I'se regusted over my error. Thanks for correcting my error.

Art (Shiffy) Shifrin

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:39 PM, Michael Biel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Art Shifrin wrote:
>
>> When they made their debut after leaving WGN (as Sam 'n' Henry) Gosden &
>> Correll's deal with the Keith Orpheum theater circuit had them traveling
>> extensively around the country doing live appaerances, often in markets
>> where NBC did not yet have affiliates that were wired to the relatively
>> new
>> network. Therefore it was shrewdly arranged to pre-record the episodes. I
>> don't know or recall who made that decision. I think that it's discussed
>> in
>> "The Adventures Of Amos 'n' Andy" by Melvin Patrick Ely.
>>
>
> If you got this info from his book, he has his info all wrong because very
> little of what you post here is correct. When they left WGN at the end of
> December 1927 the went over to WMAQ NOT NBC. In fact, WMAQ was a CBS
> affiliate. Nor would NBC have alllowed a recording to be played on the
> network, so that part of the tale is impossible. ALL network affiliates
> MUST be wireline connected to the network because that is how radio networks
> operated. So this shrewd arrangement had nothing to do with NBC, and since
> all the episodes for 1928 into April 1929 were live on WMAQ, a tour was
> impossible.
>
> Here are the real facts. Starting on Feb 25, 1928 a short announcement was
> made nightly on WMAQ about the new program that would be starting in March.
> The WMAQ logs do not indicate if the announcements were live or recorded,
> but the technical logs seem to indicate these were on short recordings. It
> is possible that these short recorded announcements were also heard on the
> other stations the program recordings were going to be syndicated to.
> During that month they were starting to record the series at Marsh, and
> when it debuted on WMAQ it was done LIVE on WMAQ and distributed to several
> dozen stations via recordings.
>
> The ETs were issued (with-destroy-by- dates on the labels)
>>
>
> Those dates were NOT destroy-by dates, it was the specific date the program
> must be AIRED. The recorded episodes had to be aired on the exact same day
> as the live performance on WMAQ. For the entire year of 1928 from March 19
> and into April 1929 the performed their program live on WMAQ in the WMAQ
> studios six nights a week without a break, without a vacation, and without a
> tour. On April 28, 1929 for the very first time WMAQ aired the program from
> the recording. On that day Gosden and Correll borderd a train to Los
> Angeles where they vacationed, made some appearances, and recorded several
> months of programs at Brunswick's LA studio on discs with LTR prefixes.
> When they returned to Chicago in June they resumed recording at Brunswick's
> Chicago studio with discs with XC prefixes with the last session being July
> 10. Apparently the use of the recordings continued on WMAQ although the
> logs only mention the use of recordings if there was a problem. The final
> note of a problem with the recordings was on Sunday Aug 18, 1929. The
> following night the program was again broadcast live from the WMAQ studios,
> this time with the program being sent to the NBC network from this CBS
> affiliate. Indeed, that night a little of the signal from CBS was heard in
> the background of the oprogram on NBC. Thereafter, of course, the program
> was broadcast live six nights a week, and the syndication by recordings
> ceased.
>
>> done on 12" 78 rpm lateral cut
>> shellacs` whose masters were cut in wax. They lacked commercials &
>> opening
>> & closing announcements that were delivered by local announcers. The
>> disks
>> were turned over during the mid-show commercials. The locally generated
>> live portions, added to the pre-recorded ones nominally totalled to 1/4
>> hour
>> or less to accommodate other local commercials and annoucements.
>>
>>
>>
>
> It has never been determined how the theme song was played. There may have
> been a Marsh theme disc, but there never was a Brunswick theme disc. As far
> as Elizabeth McLeod or I know, no theme disc or cue sheet has ever been
> found. If you know of any we would liike to know.
>
>
> The earliest date that I have is 7-15-28 matrice #s 5081 & 5082..
>>
>
> The earliest disc I have come across had matrices 4949-1 and 4950-1 and
> Elizabeth McLeod has confirmed that this is the earliest episode ever
> located, about 5 weeks into the series. (I don't have the episode number
> written on the tape sheet, but it was under 50. It is one of several
> episodes where they buy the car that became the Fresh Aire Taxicab. (I just
> listened to it -- the car cost them $75.)
>
> The latest that I have is 7-5-29 matrice #s LTR 117 & 118.
>>
>
> Your dates are wrong. LTR 117 and 118 are for Episode 384 aired June 16,
> 1929. The July 5 program was episode 400 on LTR 150-1 and 151-l
>
>
>
> The LTR matrices denote Brunswick recordings & pressings,
>>
>
> The Brunswick Chicago recordings had prefix XC and are all listed in Ross
> Laird's Brunswick discography. They recorded from episode 342 for April 28,
> 1929 on March 26 on XC 7170/71, thru episode 382 for June 14 on April 25 on
> XC 3393/94. Then came the LTR series in Los Angeles. The session sheets
> for this early portion of the LTR series are lost so we don't have the
> recording dates, but I do have the numbers (and dubs) for Episode 384 thru
> 395, and 398 and 400 which I discovered nearly 40 years ago in the Broadcast
> Pioneers Library. I assume those two discs are still in the Library of
> American Broadcasting at the U of Md. They resumed in Chicago on June 25
> with episode 412 for July 19 on XC 3698/99, thru July 11, 1929 for episode
> 438 for Aug 18 on XC 3838/39.
>
>
> not the inferior Marsh ones..
>> Given the once-only applications of these disks it'd have been technically
>> better if they'd had a deal with Columbia, given its substantially
>> sonically
>> superior laminated pressings.
>>
>> Art Shiffy Shifrin
>>
>>
> They were located in Chicago and could get better service from Marsh and
> from Brunswick. It is quite probable that the surfaces on the unplayed
> Marsh and Brunswick discs were fine. The copies we find now were usually
> played many times. When they switched over to Brunswick the company had
> already had six months experience recording several hundred syndication
> discs for the National Radio Advertising Company. By late 29 or early 30
> Marsh was doing some syndication discs using laminated pressings.
>
>
> Mike Biel [log in to unmask]