"Mark Zenier" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Frank Dresser wrote:

"Gray Shockley" wrote in message
s.com...


There were magnetic tape recordings used during World War 2.

That's true. When I wrote "practically nobody had recording equipment back
then", I was refering to individuals. Of course, there was also alot of
professional disk recording equipment around in the US.

Back when I was in college, the main library there had magazines in the
stacks going back to just after WW II, mostly the Gernsback ones (what
later became Radio-Electronics). One issue, of probably Radio News,
had a feature on a field reporters sound recorder that used phonograph
type mechanical cutting on a flexible tape. About the size of a suitcase
or portable typewriter. I think the tape was continuous, threaded on a
bunch of pulleys.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

There was a recording device called a "BLATNERPHONE". You might try a search
on google or other engine. k35454

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:31:56 GMT, (Mark Zenier)
wrote:

In article ,
Frank Dresser wrote:

"Gray Shockley" wrote in message
ws.com...


There were magnetic tape recordings used during World War 2.
That is a bit of a stretch. They were magnetic recordings used
starting just prior to WWII, however to call them tape in the sense we
use today is a stretch. It was in fact done on a very thin metal
ribbon about 1/2 inch wide. A reel looked more like reel of metal
strapping tape today. The stuff could slice your hands up pretty
badly. I believe the BBC had several units in operation during WW II.

By any standard it is the forerunner of today's magnetic tape. The
next step was magnetic wire recorders, and they certainly were used in
WW II.

At last! Someone remembered Edward R. Murrow and the group [Shirer,
Trout, Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Larry LeSueur, Richard C.
Hottelet, Winston Burdett and Cecil Brown] known affectionately as "The
Murrow Boys"

P.B.S. did a 2 hour "American Master" documentary entitled: "Edward R.
Murrow: This Reporter [Part I]. May still be available at P.B.S.
Some shots of early transmitters and Philco receivers and shortwave
audio clips from London [during the "Blitz"] and Berlin and the great
journalistic reporting from the concentration camp, Buchenwald. You can
hear the QRM, QRN, and the RTTY from an adjoining frequency.

You can also search for a 33 RPM vinyl record entitled, "This Is Edward
R. Murrow". It was produced by CBS News for the CBS network. It was an
original broadcast, aired just a few days after Murrow died on April 27,
1965. Several s.w. broadcasts there also.

John wrote:
SR wrote in message ...

I was wondering if durring WW2, did people record audio broadcast on
shortwave and if they, what are these recording called and where could I
hear them at?

73


You might try searching out some OTR (Old Time Radio) sites and
checking out the 'news' files. Many have news mp3 files of WWII.
Though there are no files directly linked to shortwave, the nightly
radio news back then would feature live reports from the different
theaters of combat via 'shortwave' -- if the 'atmospherics' were
cooperating. Sort of like live via satellite (when live satellite
feeds were a big deal for the nightly news). It's kind of fun
listening to these live reports and hearing the static and other QRM
and QRN one gets used to when listening to shortwave. And sometimes
the atmospherics didn't cooperate and all you heard was static and
then the anchor, like Robert Trout, would apologize for the static. I
believe the news files you need to check out are like...CBS WORLD NEWS
TONIGHT. This particular news division featured a lot of live reports
via shortwave during their nightly broadcasts. Used effectively by
Edward Murrow. It was the way William Shirer would report nightly from
Berlin. And as he later said, he wouldn't know whether he was giving a
great report, or if all his efforts were simply dissipating into the
static. He would get reports back from New York the next day through
phone calls whether his live reports had made it through.

--
MZ�

"A.Pismo Clam" wrote in message ...
At last! Someone remembered Edward R. Murrow and the group [Shirer,
Trout, Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Larry LeSueur, Richard C.
Hottelet, Winston Burdett and Cecil Brown] known affectionately as "The
Murrow Boys"

P.B.S. did a 2 hour "American Master" documentary entitled: "Edward R.
Murrow: This Reporter [Part I]. May still be available at P.B.S.
Some shots of early transmitters and Philco receivers and shortwave
audio clips from London [during the "Blitz"] and Berlin and the great
journalistic reporting from the concentration camp, Buchenwald. You can
hear the QRM, QRN, and the RTTY from an adjoining frequency.

You can also search for a 33 RPM vinyl record entitled, "This Is Edward
R. Murrow". It was produced by CBS News for the CBS network. It was an
original broadcast, aired just a few days after Murrow died on April 27,
1965. Several s.w. broadcasts there also.


Unfortunately I missed that PBS showing, but thanks for the heads-up.
I had read numerous books on journalists of that era, especially if it
pertained to radio (and therefore shortwave) broadcasts. Two good
books come to mind: THE MURROW BOYS and BERLIN DIARY. THE MURROW BOYS
is a recent book (well, about 5 years old), and it gives a good bio on
each reporter that worked with Murrow; and of course, how they
broadcast their reports. And BERLIN DIARY is simply a good book
written by William Shirer describing his years reporting from Berlin,
which delves into his radio broadcasts some. He became famous because
of his Berlin shortwave broadcasts, but then he became a superstar (at
that time) due to this book he wrote when he departed Berlin. And
there is also a good (surprisingly,) made-for-TV movie called THE
NIGHTMARE YEARS based on Shirer's BERLIN DIARY, which is quite
informative too.