Tape Network, 1950-1953 (1) (1950-1953)

Network Report — 3 tunataly, the recording quality of the Interlochan material (the original tapes sent NAEB) dropped considerably from the previous year* 10) DUPLICATION AND MUSIC , The most difficult sounds to reproduce satisfactorily are those of music* Such duplication is especially difficult on a mass-duplica- tion basis* The Network machine has had a year of hard work* and at present will not do a satisfactory job on musical material* It is in a condition equivalent to that of a oar that has gone 50*000 miles, wide open* For this reason we feel that until the mass-duplicator is thoroughly overhauled or another machine is acquired, the Network should not distribute music* The amount of music distributed lately has been low, excepting for the Intarlochen programs which were duplicated not at Headquarters but on a new machine by WBM, but it would be best to temporarily avoid this area of programming altogether* This is a pity, because we have some good music coming up 5 but if the Network ean«» not do justice to them, there is no good reason to tie up tapes on them when Net * 3 work stations can do better by playing their own records* The Network. Headquarters hopes to be able to release its duplicator for rebuilding, or at least for extent sive repairs, for the two weeks required in about one month* Possibly a new mach¬ ine will be acquired by that time* In either case the Network will again be able to distribute decentmusical recordings at that time* r 11) COSTS AND ^SPECIAL N0HK u * As mentioned above, the Network mails out not only mass-duplications, but a number of individual ”dub n * Every week the Network re¬ ceives more requests for 11 special n recordings than it has tin© to fill without slightly other work* Stations would like to have programs from past series, a cur¬ rent program has been accidentally erased, etc* An increasing number of man-hours is being put into this kind of work, and the fee charged is only $ 1«00 a reel— hardly more than a token payment* The Network Headquarters therefore coratemplates encouraging stations to accept and save, if possible, copies of all series which they may use in the future, thus enlarging their recording libraries 5 discouraging stations from regarding the Network as an Association Tape Library, which at pre¬ sent it is not and cannot bej raising the charge for special recording jobs from $ 1*00 to at least $ 2*00 a reel in order to narrow the gap between expense and payment* (Notes The raise in fee to $ 2*00 has now been approved*) 12) SUBMISSION FORMS . Special forms have been distributed to all stations and other possible contributors to the Network* These forms uere devised to aid Net¬ work Headquarters and the two program committees—Network Acceptance and In-School Program—in determining the disposition of programs* They were devised to hasten action on acceptance and rejection, and we are certain that they will be a great help in the Network operation—if they are used* nfortunately, as we anticipated at Headquarters, the use of these forms has been slighted* The contributor should submit not one copy, nor four copies of the form, but one copy for Headquarters and one copy for each member of the committee to which the program is to be referred* Otherwise the forms are of little help* 13) CONCLUSION * The output of the Network has increased considerably*during the past year—just as it has brown from its very beginning as Radio Station VJNYC, New York City* The staff of its Headquarters has remained minima l because it has been the belief of the Association and Network Headquarters that a young and rapidly growing operation should attempt to get the most from the least rather than fall into the evils of early over-staffing* Network Headquarters staff consists of? 3 full-time and 1 half-time worker concerned exclusively with the physical processing of tapes, record albums, books, and the records immsd« lately attending this processing*