New York Public Radio Archives

NYPR Archives provides a central repository for thousands of audio recordings, photographs, memorabilia, reports, news items, program guides, institutional records, and promotional materials. Among its holdings are more than 50,000 recordings in a variety of formats, from early lacquer and acetate discs, to reel-to-reel tapes, to digital audio tapes and compact discs from WNYC, WQXR, and NJPR, along with video and audio recordings from the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space.

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Before the internet, audiotapes were the MOOCs of their time.

These two, on psychology and geometry, are probably from Automated Learning, at 119 5th Avenue in New York. But there were many, many more.

(Nice box texture, by the way.)

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“There is no Guarantee Covering Unraveled Tape”

Alas. Japanese endless-loop 1/4″ tape TA-146 “Synchro E”, Olson/TDK

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A set of Ampex vintage test tapes

Calibration is essential for accurate playback, and the engineers at the pioneering Ampex were fully aware of this. These rare acetate-based test reels are probably from the 1950s or early ‘60s.

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Fidelipac Height-Adjustment guide, 1980

The Fidelipac “NAB Cart” was developed in the 1950s and widely used in radio stations worldwide for decades; .it predates the eight-track and the (compact) cassette.

This is a height-adjustment gauge (about 1 1/4″ long), manufactured in Mt Laurel, NJ in 1980.

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Classy design from Columbia. Gotta love the all-black reel.

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I thought I was getting “Sparkling classics”, instead I got “Blood and Thunder”

Yes... the reel *is* in the right case. False advertising?

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A gold embossed stamp claims, “studio certified quality” on this Ampex tape box. 

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We know you have been up at night, wondering, “Just what is Tenzar anyway?” Here is your answer.

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Generic, but not without charm. #tape box tuesday#reel to reel#magnetic tape#public radio#WNYC#wnyc archives#archives#vintage audio#analog#audiophile#design#graphic design#illustration#red aesthetic#branding#product design#typography#all caps#hifidelity#hifi#hi-fi#high fidelity#plaza

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Happy #tape box tuesday! This week one of my absolute favorite tape box covers: Triton’s enchanting 1960s seahorse looking pensively at floating technicolor reels. 

This recording is one of a series of seminars on the Moscow Art Theatre and the teaching method of Konstantin Stanislavski. On this particular recording, Shelley Winters, Stella Adler, Sonia Moore and Rip Torn were in the audience. Winters and Adler take up most of the Q&A arguing about the use of emotion memory! 

Listen now @ wnyc.org

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Train and bell sound effects on this Bel Cleer recording tape. 

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An illustration of a piano being miked up on this Realistic Recording tape manufactured by Radio Shack. 

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Is it live, or is it Memorex? 

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Music notes swirling out of a reel on this Scotch tape box. The recording is a 1974 United Nations concert.