Hello--
I am looking for NPR's 1980 hour-long radio documentary, "History of the Phonograph". It first aired around September 26, 1980, and it was hosted by Peter Osnos. It opened with the two versions of "Comin' Thru the Rye" by Syria Lamonte and Janet Baker which also bookended the EMI album "A Voice to Remember". It also had a comparison of acoustic and electrical recording with two live recordings of New York City Christmas concerts with the audience singing with the orchestra. One of those tracks was "Adeste Fidelis"; the narrator said of the acoustic side "it was recorded--heaven knows how...". There was also a discussion about a quote saying that "electric recordings just didn't sound like phonograph records", and that the record company publicity departments set out to prove that recordings were either "as good as live" or "better than live". The second half of the show included a long section of "Sounds in Space", the RCA stereo demo disc narrated by Ken Nordine. They mentioned digital recording at the end of the show, but did not play any examples because analog radio could not accurately reproduce a digital signal.
A friend and I recorded this show off the air, but both of our copies are now lost. The Library of Congress/NPR copies are either lost or damaged. I want a copy for my personal use. I have no intention of selling or distributing the recording. If any of you have a copy of this show, please contact me off-list via e-mail (and be sure to include "NPR documentary History of the Phonograph" as subject, so I don't delete it by accident!)
Thanks!
Tom Cunniffe
1201 W 9th St (# 2)
Wilmington, DE 19806
(303) 246-8237 (mobile)
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