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16rpm Records

 
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 7646

PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:11 pm    Post subject: 16rpm Records Reply with quote

A question prompted by an enquiry on the Beeb board, to which I don't know, for certain, the answer, but someone here might...

What size were 16rpm records (as opposed to 33/45/78s) and what were they used for?

I have a vague memory of being in someone's house - they had a home recording machine (pre-tape) that recorded onto a 12 inch disc at 16 and we were reciting children's poetry into it. I think the format was also used commercially for drama and other works of speech.

It could just be my imagination, though. Does anyone know?
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wikipedia mentions them as used by broadcasting transcription services and perhaps for narrative services - eg talking books for the blind - but not in any quantity.
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 11258
Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk

PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a gut feeling but I seem to recall they were the same size as the LP or 33 rpm records... in fact, I also think we had a radiogram with 16 on the speed dial!
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childprufe



Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 212
Location: lincolnshire

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Being a right old B (a TOG perhaps), I can remember 16 r.p.m. records. Same size as the 33 r.p.m. albums and invariably used for recordings of the spoken word where clarity was not considered a necessity....
My old English tutor had recordings of Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson performing at the Royal Shakespeare Company and you could even hear the bottles rattling in the background.
In those days a 33 r.pm. album would contain about 60 minutes of recording, so a 16 r.p.m. was needed for a Shakespearian recording.
If I have missed some details, please bear with me... who am I ?? Embarassed
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm glad you posted that Childprufe, my first thought was LP size but after the initial memory flash, you can think.. was I right?
I'm sure we had a radiogram with 16 too. I may still have it somewhere! I have a few. Laughing
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, radiograms certainly had 16 on their speed changer, hifis too, well into the 70s - I recall my first one, a Goldring Lenco GL78 turntable, had it.

I think I must have imagined the home recorder, since although I've found reference to them they were 78s. It would have been about 1959/60 so must have been tape - most of them had four speeds as well, down to 15/16 of an inch per second, and that would have looked pretty slow.

SF: <<I have a few>> You must have a lot of room! Do any have value as antiques yet?
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John W



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can confirm childprufe and Rockitron's size for 16rpm records. I still have a Lenco GL75 deck with the 12" turntable and choice of 16rpm.

Just to possibly confuse things Confused ....

There was also a 16" (16 inch) size disc. These massive things were rotated at 33rpm speed and were used to record live shows for later broadcast on the radio played on equally massive turntables in the radio station. Not sure how common they were in UK (I think Luxembourg still used 12") but they were commonly used for radio broadcasts in the US from the 1930's - 1950's and there was a huge number of the 16" records produced during and just after WWII featuring big bands and singers and broadcast from US bases/stations in Europe .

e.g.




John W
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

John, childprufe and SantaFefan, thank you for your input - I've learned something and it has been good to search the old memory bank.

I've gone back to the Music boards on the Beeb and the thread has incredibly (but predictably) vanished/been removed, perhaps at the originator's request (?). Can't think why, since it was hardly controversial or off-topic and I had done him/her the courtesy of a holding reply.
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RockitRon wrote:

SF: <<I have a few>> You must have a lot of room! Do any have value as antiques yet?


RR, we're lucky enough to have a big place here, formerly a hotel so lots of store rooms and garage space and I'm a hoarder!
I went through a phase of "collecting" old grams and radios, or more like I couldn't pass them up.
I have lovely memories of the old radios and grams from the 50's and 60's. I liked the way they glowed at night! the best one I had was by my bedside, an "Invictor" radio with air and marine bands so I could listen to the ships and coastguard messages.
I have a Ferguson radiogram which I bought from an elderly couple just up the road from me which is exactly like the one we had back in the fifties and it's perfect so it'll be the one I'll keep.
Value? I dont think the grams are worth much but maybe the "portable" record players are.
I had a lady call round a while back and she noticed a "Dansette" player lurking on the shelf in red and white vinyl. She fell in love with it so I gave it to her.
I need to streamline now!
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John W



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SantaFefan wrote:
a "Dansette" player lurking on the shelf in red and white vinyl.



Dansettes ARE collectable. Here's a green one, up to £150 so far!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DANSETTE-MAJOR-AUTO-RECORD-PLAYER-IN-GREEN_W0QQitemZ150078724169QQihZ005QQcategoryZ1442QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem

I had a blue Dansette in the 60's and have no idea what happened to it.

Both my 78rpm decks (a Lenco and a Garrard) were bought on e-bay, one for £30 the other for £50).


John W
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doh!

oh well, I'll consider myself a generous type............

Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad

I notice the ebay one has 16 rpm too.
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Helen May



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 19372
Location: Cheshire

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can vaguely remember a talking book disc being in our house but it was not LP size more like a 45 size. I had a battery operated Phillips record player at the time which had a 16rpm speed on it.

H
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iknewdavidjacobsmum



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SantaFefan: You are scaring the knicks off me! Sure you are not a keeper for an hotel in winter with a small child who chants "RedRum"?
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Natasha
Little Miss Lovely Smile


Joined: 09 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here'sssssssssssssss Santa Very Happy
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mcl



Joined: 04 Feb 2007
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Location: Somewhere in the South

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to add, 16rpm discs weren't that common over here, but they were more popular in South Africa - they were usually 10" over there, I believe. I think a few Eastern European countries may have released them too.
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