Muzak and Vinylite 4 Ever

A commenter on this blog recently suggested that the upside of Muzak was that they created the vinyl record. This is not conjecture. In fact, according to Muzak’s own website, in 1933 they “began transmitting music over phone lines. Central studios played records – the first 33 1/3 rpm records and the first ever done on vinylite rather than shellac.” This is a claim to have made used and broadcasted the first vinyl records in existence. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. More here.

In 1948 Columbia records began marketing the 7-inch, 45-rpm vinyl discs we now refer to as 45s. In that era, they were described as being made of "vinylite." The first 45 rpm record players were actually developed by Philco in 1938; ten years earlier. But a WWII vinyl shortage and continuing success with shellac 78s. 

But these were not the first vinyl records. Let's back up. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) what we call vinyl was first invented in 1838, by Henri Victor Regnault. It was invented again by Eugen Baumann in 1872. Neither  ever applied for a patent. So when Emile Berliner invented the record in 1888 and chose to use vulcanized rubber it wasn't because of patent infringement. There were two reasons. PVC is too soft for the mechanical playback devices  from that era. Their amplification was powered by friction. In 1913, Friedrich Klatte took did patent PVC but only in Germany. That's all beside the point, it wasn't until 1926 that Waldo L. Semon invented plasticized PVC.  This plastic had far greater utility, the Navy began using it as wire insulation. It's only after this date that we can seriously entertain vinyl records.

Sure enough it's only a few years later, in 1930 that RCA Victor vinyl long-playing records. these were marketed as "Program Transcription" discs. They were 12 inches in diameter and spun at 33.3 rpm. Roland Gelatt's book The Fabulous Phonograph, attributes the commercial failure of the device to the financial strain of the great depression. It was not a good time to debut a new media format with new playback devices. RCA's deluxe line of electric phonographs such as the RAE-59 were designed to handle playback. They were made of a plastic they called "Vitrolac" and it was made of PVC.  These were unquestionably the first vinyl records. You can argue that Muzak as an early adopter helped the format, but arguing that they were the fist to broadcast them requires that we believe no one else tried it for 3 years. Dubious.

Howard H. Scott - RIP

A moment of silence please. Another anonymous man who changed our lives has died. Were it not for WWII Scott probably would have been a career musician. Scott studied at the Eastman School of Music in 1941 and was drafted shortly after starting graduate piano studies at Juilliard. He shipped home in  July of 1946 and was hired by Columbia as a trainee at Columbia Masterworks. He was lucky enough to end up working on their secret LP project under Peter Carl Goldmark along side William Bachman and other heavyweights. It culminated in the debut of the microgroove long play record introduced by Columbia Records in 1948.

In 1930 RCA Victor introduced a long-play record... the lacquer transcription disc. These were 12 inches in diameter, and revolved at 33.3 RPM with narrow tightly spaced grooves. In 1931 they started making them with a plastic called Victrolac which was actually PVC plastic contrary to what some texts claim. Plasticized PVC (vinyl) wasn't invented until 1926, but polystyrene dates back to 1839. These discs were of the much newer PVC. So how did Scott  re-invent the vinyl platter disc 20 years later? What they did was make it better. More here.

Consumer record players of that era couldn't play them. PVC is too soft for phonograph play with a standard steel needle. Even those high end electric players that did spins at 22.3 rpm, didn't do so at an adequately constant speed causing very notable pitch variations. In short, sales sucked and RCA gave up in 1934. Columbia picked up the baton.  By December 1939, Columbia was using 16-inch, 33.3 RPM transcription disc masters for all it's master recordings. They had stretched the disc to hold 15 minutes per side. It doesn't sound like much, but remember an Edison cylinder held just over a minute, and 78s just around 3 minutes. This was four times as long! By 1947 they had squeezed out 22 minutes per side. In 1948, with the variable groove they broke the 30 minute barrier.

Howard H. Scott was only 26 years old at the time and not as technical as the rest of the staff but he was the crucial man in the dubbing process. These first long-play records were spliced together from old 78 rpm and shorter 33.3 rpm masters. This required playing overlapping recordings and toggling the input from turntable to turntable. Scott cued the start and snapped his fingers conducting the technicians manual adjustments. His music education and background made him the ideal man. He went on to be a staff producer at Columbia and later an executive manager at MGM. In the 1990s he worked at Sony overseeing CD transfers. He died on Sept. 22, he was 92. More here.

The Transcription Disc

It looks like a record, but it's not exactly a record. It spins at 33 & 1/3 rpm like a record but it's about 16" in diameter, that's 4 inches wider than your record crates, but could only hold about 15 minutes of audio per side. But the upside was the audio quality was better than a 78.

It was the year 1929. The great depression changed everything. Leisure items became luxury goods. Thomas Edison's cylinders and discs ceased production entirely. Conglomerates bought up smaller failing independents. Mass production made possible the reduced price of LPs of all kinds. And for radio stations the ability to replay programs was a huge cost-saver.

In 1929 RCA/Victor began making discs from "Vitrolac" (the precursor to vinyl.) It was picked up as a professional medium for radio transcription discs and the Library of Congress also used Vitrolac for talking books for the blind.

Two years later they took that magic material and introduced a type of long-playing record that allowed long form radio programs to fit on a manageable number of discs. These records held between double and triple the amount of music as a standard 78rpm disc. RCA's long-playing format apparently did not catch on. Introducing it in the middle of the Depression cannot have helped.

Prior to the vitrolac disc, the primary purpose of the aluminum disc was for advertiser program reviews. The aluminum discs were only good for a couple plays. Previous to this there were only aluminum transcription discs. These could only be played with a bamboo needle and in fact would be destroyed by a traditional steel needle. In Instead of aluminum discs, the RCA system used recording blanks made of a plastic material, either solid or bonded to a cardboard core. RCA issued blanks with pre-cut grooves which guided the tone arm along the surface of the disc. It was big improvement over the groove-less aluminum blanks.

By 1931 RCA was trying to market these discs to consumers but the idea was a bust. Consumers didn't like the 33 & 1/3 playing speed. But as a commercial product it stuck. The professional transcription disc the standard transcription disc for radio station recording until magnetic tape gained dominance around 1948.

Transcription discs probably peaked 942-1946 when AFRN (Armed Forces Radio Network) was created to distribute programs to soldiers overseas. By January 1946, 1030 vinylite 16-inch transcription discs of 8240 popular and classical songs had been produced as part of the Basic Music Library for the AFRN.

In the middle of this, the head of the American Federation of Musicians, James C. Petrillo, banned the use of transcriptions, insisting that all radio shows be performed live. This begat a musicians' strike that dragged all the way into 1945! ...But that's another story...