RCA Victor's 1949 Preview of the World's First 45 rpm Records!

Once RCA Victor introduced the first 45 rpm phonographs, they knew the importance of having not just one 45 rpm record available, but a selection of different artists and styles from which buyers could choose.

Thus, in February 1949, they mixed a little of everything in with the very first batch of 45s shipped to record stores. They arrived in a custom envelope labeled: This Is Your Preview of the New RCA Victor 45 R.P.M. RECORD LINE!

Inside are seven singles, each of which is made using a different color plastic — each color representing seven different musical styles.

The colors and the records are: cerise, or cherry red, for Blues & Rhythm (That's All Right, Big Boy Crudup, 50-0000); green for Country & Western (Spanish Fandango, Spade Cooley, 48-0027); sky-blue for International (A Klein Melamedl, Saul Meisels, 51-0000); midnight blue for Popular Classics (The French Marching Song, Al Goodman & His Orchestra, 52-0006); and black for Popular (Because, Dick Leibert, 47-2857).

The remaining two in the series are: red for Red Seal Classical and yellow for Children's Entertainment. Unfortunately, we have yet to learn the artists and titles of this pair of discs.

As the music industry's very first 45s, the preview envelope suggests: Use these seven records as samples between now and March 31st (1949), and for use with the forthcoming window and counter displays.

The copy writers then wisely and amazingly foretell: You may wish to hold them as collector's items — the first production run of a record that will set the pace for the entire industry!

Made specifically for in-store use, and not broadcasters, this Whirl-Away Demonstration Record played over and over, calling attention to the colorful display.

Now everyone can hear music history being made.

Especially comforting is knowing they were all "recorded in the quality zone."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• whirlaway
• whirl-away
• first
• 45rpm
• records
• demonstration
• rca
• commercial
• quality
• zone

[Mcnzlea]

Whoa! "Persian PEACOCK"? Do you suppose RCA was onto something just a few years later with...you know? And what about NBC's "Red" and "Blue" radio networks? Another inspiration for the TV era, perhaps?

When did RCA phase out the different colors and switch to basic black for all records?

[chkjns]

@SoundOut260 Tech was changing left & right back then, too. 33s were also just out then too & only 10" with 4 songs per side so they'd still look like 78s & not 'scare' the public. 9 years later came stereo, the first cartridges to play them cost what one thousand gallons of gas costs now. Yes, THAT much! Within a year, the price dropped to only 100 gallons! Come visit my music history channel of 800 playlists, including lists for every year since 1900. chuck

[SoundOut260]

nice history of the 45rpm thanks

[noahf67]

Do we know the narrator on this..? Sounds unplaceably familiar.

[fromthesidelines]

Incidentally, the excerpt of Vaughn Monroe's "Riders In the Sky", at 2:04, is an alternate take. The one that was "officially" released in May of '49 was one of the first "hit records" issued in the new "45" format.

[fromthesidelines]

That's right, 'electron'- on March 31, 1949, the very first "new 45" RCA issued was Eddy Arnold's "Texarkana Baby", b/w "Bouquet of Roses".

As for your 45 "museum", 'Game', a little organization and shelving would help considerably. DON'T SELL THEM!!! (at least, not yet} Your collection would be the same as, say, referring to the Library of Congress' collection of historical recordings as "hoarding"...

[Normk1111]

A little trivia. For the first few weeks, the only 45 releases were reissues from the 78 catalog. There was no new product on these first 45s. After a few weeks new releases were then issued on 45.

[GameICY]

I was buying and picking them when everyone else couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Now im scared my house might cave in from all the weight. I could be on A&E's Hoarders show, but all vinyl. I originally planned to sell them but the hording disorder makes me love each and every one too much to say goodbye.

[electronmusicjunkie]

I believe the very first 45 was "Texarcanna Baby" By Eddy Arnold.

[fromthesidelines]

The "45" was RCA's "answer" to Columbia's "33 Long Play" record; David Sarnoff was SO angry that William Paley's company had beaten HIS- supposedly the "World Leader In Recorded Sound"- in perfecting the "long playing" record in June 1948 [RCA tried marketing a 10 inch 33 "Program Transcription" {LP} between 1931 and '33, but the technology of the day, and the Depression, forced them to abandon it], Sarnoff ordered his staff to come up with their own "microgroove" record...and this was it.