The record changer (Feb-Dec 1948)

lemME take this chorus I'm going to devote the entire space this month to a problem which has always been with the Record Changer and which as yet has not been solved to the satisfaction of anyone concerned ; namely : the uncertain arrival of the magazine in the hands of the subscribers. It is obviously imperative that for the smooth and equitable operation of the record sales and auction lists the Changer must reach all readers at about the same time and should certainly reach them within a day or two of the time when copies go on sale in retail stores throughout the country. The Record Changer has always received letters and continues to receive them complaining of the non or late arrival of the publication. First of all I want to make a few facts clear to everyone. Give or take a day, the Record Changer is put into the mails in New York City on the 13th of the month. It is shipped in two groups, the one preceding the other by two days. One group to those subscribers west of the Mississippi and the other east. This should make for an equitable time factor for arrival of copies. As long as we put the book into the mails before the 15th we are fulfilling our part of the obligation to get the book to subscribers on time. What happens after that, only Bob Hannegan knows! Let me give you a few examples. One chap, although a long time subscriber, has had to write each month for eleven straight months that his copy did not show up and would we please send it along and stop cheating him. We have sent him eleven extra copies. This last February our friends in Brooklyn, a twenty minute subway ride away, did not receive their copies until three weeks after they were mailed. A chap down in Arizona has never gotten his copy prior to about two weeks after publication. To top it off, a music shop which is only about two miles from the Changer office has not received a single one of the four copies sent him. One on original order, the others after three indignant phone calls. The question is: Why does this happen? We send the publication on a third class mailing permit. This is one of the two bulk mailing rates used by magazines. We are forced to use this rate, which is just about four times as expensive as second class, due to our method of printing. However, there is supposed to be no difference 'in the speed of delivery so that's not the answer. Therefore I must place the bulk of the blame on the Post Office Department. I have checked very carefully and find that the publication leaves the post office on the day of delivery. It is then sorted into states and shipped by rail to the various main post offices throughout the nation for further separation and final delivery. I believe that here is where the trouble starts. Doe to the expressed desire of our readers to have the publication mailed in an envelope (rather than rolled or simply addressed without any cover as most magazines are mailed), because you want to keep the books and prefer to have the copies arrive in good condition, unfolded and clean, it is not clear to the route mailman that it is a magazine and should be delivered post haste. He probably feels it is some kind of advertising literature (much such material is mailed third class). His bag is usually quite heavy, (Continued on PageZA) May 1948 the record changer Volume 7, No. 5 Editor BILL ORATIER, JR. Managing Editor ORRIN KEEPNEWS Art Editor GENE DEITCH West Coast Editor NESUHI ERTEGUN Production JANE GRAUER Benny Carter The Blue Blower Wilber's Wildcats The Devil and the Trombone Last of the Tubas Records Noted CONTENTS Nesuhi Ertegun Eddie Condon Orrin Keepnews Martin Gardner Bucklin Moon and Kenneth Lloyd Bright George Avakian Bucklin Moon Paul Bacon Pictures by George Fletcher I I Jazz in Hollywood Letter to the Editor Ed Hill Classical Records Noted De Peyster St. Clair Goodman Discography Part Two Carl Kendziora, Jr. Record Exchange Section: Advertisers' Addresses 25 Records For Disposition 28 Records Wanted 32 Collectors' Display Ads 35 Classical Exchange 33 14 16 16 19 COLLECTORS' DISPLAY ADS 1 column (1/3 page; 78 lines) ... .$10.00 2 columns (2/3 page; 156 lines) .. $20.00 3 columns (full page; 234 lines) . $30.00 No display ads for record lists less than one column accepted. SUBSCRIPTIONS United States: 1 year $3.00, 2 yrs. $5:50, 3 yrs. $7.50, Canada add 25 cents per year for postage. Foreign add 50 cents per year for postage. To subscribe, send your remittance to The Record Changer, 125 I/a Salle St.. New York City 27, New York. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES Classified sections; 13 cents per record, submitted on our special ad forms. For a supply of these forms address a post card to The Record Changer, 125 La Salle St., New York City 27, N. Y. The rate for classified advertising not submitted on these forms is 20 cents per reconl. COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING Address inquiries to The Record Changer, 125 La Salle St., New York City 27, N. Y. The Record Changer Is published monthly by Changer Publications, Inc. 125 La Salle St.. New York City 27, N. Y. Copyright 1948 By Changer Publications, Inc. THE RECORD CHANGE!