I'm considering putting together a discography of old time radio broadcasts
released on lp.  I'd like some advice from folks in ARSC, particularly if
you're in a library, archives or if you're a researcher on whether this
would be a useful endeavor.

Some background ….

In the 70s and 80s, as part of the "nostalgia boom", several small labels
popped up releasing old time radio broadcasts on lps.  Some were widely
distributed through mail order and retail outlets, such as releases from
Goldin's Radiola, Mark 56, Nostalgia Lane and Murray Hill.  Many others
were put out by otr enthusiasts in limited runs.

Although many otr broadcasts are floating around at archive.org and other
sites, these lps do contain better quality or more complete versions of
broadcasts and some that have never made it to digital.

The lps often have no information on the disc or cover about the particular
episode of a program.  If the particular broadcast can be identified, it
might have been done from a tape dub floating around or original
transcriptions and might be altered or incomplete.

The discography would describe in detail the contents of each lp, noting
the sound quality or any problems with the material.  In addition, it would
cross-reference different releases of the same broadcasts.

I've managed to gather a fairly large collection of these lps, but would
probably need to fill out some gaps in my collection, so this would take
some time to pull together.

I'm at a point where I've been informally putting together notes on these
discs for my own research, wondering if a discography like this would be
more broadly useful and the kind of interest there might be in it.

I've considered three different outlets for the discography.  I could put
it together as a website, an ebook I might sell through Amazon, or try to
submit it to a publisher like Macfarland.

I don't want to reformat all the information at a later time - a blog,
ebook or publisher manuscript - would be assembled differently.  My
question, if you think this would be useful, would be what you think the
best outlet might be so I can figure out the best format to put together
the information.

The scope of the discography would be complete broadcasts or significant
broadcast excerpts on lp discs and wouldn't include the many compilations
of songs drawn from different broadcasts that are probably highlighted in
artist or genre discographies.  However, it would include discs that might
contain a complete broadcast or band remote, for example.  It would also
include some lps issued before the 70s, such as lp releases of the CBC
McCarthy-era drama "The Investigator" or Columbia issues of episodes of
"You Are There".

Thanks.

rand

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Randy A. Riddle
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