Re: [ARSCLIST] acetate broadcast notations

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If these discs were used for rebroadcast or delayed broadcast, a designation
such as 1 3/4 probably means the number of turns from the spiral to where the
audio begins. This was to prevent the operator from having to back-cue the disc
and wear out the groove. You'll see numbers like this written on transcriptions
from music libraries as well.

dl

Eric Jacobs wrote:

> I'm working on a collection of 16-inch acetates from the 1940s, and some
> have the fractional notations handwritten in pencil on the label.
>
> For example, one set shows:
>
> "1 3/4" - on disc 1, part 3 (side 2) - no annotation on disc 1, side 1
> "2 1/2" - on disc 2, part 2 (side 1)
> "3" - on disc 2, part 4 (side 2)
>
> and on another set
>
> "1 3/4" - on disc 1, part 1 (side 1) - no other annotations on other discs
> in the set
>
> This question is simply a point of curiousity - am I looking at a meaningful
> notation that was used throughout the broadcast industry, or am I looking at
> a notation that was specific to one recording engineer.  You never know when
> these little cryptic things might actually be useful.
>
> Eric Jacobs
> The Audio Archive