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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 375

Table Of Contents: 

	 Tape squeal
	 Mr District Attorney
	 @ The FOTR Con
	 Re: cassettes vs. other formats
	 TWTD - Chuck Shaden
	 FOTR Update
	 tape squeal
	 Stick Tape
	 tape squeal
	 DAT TAPE? No, not really!

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 14:52:24 -0400
From: Alan Chapman <[removed]@[removed]>
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed]>
Cc: Ed Carr <edcarr@[removed]>
Subject: Tape squeal
Message-ID: <199610061852_MC1-A1D-E525@[removed]>

>one type of tape i could not fix this way was a
>silver coated tape,i have no idea what brand.

Silver has a much higher melting point.  Silver and silver oxide coatings
are usually called for in applications which must be able to withstand high
heat.  My guess is your tape heating technique will work on silver oxide
backing at a higher temperature -- but I have no idea what temperature
(I'll leave that detail to the far more knowledgable engineers on this
forum).  I know that many US Goverment applications (particularly military)
required tape that could operate in high temperature environments -- my
guess is that the silver-backed tape may have been originally produced to
meet those specs.  I have a few reels of the stuff that came from a [removed]
military surplus [removed]

Alan Chapman

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 16:58:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: mcracken@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Mr District Attorney
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

An old radio show has popped into my head and I can't remember all the
details of it.  The name is "Mr. District Attorney" and it seems like it had
an intro something like "Champion of the people, defender of the truth, [removed]"

Any other "youngster" out there remember this show and can refresh my memory
on it?

Thanks

mac

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

Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 00:14:52 UT
From: "Bruce Rosenberger" <BR3D@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: @ The FOTR Con
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Hi,
I've been in contact with Jay Hickerson and we agreed on a format for the @ 
stickers. I'll have them at the information table so as not to clutter up the 
already busy registration table. I'll put up a little sign to explain what 
they're for. (With a little advertisement for our little fellowship here!)
So look for your fellow digest members wearing either the @ symbol on their 
badges OR the guys wearing micro-chips (they'll be the ones with all the 
computer [removed] or at least I assume that people that have micro-chips 
laying around have more computer info than I [removed]) ;) ( Of course that's not 
too difficult!)  ;)
Bruce

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

Date: 05 Oct 96 23:42:39 EDT
From: Sheldon Levy <[removed]@[removed]>
To: "[removed]@[removed]" <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: Re: cassettes vs. other formats
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

I can only speak for myself. I've purchased over 1000 cassettes, every Jack
Benny show and Life of Riley I can find and the rest
detective/suspense/mysteries. Probably 95% of my listening is in my car, with
the remaining in a walkman at various times. While I admit they take up a great
deal of space, they're darned convienent. Perhaps cassettes are so popular
because other folks listen in their autos.

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

Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 21:51:59 -0400
From: RadioClass@[removed]
To: wdp@[removed] (williampfeiffer)
Subject: TWTD - Chuck Shaden
Message-ID: <961005215159_326254886@[removed]>

Hi All,

Did anyone tape Oct 5 Those Were the Days with Chuck Shaden?  I set my
machine to tape the show but forgot to change the tape direction. Therefore,
I only got two hours.  I did get Phil Harris/Alice Faye.  I hope I got the
entire Lux Radio Theater's play "In Old Chicago".  This program had a lot of
shows about the Great Chicago Fire and a Bill Stern episode that includes a
story about the fire in Peshtigo, WI.  I have 1900 tapes (about 3800 shows)
in my (non-professional) collection that I am willing to share in exchange
for copies of the TWTD shows from today.  

The reason I missed being home to tape is that I went to the Kane County
fairgrounds here in Illinois, where there was a large Flea Market.  I picked
up an old floor model radio.  The brand is Airline.  I am not familiar with
this brand, although, there were quite a few old radios at the fairgrounds
that were the Airline brand.  The seller said that he plugged it in and only
got noise, so I guess it doesn't work.  BUT, I only paid $[removed] and it will
look great in the room where I store my tapes.  I have a replica of a
candlestick phone in there as well as replicas of old advertisment signs and
a cathedral radio.

Anne

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 21:34:28 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: FOTR Update
Message-ID: <961006213426_537962444@[removed]>

Here is an update about our convention, October 17 - 19 at the Holiday
Inn-North, Newark.  Gene Rayburn will be there on Friday and Saturday.  Will
Hutchins will be there all 3 days.   Jim Widner, coauthor of Science Fiction
on Radio plans to be there 3 days.  Cynthia Clements, author of George Burns
and Gracie Allen will be there Friday and Saturday.  Henry Howard of the
Atlanta Radio Theater will be there all 3 days.  Arnold Stang will not be
there.  Eddie Bracken will be there Friday.  We will have 67 dealers tables.
 George Lefferts will be there on Friday.              

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:20:38 -0400
From: Platecap@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: tape squeal
Message-ID: <961006232037_327188061@[removed]>

Joe Salerno must have missed my post about the solution for squealing/sticky
reel tapes.  It's really effective, simple, low cost and doesn't take a brain
surgeon or any special skills to do.   A copy of my article is posted on
Lou's web site.  It was also in a recent edition of Jay Hickerson's Hello
Again.  If you are a member of NARA, it will be in an upcoming edition of
NARA News.

Bob Burnham;  BRC Productions; Platecap@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:45:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Stick Tape
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

In Digest 372, Ken Greenwald said:
> ed carr is right in suggesting that you stay away 
>from any tape that has a black backing. Ampex was the first to use a 
>black backing on open reel tapes. Any tapes manufactured from 
>1982 to 1985 have self distructed into tape squeal. 

No Ken, not all tape manufactured in this era had the problem.  In the 3-m line
it was primarily the 226 product.  There was a little bit of sticky tape 
in the 206/208 series, but very limited in the tapes that I used during that
era.  Ampex and 3-M both new about the problem before the "studio" industry
discovered it.

> Baking a tape is dangerous, but it works. 

Nor really if you use the method that both 3-M and Ampex suggest.
First step, find, beg, borrow or otherwise obtain a Convection oven.
These units maintain a very even temperature, and have very small heating
units compared to a full electric oven.  They can also be set to the low
130-140 degrees recommended temp.

Place the tape in the oven cold, bring it to temp, and bake for 8 or so
hours.  I put an oven thermometer in the oven to double check the thermostat
setting.  At the end of the bake, turn the oven off and allow the tape to
cool where it sits.

When cool, the tape may be very loose on the hub because you have baked the
moisture out of it.  I rewind, and wind my tapes before trying to play.
If they are still sticky, back in the oven for a slightly longer bake.

When they wind ok, copy them.

>Scotch has gone to black backing tape and they also have tape squeal. 

I have been using 3-M product for 25 years now, and the only problem I have
ever had came from the mid 80's back coat.  The new formula is working fine

> Also, do not use the following 
>Scotch formula tapes: Scotch 226 - tape squeal. Scotch 250 - awful 
>print through!

If you are buying 226, 206, 208 or 250 from Scotch, you are buying tape that
was discontinued years ago.  Their 996 is a very hot mastering tape that sounds 
great.  Also remember that how and where you store your tape makes a big
difference in how long it will last.
+++++ Henry Howard == The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company +++++
++++[removed]   or  /artc /audiocraft+++
+++++    Produced at Audio Craft  (770) 923-7955        +++++
  ======================================================= (2)

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

Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:58:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: tape squeal
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

> Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 12:18:45 -0400 (EDT)
> From: radbond <radbond@[removed]>
> To: [removed]@[removed]
> Subject: Tape Squeal
> Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> When I read in past issues that the solution to tape squeal was to heat the 
> tape in an oven and make a transfer to a new tape ASAP I was astonished. My 
> solution may be a lot simpler. 
 
I've never heard of that, and I suspect the result would be similar to the
time my mother tried to use an oven to fix a phonograph record.

I think I was about 3-years old, when my grandparents moved and gave me
their old wind-up victrola.  At some point, I left a record on the
radiator, not knowing the harm that would do.  The record had some lumps
that certainly made it unplayable.  My mother got the brilliant idea of
putting it in the oven to see if that would smooth the lumps. I suppose it
did, in a way.  It melted the entire record into a gooey mess.

The story had a happy ending, though.  A few days later, at the end of
dinner, my father announced that he had gotten a new record for me.  It
turned out to be a new copy of the one that had been destroyed.

As for tape squeal, that is caused by a number of different things.  In
cassettes, it is sometimes caused by the rubber pad in the cassette
getting dried out.  The cassette repair kits at Radio Shack have cotton
pads, which solve the problem.

======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                      617/367-0468
15 Court Square                                   lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2573                    [removed]~lawyer/
======================================================================

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

Date: 07 Oct 1996 04:09:00 GMT
From: kg@[removed] (KEN GREENWALD)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: DAT TAPE? No, not really!
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Hello, hello!
Though DAT tape is an amazing recording medium, especially for professional
recordings studios, there is a major problem with them. First, the
professional studios that use DAT tape use them for short term use. In other
words, once the sound is recorded on DAT tape, it is quickly transferred to
another medium for final use. An example would be a music studio recording a
rock band. Once the DAT master is made, the sound is dubbed over to the CD
format for release to the public. The DAT master is then usually discarded or
kept as a back up master in case of problems. 
I do not recommend using DAT tapes for archival use. Why? Because the system
used for DAT tape recording is far more critical than using analog cassettes
or open reel. DAT signals are laid down on the tape as a series of digital
1's and 0's. As the tape ages (during storage) the tape can shrink or expand.
In the case of DAT even the slightest shrinking or expanding changes the
position of the signal ever so slightly. As the helical scan heads pass over
this "aged" tape, the rotating heads can miss a single 1 or 0. What happens
is that the electronics read a space or the lack of a 1 or 0. The electronics
sense this as missing signal, and you get nothing! Suddenly you loose all
sound. This may last for the rest of the tape or just for a minute. Enough to
effectively "kill" your OTR show.
Of course, this may take some time to happen and you may have many hours of
listening enjoyment until the problem suddenly surfaces and BINGO! your OTR
show is gone. Oh, the show is there, all right, but the shrinkage or
expansion of the tape disturbs the exact placement of the 1's and 0's. DAT is
extremely critical of this and very unkind to your listening ears. 
If you must archive tapes, you have a better chance on analog cassettes,
recordable CDs or that old standby, open reel tape.
If you insist on preserving on DAT, please be aware this problem is a major
one and has not, at this present time, been solved. 
I and my engineer have mastered the Sherlock Holmes cassette series, and the
Spike Jones/Rhino radio shows on DAT. But we immediately transfer the master
DATs to CD and Analog open reel for a final DAT master which I send in to the
manufacturer. They then copy this DAT master to cassette tape masters for
duplication, and discard the DAT master for the exact reasons stated above.
Major DAT tape manufacturers are presently working to solve this strange
problem in hopes of making DAT an archive material -- but don't hold your
breath on this one!
Ken G.




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End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #375
*******************************************

