All
magazines, guides and Broadcasting yearbooks are cut at
the binding on a printer's guillotine paper cutter. Then
the sheets are scanned by a Fujitsu 5530C2. This is a
high speed 11 by 17 sheet fed scanner which can process
batches of 200 pages on both sides in just a few
minutes. The coated paper used in the late 50's
and early 60's is now very brittle and these additions
must be hand fed to the scanner. Fortunately, they are
now preserved... unlike the few remaining copies at
university libraries and the like.
The deterioration of
the old yearbooks and magazines is just one factor in my
decision to try to preserve the heritage of radio's
premier publication. The other is the fact that most
libraries are short on space and funding. This means
that seldom used publications are sold to eBay merchants
and every day that passes there are fewer places where
this information can be obtained.
Broadcasting Magazine is now focused on cable and
syndication; the new publisher has not offered any
service for the students and devotees of radio's history
and heritage. As library access is now nearly
non-existent and no alternative exists I have tried to
fill in this very obvious void. Hopefully, at some time
the publisher will create an electronic archive. Until
such time, I will share my collection and attempt to
keep building it.
White's and Radex are long gone, as is the SAMS / Jones
log. I am attempting to build a full archive of these
publications.
Since
this is a free site, as it always will be, many have asked, "why do you do
it?" since some of the Yearbooks have cost as much as
$500 on eBay.
Simply
put, I will celebrate 50 years in radio in 2009, and
this is a small way to preserve the memories, the
heritage and the events of that industry. It's my little
contribution to the business that has given me
challenges, joy, frustration and, of course, an income
for half a century
David
Gleason
Los Angeles, CA
October, 2008
