NEW RECORD INVENTION HAS ENDLESS VARIATIONS

The claim sounded too fantastic to be real: a record album with a playing time measured not in minutes, but in hundreds of hours? And one that can be played on all conventional record players with no additional special equipment?

That phenomenal claim for the new “Interactor” phonograph record developed by Harvest Time Inc. of San Clemente both is and isn’t true.

What you can’t do with Harvest Time’s invention is place the needle at the beginning of the record and have days of uninterrupted listening. The actual total of recorded material of the Interactor record is equivalent to that of any conventional vinyl LP.

Nevertheless, Interactor represents a genuine innovation over the conventional phonograph record in its unique use of random access tracks and multiple start-stop bands, a design for which the company has a patent pending.

For spoken-word recordings--the process does not appear practical for strictly musical applications--the Interactor can accommodate branching story lines to provide thousands of different combinations. So in effect, the result is hundreds of hours of non-repeated program material.

And it is immune to the scourge of the record industry: home taping.

The Interactor record, which won’t be marketed until the patent is approved, was developed over the last two years by Harvest Time, a research and development firm backed by venture capital, primarily for children’s recordings and toys.

“We wanted to make a toy that we would have liked when we were kids,” said William Knoke, Harvest Time’s vice president of marketing. “But in talking to some of the talent agencies, we’re finding all kinds of other potential uses.”

To make the Interactor record, a specially designed cutting lathe cuts three concentric spirals--each with a different recorded program--within every separate band, rather than the single continuous spiral groove on all standard records. Therefore, when the needle is set on any single band, the user can’t predict which of its three programs he or she will hear because there are three separate grooves beginning at different spots on the leading edge of each band.

Further, individual bands on the Interactor record are separated from one another by a narrow strip of vinyl without a groove, unlike conventional records in which bands are linked together with a continuous groove. So for the record to continue, listeners must physically move the needle from one band to another, depending on what direction they decide the story should proceed. With three different program tracks on each of seven bands on either side of the record, there are 42 different tracks that can be played in thousands of different story combinations.

For instance, Harvest Time has packaged an Interactor record with color-coded bands as part of a children’s board game about a birthday party for a character named Artie. At the end of each band, the narrator requires players to choose what happens next. (“If you think Artie should go to the store, play the yellow band. If you think he should go home and check his mailbox, play the red band.”)

Knoke said: “Even if the child wanted to hear the same story over again, it would be very, very difficult because of the random tracks feature.

“On a more philanthropic level, we hope to use celebrities in records dealing with problems like drug abuse or child abuse. You can set up a scenario and let the child make a choice and see the outcome of that choice without physically having to experience it.

“But that’s why we call it Interactor--the child becomes the actor, the alter ego of the character on the record. We’ve been working closely with child psychologists and educators, and they tell us that having a pseudo-experience like this helps fortify the child’s ability to make the right choice when that situation occurs in real life.

“We’ve tested it on many children and they love it,” Knoke said.

On a slightly more commercial note, Knoke said one toy manufacturer was particularly interested in using the Interactor concept in conjunction with its line of toy action figures. By creating branching stories that cross-promote other figures, the child would need all of the figures to act out the stories. “You can’t blame them,” Knoke said. “They are in business to sell toys.

“This could also be a tremendous medium for comedians. (An impressionist) could use it to set up different jokes: ‘If you want Richard Nixon to answer that question, play the green band. If you want Jimmy Carter to answer, play the white band.’

“The problem with comedy records is that you can only play them once or twice because you know the punch lines. Or you could get (Dodgers’ manager) Tommy Lasorda to narrate the last inning of the World Series. (‘If you think I should pitch to the batter, play the blue band. If you think I should walk him, play the orange band.’)

“We took it to one major talent agency and they told us, ‘There’s not one of our clients who couldn’t use this in some way.’ ”

“The popularity of interactive entertainment is rising very fast. There are interactive books, videotapes, computers and now interactive phonograph records. We think the pro-social and educational aspects of Interactor makes it one of the most exciting toy concepts in a long time. We’re not on getting up on a soap box; we’re just trying to fill a need that kids have.”

VINYL TRIBUTE: A double live album featuring Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, David Bromberg and 11 other folk and rock performers who took part in last January’s “Tribute to Steve Goodman” concert in Chicago, has been released on Red Pajamas Records, the label formed by the late singer-songwriter. Goodman, who had moved to Seal Beach several years ago from his native Chicago, died in September, 1984, of complications arising from treatments for the leukemia he had battled for nearly 20 years. The album is available by mail order for $15 from Red Pajama Records, P.O. Box 233, Seal Beach, CA, 90740.

BANGLES ON CAMPUS: Los Angeles bands the Bangles and 5th Estate will perform Sunday at UC Irvine as part of the “College Peacewalk” anti-nuclear rally, an event staged to raise financial and moral support for the Great Peace March from Los Angeles to Washington next March. Sunday’s event will begin at noon. For more information, call (213) 653-6245.

LIVE ACTION: David Lindley will do a solo concert on Nov. 16 at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach. . . . T.S.O.L., which opens tonight for X at the Universal Amphitheatre, returns to Spatz in Huntington Harbour on Nov. 9. . . . The Minutemen will be at Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach on Nov. 15.