Saving Radio’s History From the Ravages of Time

Re “Sound of Radio Fading at UCLA Archive,” July 29:

Greg Braxton’s article contains many good points, but one is severely misleading and tends to minimize the importance of broadcast “records” held by such archives as the one at UCLA: During radio’s classic age, recordings were never, never “used by studios to play programs over the airwaves.” The networks, and most of the larger stations, allowed only programs that were live --a term that has almost lost its meaning in this age of synthesized, digitized, pre-digested entertainment. (“Live” did not mean “recorded before a live audience” or “recorded live for delayed broadcast.” Most shows were even performed twice or more, for broadcast in the different time zones.)

Only a precious few programs were ever recorded. Many series have disappeared completely.

In 1972 Phil Cohan, producer of those wonderful Friday-night Jimmy Durante-Garry Moore shows, pried apart the bars of UCLA’s archives to allow me brief access to Durante’s personal collection. One of the first items to catch my eye was an uncoated aluminum disc--signaling an “aircheck” made before acetate-coated transcriptions became the standard in the mid-’30s. From those crude grooves came a treasure: A Maxwell House program of 1933, with a young Jimmy composing “Inky Dinky Doo” (later called “Inka Dinka Doo”) on the air. Not an earthshaking historical moment, perhaps, but the birth of a tune upon which the hat of a decades-long career was hung.

My master tape is carefully hidden in a cave behind a waterfall, but those original grooves may soon be crushed when the UCLA radio archive is consigned to horizontal stacks in a dusty warehouse.

There are lessons to be learned from the shortsightedness at UCLA: First, we must not trust bureaucracies to care for the history of this country’s culture. Their preservation may only be as long as the next budget cut or policy waffle, and access to their collections is often impossible.

Secondly, if anyone has radio transcriptions to donate, make sure they go to an industry archive, such as the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters or SPERDVAC (the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy), where they will be given long-term care and attention.

I like movies too, but when the magic of radio entered our living rooms 70 years ago, it became a very personal friend. When that friend died in the ‘50s, those dusty grooves marked “for reference only” lingered as our only historical record. If you’re over 45, it’s an era you will never forget. Those under 45 need to know what they missed.

JOHN PRICE

Pasadena