Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #174
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/23/2003 2:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

------------------------------


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 174
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Audio Restoration                     [ Jpotter64@[removed] ]
  Re: A [removed]                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  The New Lum & Abner, MediaPlayer      [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  Bing Crosby's 100th Birthday          [ JJJ445@[removed] ]
  'Words at War' reviewed in trade pap  [ Art Chimes <achimes@[removed]; ]
  Sad News From Schenectady NY          [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
  LIFE OF HOMEMADE CD'S                 [ james h arva <wilditralian@[removed] ]
  Weddings and Conventions              [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
  Re: cincinnati convention dates       [ rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed] ]
  April 24th Birth Dates                [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: Am I in trouble?                  [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:49:53 -0400
From: Jpotter64@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Audio Restoration

My purpose here is to make you aware of a software package that lends itself
very nicely to restoring OTR. I am in no way connected with any of the
vendors. I feel that you need to know what is out there. In fact the manual
is worth the price of the software. Yes, you get a manual.

Some of the filters are the Impulse Noise Filter that takes care of pops and
clicks. I don't know of any software that will get rid of the large pops and
clicks or even cracks in the disc. In applying any of the filters that would
reduce the click to barely audible, you would lose the material as well. See
Paste Interpolate for a way to get rid of those big ones without losing any
quality.

The Continuous Noise Filter that takes care of continuous noise. Hiss, Hum,
in fact any noise or sound that is a constant throughout the recording.

Filters that will handle rumble, hum, buzz and dropouts. These filters can be
selectively applied to any part of the file and not encroach on the areas
that are not a problem.

Reverberation, Graphic Equalization and file conversions.

My favorite is the Paste Interpolate feature. You zoom in on a particular
area in the wave that is troublesome and paste interpolate. The software
replaces the artifact with material that would have been there had not it
been for the artifact. This works very well if the record has a crack. You
would never know they were there when finished.

How about those speed errors? There is change speed correction.

The gain control will allow you to selectively raise the gain on dropouts, or
lower if need be.

The above are just a few of the tools in this software. You aren't confined
to a single venue. It is super for 45's, LP's or just any source. In general,
Diamond Cut is perfect for noise removal for any format.

I have used the software for 4 years and it just keeps getting better.

There is a bulletin board for users where if you have a problem on how to do
something, the answer comes from the software developers. Where else can you
communicate with the authors? They are interested because they use the
software themselves. There are many knowledgeable users that will also assist
you with your situation.

There are Forensics filters and a program that is separate from the main
program that will allow you to chain filters together (you can chain filters
in any of the packages). You run the material through a sound card into the
computer. Apply the filters and route it back out to your recording device.
This is all in real time.

You can go to the following site to download a trial of the software. It will
be the latest release. Price wise there is no program that can touch it.

The Diamond Cut site has the user group and other information.

I too have used Cool Edit Pro, but found that the visual simplicity of
Diamond Cut placed it head and shoulders of anything else out there and is
nowhere as expensive as Sound Forge. I do use Sound Forge as an editor only.
I also have the plug-ins but prefer Diamond Cut.

This software is a set of tools for performing audio restoration.

You can find them at [removed]

I would be happy to answer questions.

Jim

[ADMINISTRIVIA: Once again, not everyone on this list (or in the world) uses
the same operating system, so when discussing computer software, PLEASE
mention the operating system required so those not using it know to skip your
post.  --cfs3]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:50:00 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: A [removed]

On 4/22/03 11:15 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:


It certainly does matter if the story is completely untrue
and they never called any pianist or any other member of
the troupe any such thing, which I believe was part of the
point of Elizabeth's response.

What I think has probably happened here is that the story was either
manufactured out of whole cloth or that, more likely, it built on the
kernel of something that *did* happen and then snowballed all out of
proportion to the actual incident. And what leads me to believe this is
not a compulsive desire to protect the reputations of Correll and Gosden
so much as it is the fact that so much of the story, as related, *is*
demonstrably false.

Barbara Merlin claimed to see Nat Cole playing piano for Amos 'n' Andy.

Nat Cole never played piano for Amos 'n' Andy.

No Cole brother ever played piano for Amos 'n' Andy.

These statements are not simply my opinion -- they can be proven by
comparing the known activities and movements of the Cole brothers with
the period in question. If Barbara Merlin witnessed such an incident, as
she claimed to have done, it had to have occured during her time as a
script supervisor connected to the program -- a period limited to the
relatively narrow window of 1943 to 1948. The documented activities of
the Cole brothers during this period simply don't match up with the
possibility that any one of them could have performed with the A&A
program.

So, the only reasonable conclusion is that Barbara Merlin was not telling
the truth when she claimed, specifically, to have seen Nat "King" Cole
playing piano for A&A and being treated abusively by them. Note that she
didn't say a generic "black pianist." Even the most out-of-it agency
flunkey could be expected to know the difference between an anonymous
studio musician and a national celebrity such as Cole was fast becoming
during the mid-1940s. And Merlin mentioned Cole specfically, by name --
despite the fact that he *couldn't* have been where she claimed he was.
Either she had repeated this story so often that she had created a false
memory, or she was consciously lying. But either way, she wasn't telling
the truth.

Now, we know, for a fact -- borne out by multiple eyewitness testimonies
-- that Gosden could be a very difficult and sometimes tactless person to
get along with. Organist Gaylord Carter described him as "aloof and
distant, except when he was upset about something." Writer Hal Kanter
described him as "something of a snob." Advertising man William Benton
declared that as far back as their split with WGN in 1927, "no one could
work with" Gosden. When his first wife divorced him in 1940, the grounds
cited emphasized his inability to have a normal social life because of
his devotion to his work.

So there's plenty of reason to believe that somewhere along the line,
someone who had run afoul of Gosden's temper complained about it to
someone else. And that person told the story to another person -- and so
on down the line until the story built and escalated until it became one
of a beloved African-American entertainer being disrespected by not one
but *two* crudely-racist white comedians -- despite the fact that the
African-American entertainer in question never had any connection to the
program, and that whatever complaints may have been made against Gosden,
no one who actually *knew* Charlie Correll has ever indicated that he was
anything but a pleasant, affable man who related to the African-American
members of the program's cast with "an unforced friendliness devoid of
condescension," as Melvin Ely put it.

I think this whole story is an excellent illustration of the sort of
irresponsible tale-telling that serious OTR historians have to be ready
and willing to debunk. The fact that someone claims to have seen the
incident firsthand can't override the fact that the incident could not
have actually happened as she specifically claims to remember it. The
example of the Uncle Don "Little Bastards" myth is clear proof of the
tendency of urban myths to be supported by all sorts of alleged
"firsthand testimony," even though invariably such testimony cannot bear
up under close examination, and I think, based on the evidence I've
presented, that this story deserves to be debunked and filed away in the
same drawer with the Uncle Don legend.

The Defense [removed]

Elizabeth

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:03:09 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The New Lum & Abner, MediaPlayer

I wonder how many heard the last nationally popular audio comedy skit
ensemble, Firesign Theater, do its unacknowledged tribute to Lum and
Abner yesterday on All Things Considered. I haven't listened to that
many L & A shows, but it sounded like a very accurate impression to
me. The characters Smut and (didn't catch the other name) were jawing
about problem customers at their on-line store, apparently a website
where customers make their selections and Jot 'Em Down on a Java
form. A curiously obscure reference these days, it seemed to me, that
I'm sure only a minute fraction of the listeners picked up on.

As to problems with Microsoft MediaPlayer: with so many great mp3
players, .wav players, .aiff players and multiple format players,
including Apple's Quicktime, available for free download, I would
think it would be unwise to purchase any programs encoded in
Microsoft's proprietary format, which only benefits Microsoft.
Microsoft has a long history of trying to leverage its Windows
monopoly to bring every aspect of computing under its control, but
there's no need to facilitate their scheme. Or even to use Windows,
for that matter.
--

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:03:26 -0400
From: JJJ445@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Bing Crosby's 100th Birthday

Those of you who enjoy Bing Crosby's radio shows and who live in the
Northwest area might want to consider attending a special salute to him
coming up next week. The Washington-native who pioneered the modern art of
pop singing and became this nation's first multimedia superstar, will be
honored by the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound and the Museum of History and
Industry at a special event commemorating his 100th birthday on May 3, 2003
at the museum in Seattle.

The two-hour program, "BingCentennial: A Salute to Bing Crosby on his 100th

Birthday," will feature radio program excerpts, film clips, music and
photographs to convey the power of this jazz age innovator who personified
America in the 1930s

and '40s when he held sway over popular culture as no entertainer ever had.

Bing achieved unparalleled stardom on radio, records and film and was the
first to master the use of the microphone. He sold hundred of millions of
recordings during his long career, with a record thirty-eight No. 1
hits---the Beatles had 25, Elvis 19.

Other firsts include:

He was a major radio performer longer than any other star, from 1931 until
1954 on network, and 1954 to 1962 in syndication

Appeared on approximately 4000 radio broadcasts, nearly 3,400 of them his own
        programs.

Made more studio recordings than any other singer in history (about 400 more
than  Frank Sinatra).

Between 1927 and 1962 he scored 368 charted records under his own name, plus
twenty-eight as vocalist with various bandleaders, for a total of 396. No one
else has ever come close: Paul Whiteman (220), Sinatra (209), Elvis (149),
Glenn Miller (129), Nat "King" Cole (118), Louis Armstrong (85), The Beatles
(68).

Made the most popular record ever, "White Christmas," the only single to make
American pop charts 20 times, every year but one between1942 and 1962.

In 1960 he received a platinum record for having sold 200 million discs, a
number doubled by 1980.

Between 1915 and 1980 he was the only motion picture star to rank as the numb
er one box-office attraction five times (1944-48). Between 1934 and1954 he
would appear in the top ten fifteen times.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor three times and won once
for "Going My Way."

His songs from his motion pictures captured 14 Academy Award nominations.

Besides the afore-mentioned "White Christmas," Bing introduced a list of

songs that became standards, "Please," "Sweet Leilani," "I'm an old Cowhand",

"Swinging on a Star" and his theme song, "Where the Blue of the Night meets

the Gold of the Day."

The Tacoma-born Crosby was also the voice of optimism and calm during the

depression and World War II when 50 million Americans listened to his Kraft

Music Hall radio show. He was also big at the box-office where he moved

from romantic lead to comedy side-kick by making a series of "road" pictures

with his chum, Bob Hope (also celebrating his 100th birthday on May 29th). A
clip of the rarely seen "The Road Home" starring Bing and Bob will be shown
as well

He passed away August 14, 1977, while playing golf in Spain.

In addition to playing excerpts of some of Crosby's films and radio shows,

there will be a screening of the rarely seen 1933 Crosby film short, "Please"
which got limited theatrical release once Paramount realized Bing's
box-office potential and slated him strictly for feature films.

"BingCentennial:A Salute to Bing Crosby on his 100th Birthday" will begin at
3 PM, Saturday, May 3, at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI),  2700
25th Ave. E, in Seattle. General admission to the museum covers this event.
MOHAI (206) 324-1126.

John Jensen
Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:03:52 -0400
From: Art Chimes <achimes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  'Words at War' reviewed in trade paper

The April 7 edition of Radio World ("The newspaper for radio
managers and engineers") includes a positive review of Howard
Blue's book.  Unfortunately, the review does not appear to be on
Radio World's web site ([removed]).

Reviewer Read G. Burgan describes the book as "a fascinating read
[that] will serve as a valuable resource."

  "Blue provides mini-sketches of the major and actors
  who spearheaded radio's wartime programming ...
  [providing] details of their lives and political and
  social orientation and relates anectodes about their
  personalities inlcuding their methods of writing and
  passions for various causes that influenced what they
  wrote. ...

  "But he also tells a troubling story in which yesterday's
  heroes become today's enemies. He relate how many of the
  writers and actors who produced radio's finest wartime
  dramas later were persecuted for the very work that had
  gained them such praase."

The review also briefly mentions how Howard's interview requests
were received by some of his sources, including Arthur Miller, Art
Carney and Allan Sloane. Several paragraph-length excerpts of the
book appear in a sidebar.

Art Chimes

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:04:09 -0400
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sad News From Schenectady NY
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

WGY'S FIRST HOME COMING DOWN
April 23

ONE OF THE OLDEST BUILDINGS AT THE G-E POWER SYSTEMS COMPLEX IN SCHENECTADY
IS BEING DEMOLISHED. SCHENECTADY MAYOR AL JURCYZNSKI GAVE THE APPROVAL
YESTERDAY FOR THE DEMOLITION OF BUILDING 36, AN 82-YR-OLD BUILDING THAT
HOUSED THE FIRST STUDIOS OF WGY, AND SOME EARLY EXPERIMENTAL TELEVISION
STATIONS.

Auld Lang [removed]

BILL KNOWLTON

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:04:29 -0400
From: james h arva <wilditralian@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  LIFE OF HOMEMADE CD'S

23 APR 03

I noticed some dialogue regarding the usable lifetime of the CD's that
we're now writing on our computers.  If someone does have a concern about
this medium, an obvious precaution might be to keep a log of every CD one
writes.  Then, in 20 years - or whatever he deems appropriate - start at
the beginning of the log and make copies of everything that's 20 years
old.  One of the advantages of digital information storage is that as
long as the recording is readable, it's perfectly readable, [removed], a
reproduction of it will be indistinguishable from the original when
played.

Regards,

Jim Arva
wilditralian@[removed]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 15:52:56 -0400
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Weddings and Conventions

When I first read Bob Burchett's admonition "Make sure your daughter
doesn't plan to get married that weekend", I thought he must be directing
that at me, since I'm the only one I noticed at Cincy with a daughter of
marginally marriageable age (she's almost 19, though she looks 12).

But then I thought that Bob must surely know that Karen, given her own
wedding and the Cincinnati convention, is gonna leave her beau on the
church steps every time.

So don't worry about us, Bob; only a dire illness could keep us away.

---Dan, Kathy, and Karen Hughes
[removed]~dan (spiffy home page with lots of photos and
reports from the last several Cincinnati conventions)

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 15:53:03 -0400
From: rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: cincinnati convention dates

There may not always
be a next year if you don't attend. Block off next
years dates now, and plan to attend. Make sure
your daughter doesn't plan to get married that
weekend.

And then, check with your girlfriend and see if she's willing to change the
date of your (my) wedding.  :-)

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 15:53:08 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  April 24th Birth Dates

If you were born on the 24th of April, you share your birthday with:

04-24-1893 - Leslie Howard - London, England - d. 6-2-1943
04-24-1910 - Richard Conte - Jersey City, NJ - d. 4-15-1974
04-24-1911 - Jack E. Leonard - Chicago, IL - d. 5-10-1973
04-24-1924 - Marilyn Erskine - Rochester, NY
04-24-1934 - Shirley Maclaine - Richmond, VA

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Radio is theatre of the mind, TV is theatre of the mindless

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 15:53:14 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Am I in trouble?

 lynn wagar posted;

Thanks for posting those picture from the convention.  There were only a few
but for those of us who couldn't make the convention they were great to see!!
Besides I finally got to see what Hal Stone looks like!!

Please don't let that discourage you from staying with the OTR hobby, :)

Hal(Harlan)Stone

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #174
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