Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 9 (1930-06)

292 June, I960 The Phonograph Monthly Review mechanistic inventions to their aid, musical cul- ture will eventually be crushed by them. The sound reproductive media of today make danger- ous masters, but they are invaluable servants. The record releases abroad have been in flood tide during the last month—unquestionably one that has contributed the largest and most impor- tant phonographic output of the season, perhaps of any season. A listing of the major works is published elsewhere in this issue. It is very pleasurable to record the fact that the importers are enjoying a vigorous sale of the better discs, at a time when business might be expected to be none too encouraging. Their suc- cess is more than the deserved fruit of capable and unremitting effort,—it is a convincing rejoin- der to those who look upon the present and future of records with a jaundiced eye. And it backs up the contention that has often been made in these pages: the record-buying public of today is an almost entirely new one. It is the concert-going public, the public that has contributed to the oversubscribed seasons of the leading orchestras. Its tastes are more sophisticated: it is less patient with mediocrity and the older musical fashions. For the first time it realizes that it can get the music it is interested in on discs and it is begin- ning earnestly to build up record libraries. Signs of the times! The New York Band In- strument Company has secured the services of one of the leading authorities on recorded mu- sic as the manager of its record department . . . The H. Royer Smith Company is scoring a brilliant success with its bright and highly at- tractive little monthly, “Disques” ... The Gramophone Shop has overgrown its present quarters and expanded into perhaps the most ela- borate phono-salon of its kind . . . Lyon and Healy of Chicago, Paul Heifer of New York, and several other prominent dealers have entered the imported record field . . . The International Records Agency continues its original work in unearthing the less familiar foreign brands, and I note with pleasure that it is featuring the Edi- son Bell recordings of Louis Kentner—to my mind one of the finest recording personalities, a pian- ist who deserves to be far better known in this country. The problems attending the ^relationship of phonograph and radio have been the subject of much public and private discussion. One phase has been strangely ignored or misunderstood. That is the constantly increasing use of records for broadcast. Two kinds of records are put on the air, the normal variety made for public sale and another type which is never put on the mar- ket but which is used widely for chain broadcasts, enabling stations situated in different parts of the country to put on an identical program at the same hour in each time zone. It is the idea of the syndicated newspaper feature adapted to broad- cast publication. If a speaker or orchestra on a national program faces the microphone in New York in the early evening, Western listeners will have to tune in during the late afternoon. There is always the menace of stage-fright or an acci- dent to the central transmission apparatus. The use of records offers a simple way out of these difficulties. The program is prepared in advance, recorded, and the discs sent out to the various stations on the chain, each of which puts them on the air at the same hour in its zone. The pro- gram is often the better for having passed through an intermediate stage—the recording— where errors can be eliminated. The present powers of modern recording and reproduction enables the disc program to have all the effective- ness and realism of an actual broadcast. Score one for the phonograph. But in addi- tion to these “electrically transcribed programs,” as they are somewhat loftily entitled, the ordin- ary record is widely used for broadcast, particu- larly by the smaller stations, since it offers a higher type of entertainment and higher calibre artists than the station could possibly afford to hire for direct broadcast. All of which is very much to the advantage of the station and its au- diences, but just where does the manufacturer of the records come in? He has been watching pro- ceedings with a suspicious eye: are recorded pro- grams advertising his product or are they killing the sales demand? Mr. David L. Piper’s article in this issue, “Records on the Air,” is a straight- forward examination of this very serious prob- lem. His conclusions are the result of much practical experience, and they can profitably be taken to heart by everyone interested in the pro- gress of the phonograph industry. The insensate and illimitable repetition of popular records of hits of the day—played and sung from morning till night—not only gorges the most indiscriminate public taste and ham- strings the public sale of the discs, but it dis- gusts even the most moderate intelligence with the radio. I heartily agree with Mr. Piper that the broadcasting stations ought to set a strict limitation upon the number of times a single song should be put on the air. If they cannot realize that it is to their own advantage to do so, the record manufacturers no doubt can enforce some such restriction. But those who recognize the dangers of exces- sive record broadcasting are inclined to jump too hurriedly at the complete prohibition of record broadcasts. Indiscriminate broadcasting gluts the public’s taste; intelligent broadcasting can be made to stimulate the public’s interest. Serious records presented in competently arranged pro- grams reveal the richness of the recorded litera- ture and, as Mr. Piper has discovered, arouse a vigorous sales demand for the discs. An em- bargo on all record broadcasting would close oi^e of the most effective media for making the best records better known; yet a continuation of the present unreasoned broadcasts of popular discs is going to prove dangerous to the record manu- facturers’ business in popular recordings. Radio and phonograph must learn to work together, to pool rather than to oppose their vast powers. Robert Donaldson Darrell