Time to talk about one of my favorite things; the little record with the big hole - 45's! Music by Don Estler and the Accordion Band (shellac disc, 1964).
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Thank you, Fran. You're always so knowledgeable, and I enjoyed learning about this. Another beneficial factor of 45s and teenagers is economics. When I began buying records, it was 1968, I was twelve, and a 45s cost less than a dollar. I remember .78 cents being common. And some 45s would be marked down based on their salability.
Your video here came up as a suggestion because earlier I'd watched a film made by RCA in late 1948, early 1949, introducing the new 45 RPM record format, as well as the player that you have on the desk. The film included two other 45 RPM players available to accommodate different uses. One of these was a non-amplified version that plugged into a home system that was common at the time, consisting of an AM-FM Radio and a non-45 RPM record player, installed into various styles of cabinets.
Per your mention of the new 45 RPM format being released on March 31, 1949. Perhaps RCA felt that the 31st was much better than April 1st, since that's April Fool's Day.
The volume control design specs were ingenious for the time. Great video and topic. There was a lot presented here that I really didn't know. Thank you Fran,
Brilliant video, looking forward to watching the next one.
Good video on 45 records i have bunch of 45 records in my collection.
I have heard that RCA invented the 45 to compete with Columbia's LP. RCA's plan was you'd buy the album as a stack of 45s in a small box, each side A of the 45s would be side A of the LP then flip the stack over and each side B of the 45s would be side B of the LP.
Fran, you had me at RIAA curve! Excellent presentation! 😊
Finally! All my questions about the format are answered. So glad you made this vid. So glad I found it.
That was great! I had a few 45s back in the day (Beatles, snoopy vs the red baron, etc). I remember my parents "entertainment center" had a "loudness" switch to be used if playing something at low volume. It would increase the bass and now I understand why this was necessary. Thanks, Fran. Very interesting video.
Great video. Very informative and interesting history. Please do more.
Great accordion cover of She Loves You
Thank you Fran
While this is an interesting story, there’s a small, but important, portion of this story that should be told. It goes like this… back in the early 1940’s a man whose name was Clarence ran an electronics repair shop in Fullerton, California. As a repairman Clarence was frustrated by many of the record players of the day which always jammed. He got tired of constantly repairing these changers because he felt that they were poorly designed… so he designed one that wouldn’t jam (Clarence was quite talented in these things). He set it up in the front window of his shop and it ran all the time, and never jammed. Eventually, he wanted to go a different direction (more on that in a minute) and sold it to Voice of Music which gave it to RCA where it became the basis for your RCA 45 rpm changer. I’ll bet it still doesn’t jam. What did Clarence do with the $5000 he got? He went into business with the money building lap steel guitars (quite popular in the post-war era) with a friend of his, who he later bought out. What, you never heard of Clarence? That’s because he never went by Clarence, but by his middle name, Leo, and his last name was Fender. Yes, THAT Leo Fender. So your RCA 45 changer helped create a musical instrument giant.
You should be a college professor because your style of teaching is perfect!
Great video! I have The Crickets 45 rpm. Oh Boy, But, It cracked on one side when I moved to another place. So, I'll hang it on the wall.
All very interesting even though I lived through it all