16 inch radio transcript: Holsum Bread spots

This extremely rare red vinyl 16-inch radio transcription disc was issued in the 1950's by Agency Recording Studios in Chicago, and was possibly only obtained by radio stations in the Maritime Provinces in Atlantic Canada. It features 11 spots for Holsum Bread. Holsum Bread has been manufactured by Ben's Bakery in Saint John, New Brunswick, since 1907, and is still popular to this day in my province. Each spot is in its own groove, so when one ends, the needle won't go to the next one by itself, which is why I have to take it there by hand at the end of each spot. To play this record, I have placed it on top of a roll of masking tape on the Sony so that it clears above the tonearm, and used the tonearm of a kiddie player left on neutral to get the music out of the speaker. The record was originally owned by either CKBC 1360 Bathurst or CKNB 950 Campbellton (both of which have switched to FM at the turn of the millennium) at the time they were just starting, as I found it at an antique shop in Belledune/Jacquet River halfway between those two cities.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 1950's
• radio
• transcript
• transcription
• spots
• ads
• advertisement
• Ben's
• Holsum
• Bread

[Videos4C]

Very fascinating...but I can't see why you need to manually encourage the tonearm on to progress the playback???

What original platform machine would this have been played on??

[m2esectr]

This record was designed to be played on the radio, where only one selection is played from a record at a given scheduled time, so there was no need to spiral all the selections into one groove; instead, the cutting head was lifted after each spot so that the needle wouldn't play the next spot automatically, as the radio station would only air one at a time. Radio stations in the 1940's and 50's used special turntables that could accomodate those large records.

[radiotubes]

Even the commercials sounded back then.I have one from Buick i believe.

[stratocat9999]

That is a very clever approach for playing a 16" disc! Your getting a great sound from what I am guessing is an 8" arm! Great radio spots! Cheers!

[gilmour509]

very cool!

[sideshowtink]

That is fabulous!! What a clever way to play a 16" record!!

[rockybabyboy]

Neat record! Never thought to set up a transcript to play like this, Very creative!

[fromthesidelines]

...and sometimes, the live announcer would introduce these spots as "Transcribed", or "The following is transcribed"; in those days, most radio stations were required to identify recorded material as "transcribed". And sometimes, the live announcer would add a coda- "That's right, YOU get some delicious "daybreak fresh" Holsum Bread soon, at Warner's Supermarket...".

[GEKENILWORTH]

Great video! Was there any info on the label about the ad agency that created the commercials? My dad wrote radio commercials for Holsum at a Chicago ad agency in the 1950's. Thanks so much!

[cdbpdx]

The old radio transcriptions are pretty cool. I am impressed with the way you arranged 2 turntables to play the oversized discs. Clever!