NPR's Lost and Found Sound
from National Public Radio
November 19, 1999
Obsessed
With TV Sound
That Was The Week That Was
Phil Gries has recorded the sounds of television since 1958, and
has captured many historic and now lost moments in the process.
Similarly, Art Chimes was fascinated with the short-lived NBC show
of the 1960s "That Was The Week That Was" which he
recorded and shares with us.
November 12, 1999
Mental
Hygiene Films
In the years following World War II, students across America
watched instructional films on social guidance and attitude
enhancement called "mental hygiene" films.
November 5, 1999
WHER
1000 Beautiful Watts - Pt. 2
In the second part of our story about WHER, the nation's first
all-girl radio station, we hear how the station evolved from
all-music to a more news and talk driven format, as the world
changed around them.
October 29, 1999
WHER
1000 Beautiful Watts
They went on-air October 29, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee, and
stayed there for 17 more years -- WHER: The First All-Girl Radio
Station in The World.
October 22, 1999
The
Transistor on the School Bus
In the fall of 1960, 8-year-old Jonathan Cuneo had his first
transistor radio. This allowed something new to happen: he could
hear his beloved New York Yankess play in the World Series as he
rode the school bus home. The Yankees lost that year -- and there
were unforeseen consequences on the bus.
October 15, 1999
LBJ
& the Helium Filled Astronaut
Producer Larry Massett has been playing a strange piece of tape to
people for over 20 years: President Lyndon Baines Johnson talking
to a squeaky-voiced Scott Carpenter who was in a special
decompression chamber after 30 days undersea.
October 8, 1999
The
Man Who Loves Sound
85-year old Don Hunter of Eugene, Oregon plays us a few of his
acoustic "trophies" from a lifetime of recording the
sounds. We hear a "planer," foghorn and the felling of a
Douglas Fir.
October 1, 1999
"1941
Slam Poetry": Fred Friendly at Quonset
Before he was dean at the Columbia University School of
Journalism, before his legendary collaboration with Edward R.
Murrow, before he produced CBS' "See It Now," Fred
Friendly gave a radio dedication speech for the opening of the
Quonset Naval Air Station in Rhode Island--at age 25. An NPR
listener found it on a 78 rpm record at a flea market.
September 24, 1999
R.A.
Coleman's "Electronic Memories"
The second of the Lost & Found Sound Memphis trilogy presents
a glimpse of life through the recordings of African American
photographer RA Coleman, making his living by documenting the
black community in the 1950s South.
September 17, 1999
We
Record Anything-Anywhere-Anytime: Sam Phillips & the Early
Years of the Memphis Recording Service
We present the first of our Lost & Found Sound Memphis trilogy
with this portrait of the early years of Sam Phillips and his
legendary Memphis Recording Service. Interviews with Sam, his
family, Ike Turner and others are interwoven with the remote
recordings he made of talent shows, funerals and proms to support
his passion for recording the raw unrecorded music of the 1950s
South.
September 10, 1999
Downloading
the Repertoire
Jack Mudurian loves to sing. He once claimed that he knew more
songs than Frank Sinatra. So David Greenberger challenged him, and
recorded the results on the back porch of the Duplex Nursing Home
in Boston.
September 3, 1999
21st
Century Cylinders
Thomas Edison's music room went unused since the days when he was
using it to record the famous at the turn of the century. Lately,
some top names have been back there in West Orange, New Jersey,
making modern-day wax cylinders, which use no microphone, no
electricity.
August 27, 1999
The
Hits Just Keep on Coming
Shouting DJs and shock news were the hallmarks of radio station
CKLW outside Detroit in the 1960s and 70s, where NPR's Don Gonyea
grew up.
August 20, 1999
Lovers
of Lost Fans
Old electric fans are the passion of listener Willard Mayes and
fellow members of the American Fan Collectors Association. Mayes
called our Quest for Sound phone line to tell us about his love
for the machines. Quest curator Jay Allison takes us to Andover,
Kansas, to hear fans hum, and sometimes, whistle.
August 13, 1999
One
World Flight
Radio dramatist Norman Corwin and producer Mary Beth Kirchner
review his 1946 around the world trip which resulted in a series
of 13 documentaries for CBS.
August 6, 1999
Sound
of a Silent Star
Sound of Silents
Silent film star Buster Keaton is always seen more than he is
heard. But through our Quest for Sound phone line and listener Bob
Borgen, we hear Keaton sing at a party. Also, NPR film critic Bob
Mondello takes us back to the days of silent films and reminds us
that there was a time when we weren't supposed to hear anything in
the movies.
July 30, 1999
Wynken,
Blynken and Nod
A singing trio in Chicago in the 1920s, NPR's Kathy Schalch
recently discovered her grandmother Gay was Wynken and her Aunt Lu
was Blynken to a series of Nods.
July 23, 1999
A
Man with a Horn
Walk through Washington Square Park in New York City one summer
Sunday and you'll hear songs of another time. Eric Byron plays
them on his phonograph with a homemade horn.
July 16, 1999
Radio
Free Georgetown
In the late 1960s and early 1970s young, mostly left-wing students
and radicals found a voice on FM community radio across the
country. Ken Sleeman was the general manager of one such station,
WGTB-FM in Washington DC. He shares some of his recordings from
that time.
July 9, 1999
Farewell
to Studio Nine
When CBS closed its main news studio -- Studio 9 -- 35 years ago
veteran broadcaster Robert Trout went on the air to recall some of
the biggest stories that were anchored from there. Now he recalls
that farewell program and the fellow broadcasters who worked with
him.
July 2, 1999
The
Fourth of July
Thirty-six years ago this Independence Day, NPR's Art Silverman
produced his first radio piece on his hometown's holiday
festivities. And 103 years ago John Philip Sousa wrote what became
the official march of the United States of America - The Stars and
Stripes Forever.
July 2, 1999
Ribbon
of Rust
A tribute to Jack Mullin, the engineer who introduced German tape
recorders to America after World War II. Soon thereafter Bing
Crosby started using them to pre-tape his radio show on ABC.
June 30, 1999
Bride,
Groom & Microphone
In celebration of the Spring marriage season, an audio album of
weddings curated from the Quest for Sound. The brides and grooms
are wed in ceremonies reflecting their different times, lives,
traditions and the recording mediums of the era.
June 25, 1999
Sound
Restoration
We learn about what old sounds can and can't be restored. Sound
restorer Steve Smolian demonstrates how he goes about his job
using materials provided by Quest for Sound line callers. From
listener Laurie Baker's little sister singing "All Things
Bright and Beautiful" to listener Martha Platt's grandmother
speaking in Swedish - Smolian uses his talent and specialized
equipment to bring back long lost voices.
June 18, 1999
Her
Father's Voice
Since his death 30 years ago, NPR's Susan Stamberg hadn't heard
her father's voice. She knew it was on a record somewhere in her
home, so she went searching for it and found a reminder of her
childhood.
June 11, 1999
Losing
Languages
There are over 6,000 languages in the world today. Some experts
say the majority are on the verge of disappearance. NPR's Dean
Olsher considers the rapid deaths of many of the world's languages
-- like Papua New Guinea's Arapesh -- and reports on the debate in
the linguistic community over the need to intervene and save them.
June 4, 1999
Mark
Twain's Guitar
Mark Twain was more than one of America's literary legends.
According Hank Risan he was also a passionate guitarist and
singer, playing gospel, blues, love songs and political satire.
Risan believes that the guitar was built by the legendary guitar
maker C.F. Martin.
June 4, 1999
Sound-Crossed
Lovers
A story of two children with different accents: one British, one
Spanish. Now they are adults who are engaged to be married, and
have lost their accents. But they each discovered tapes of
themselves as children, each singing "Old MacDonald Had A
Farm."
May 28, 1999
Tennessee
Williams
One night Tennessee Williams and his buddy Pancho walked down to
131 Royal Street in New Orleans to the Pennyland Arcade, sat in a
Voice-O-Graph recording booth and made eight cardboard acetate
discs. These 1947 recordings are intertwined with a return to the
Penny Arcade today, as well as conversations with actress Kim
Hunter, the original Stella in "A Streetcar Named
Desire", Tennessee's brother Dakin, and his biographer Lyle
Leverich among others.
May 21, 1999
Diamonds
in the Dung Heap
The Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University houses
recorded speeches, performances, lectures, interviews, and
broadcasts by over 50,000 persons over the last 100 years. NPR's
Don Gonyea took a tour of the library and talked to its collector.
May 21, 1999
Lindbergh,
Collie, and Me
On May 21, 1927, Minnesotan Xandra Kalman and her husband Collie
were on vacation in Paris. It was her wish to be at Le Bourget
Field when Charles Lindbergh landed there that day...and she was.
She later told the story to her children and grandchildren and
recorded it on audio cassette. Her step-grandson, Mark Orton
submitted it to our Quest for Sound™.
May 14, 1999
CIGAR
STORIES: El Lector - He Who Reads
Actor Andy Garcia narrates a story about the "readers"
who made life in cigar factories tolerable. This story, produced
by The Kitchen Sisters -- Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva -- in
collaboration with Laura Folger and Tina Pacheco, tells the story
of the men who were paid to read aloud to men and women rolling
cigars in Tampa and Ybor City, Florida at the beginning of the
century and into the 1930s. Listener Henry Cordova brought it to
our attention through the Quest for Sound.
May 8, 1999
Meet
the Beatles
In August 1964 at the age of 19, Judy Vulliet and her friend met
the Beatles. They reported on the Beatles American tour for a
Washington, DC radio station. But they recorded and saved only one
interview, which Ms. Vulliet told us about on our Quest for Sound™
phone line.
May 7, 1999
Boys
to Men: Troop 3 & VE-Day
Two pieces from our Quest For Sound™ phone line trace this day
in history for two different groups of men in uniform. Boy Scout
Troop 3 performs its annual Gang Show - a compilation of skits and
songs from the 1920s right through the nineties. And on the 54th
anniversary of VE-Day, NPR listener Ken Dunn shares a recording of
his mother's feelings on the event.
April 30, 1999
Portrait
of An Artist as An Answering Machine
The telephone answering machine is each person's own domestic
preservation device -- a virtual cedar chest of treasured messages
-- collections of monologues and small self portraits, that when
listened to closely add up to an informal oral history of our
lives.
April 23, 1999
Ode
to the Code
The Tale of Two Twitching Fingers
The telegraph served generations as a communications device this
century, but now it's nearly extinct. NPR's Jonathan Kern recalls
how the device and its Morse Code were an important part of his
childhood -- a language that united him with his father. And
producer Gregory Whitehead of Nantucket, Massachusetts remembers
his grandfather, a professional telegrapher.
April 16, 1999
AT&T
Archives
NPR's Art Silverman, as part of our year-long collaborative
venture between NPR and independent producers, explores the sonic
landscape saved by the AT&T archives. Among the artifacts at
the Warren, New Jersey site are thousands of hours of movies,
radio shows, and other sound that what was once our nation's
near-monopoly telephone company made to portray itself. The
strong, confident image of what came to be called Ma Bell was
supported by dramatic rendering of service and community service.
AT&T Historian Sheldon Hochheiser serves as tour guide.
April 9, 1999
Carnival
Talkers
Those guys at carnivals who try to lure you into the freak shows
call themselves Carnival Talkers - never "barkers."
Their pitches are carefully structured attempts to part you from
your money. Independent producers Jay Allison and Rachel Day bring
us into the world of the people who get you to pay good money to
see The Lobster Boy and the Geeks.
April 2, 1999
Extinct
Tongues: South African Language
A linguist in Flagstaff, Arizona, Bonny Sands, told us about her
colleague from South Africa Tony Traill. Traill took some old wax
cylinders and documented a lot of the now extinct languages of
South Africa. He has now put out a CD copy of the original, which
was recorded in 1936. We hear excerpts.
March 26, 1999
Listening
to the Northern Lights
We experience the sounds of the Aurora Borealis through the ears
of sound recorder Steve McGreevy. Very low radio frequencies
accompany the Northern Lights and at the equinoxes, when the
signals are strongest, McGreevy heads north to listen. He hears
the chirps, pops and choruses that play out when the Earth's
Magnetic Field interacts with the Sun.
March 19, 1999
Mr.
Watson, Come Here, I Want You!
You
Say Hello, I Say Ahoy
Sounds
of Movies
Three stories for the price of one. NPR listener Dr. Bill
Winternitz of Alabama sends us a rare recording. It's the voice of
his grandfather, Thomas A. Watson, telling us the remarkable story
of March 10, 1876 when he received from Alexander Graham Bell the
first telephone call ever. Also, an exploration of the origin of
the use of the word "Hello" as a telephone greeting, and
film critic Bob Mondello explores the history of sound in the
movies.
March 12, 1999
New
Yawk Talk
All Things Considered host Robert Siegel visits University of
Pennsylvania linguist William Labov. Labov studies regional
accents in the United States to see how they change over time and
over class. We focus on his 40-year study of the various accents
of New York City.
March 4, 1999
Harmonica
Lessons
As a child, listener Jonathan Mitchell received a cassette sent to
him by his grandfather. He never knew his grandfather very well,
and listening to the tape evoked some mixed feelings for Jonathan.
February 26, 1999
Tony
Schwartz: 30,000 Recordings Later
A profile of Tony Schwartz, an innovative and inspired sound
gatherer, recording the sounds of America since 1945. A man who
will venture no further than his postal zone, Mr. Schwartz has
made more than 30,000 home recordings in the streets, delis, cabs,
playgrounds and stoops of his New York neighborhood.
February 19, 1999
Harry
Truman: The Center of the World
It’s a remarkable, bittersweet goodbye by a famous man to his
boyhood home. Listener and media producer Reverend Dwight Frizzell
grew up in Truman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri. Several
years ago he went to the Truman presidential Library and found
this transcription of a groundbreaking. With the help of a
musician friend, Michael Henry, he added music.
February 15, 1999
Gettysburg
Eyewitness
A unique recording: the voice of William V. Rathvon, who as a
nine-year-old boy watched and listened to Abraham Lincoln deliver
his address at Gettysburg in November 1863. The story was told in
1938 and recorded on a 78 r.p.m. record.
February 12, 1999
Dead
Media
The machines that capture sound generally fall apart much sooner
than the media on which the sound is captured. Think of that
8-Track tape player in your attic. That turns those wires and tape
into "dead media"; the sound is trapped, perhaps never
to be heard again. We resurrect sound from Dead Media, like Oscar
Hammerstein recording his thoughts on a dictabelt.
February 5, 1999
The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Thomas Alva Edison
Part
II - Edison and the Competition
One of the wonders of recorded sound is indeed that it is
recorded, and one can access it whenever one wants. In part two of
the story of Thomas Alva Edison, we explore the first ever
recorded sounds to diamond discs cut in 1927.
January 29, 1999
The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Thomas Alva Edison
Part
I
Thomas Alva Edison founded recorded sound. He invented the
repeating telegraph and the phonograph, among others. He was known
as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," his hometown in New
Jersey.
February 5, 1999
Response to the Quest
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flavors.
January 29, 1999
Introduction to the Quest
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January 1, 1999
Introduction to Lost & Found Sound
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