retract and as the powerful motor moved the player on to the next selection, the selector would ride along, happily SMASHING every record it encountered..... SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!.

Back to the drawing board.

By the late '60s, they had improved to the point of enough stability (or at least less destructiveness) to make them a viable option for most of the bigger FM stations.  
 
Here's how it worked (in the TM Stereo Rock format):

"Hi..."

First, you panic a little.

Next you opened up four boxes of two track reel, one sided  tape and threaded them accordingly. The 100 Series was for currents. These were newer hits were in sets of two songs, back announced with "That was (last song played) and before that (the first song)"

The 100 series reel was also where the announcer lurked.

The 200 Series were the oldest songs in the format. The 300s were recurrents (songs released in the last 7 years that people still like.)  There was also a 400 series for nighttime airplay. It featured more album cuts and newer or "buzz" material, each back announced with not only title and artist, but also album the song came off of.

New music reels were shipped out to replace older reels several times a year. Currents were replaced every two weeks, recurrents four times a year and oldies twice a year.

And these tape reels needed constant changing, so it was usually up to the jocks in the AM studio to rewind them. These reel to reel machines had POWERFUL rewind motors, they were a marvel to watch the tapes rewind so fast. But you had to make sure the reel hubs were on tightly or the reels would wobble off and fly across the room projectile (and they HURT) and replace them in mid-airshift.

This was also the era of the 2-3 minute pop song, which meant they had to work fast - VERY fast (one can only imagine the horror of hearing "White Rabbit" through the hallway AM air monitors approaching it's end and you're still trying to get a tape threaded in the machine and just as Grace Slick starts singing "Feed your head!......Feed your head!", race back to the AM studio to open the mic before the very last note faded out.)

And under NO circumstances were you allowed to break a sweat.

TM Stereo Rock subscribing stations were required to return the outdated reels back to the company (the metal reels themselves were pretty expensive.) But this left a narrower playlist, so stations often held on to older reels to add more variety.

Next, you put the jingles, commercial spots, PSAs, weather and time checks and mandatory hourly station identification on cart tapes.

Carts are essentially similar to 8-Track music tapes. More about them here.

Then, came the fun part - Programming the beast. Each system was different. Some were computerized, some used switches. And when you're done (and hopefully done right), you had something that sounded like this (This isn't TM Stereo Rock, this is the Drake-Chenault Hit Parade.......)

WRAL 101.5 FM, Raleigh, NC (1974)

As the '70s progressed and FM became more dominate, many automated FMs went live and some used the automation for AM programming.

Like many automated radio stations, KISM-FM's jocks often pre-recorded their shows prior to airtime.

But automated radio never went away. In fact, it's status quo. But using computers today. That big wall of tape machines can all be done from a laptop computer today. Very few stations today have live announcers physically playing the music.

Strange Audio Gadgets

 

The Devineau Biophone Attachment was a strange and unique gadget that allowed you to play gramophone records on cylinder phonographs......

Combination Tape Recorder/Phonographs

.....or tape recorders that attach to phonographs......

8-Track Flashback: The Flipside

Remember those old 8-Track music tapes you still probably got stashed somewhere?

How one day, somewhere in the summer of 1980 as you're driving your AMC Pacer to a Sambo's for pancakes, you decided to break out that Loverboy 8-Track out of the glove box.  Thirsty as hell, you stop by a Tradewell store on the way to Sambo's and buy a can of Tab.

You open up the can of Tab and the can erupts, spilling the fizzy brown saccharine flavoured liquid down onto the Loverboy 8-Track.

Well, it looked like only the label got soaked. So you think 'why not' and put the thing in the player. "Working For The Weekend" plays and...well...never mind, just listen to this:

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/BT/Egnekn_-_Going_off_the_deep_end.mp3

Now how MUCH would YOU pay to hear THAT again?

For only $15, you can have this damaged classic and more JUST LIKE IT on one dysfunctional CD. Introducing 8-Track Magic, a compilation CD of music from messed up 8-Track tapes from Artists Throwing Money Out the Window.

And surprisingly, this disc was made in 1994.

http://www.generatorsoundart.org/GL-02.html

ATMOW has either gotta be the trippiest bunch of aural freaks I've heard since Negativland (or even The Residents.)  Or the biggest rip-off in the name of "art" in history. Perhaps it should be "People Throwing Money Out the Window"

I mean, for that same price, I could buy a whole box full of REAL messed up 8-Track tapes (including the player) and actually get a more artistic experience because I am WATCHING the machine destroy the tapes before my eyes.

Here's another one.

Check this out: OK, your buddy calls you and dude says his refrigerator is silent. I mean like, REALLY silent. So for some reason, you don't plug it in, call the landlord (or even maybe grab a blow dryer and do a defrost.) Instead, you stick a tape recorder in it (WARNING: THE FOLLOWING AUDIO MAY BE SHOCKING TO SOME LISTENERS):

http://www.generatorsoundart.org/sound/GL-06.mp3

This ENTIRE smash CD The Silent Fridge of POP.AC also is yours for $15:

http://www.generatorsoundart.org/GL-06.html

The Soundesign Trendsetter 7

I've never been a fan of Soundesign. Especially their super chintzy '80s systems.

However in the '70s, Soundesign, while still an overall lowbrow electronics firm, did have the distinction of daring to be, um, different. And that's where we find this beast..

The Trendsetter 7 (which thankfully didn't set any trends) was a 200 lb disco themed monstrosity with an automatic three speed (33, 45 and 78 RPM) BSR turntable, AM/FM Stereo receiver, cassette and 8-Track tape decks that looked more like a jukebox than a home stereo system.

With the lighting system on in a darkened room, it looked like a real party starter

The amplifier pumped out a reasonable 50 watts per channel (perhaps the most powerful amplifiers Soundesign ever made) and was perfect for your inner Disco Stu.

But it IS a Soundesign product and while light years better than anything they made in the '80s, it did have some major drawbacks. The phono cartridge was ceramic and prone to picking up external vibrations. The tape decks got gummy with heavy use. The radio was actually very good and unusually selective and sensitive on FM. The AM section, while wide-band and very good fidelity wise had pretty crummy distant reception and selectivity, the stronger local AM signals tended to dominate. The cabinet was horrendously cheap, made of particle board and fell apart easily. With both speakers housed the same cabinet underneath, the bass was especially boomy.

Later models of this system were much smaller and had the speakers enclosed behind flashing lights.

 One model also had a overhead light with a small mirrored ball.

These stereos were never big sellers and the ones that were sold were usually destroyed after the disco bust. Finding a complete, intact unit is extremely rare and the few surviving ones that are in good condition sell for quite a bit.