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New book on Philly Radio coming

R

relayer

Not sure any of you are familiar with the "Images of America" series of books....they are great pictorial histories of various towns and cities published by Arcadia Publishing. They have been branching out lately into other historical categories...railroads, sports, etc. I'm a fan of these historical titles, and just noticed that there is one coming out in July on "Philadelphia Radio" by Alan Boris. Looks to be a cool volume. Pardon this post if this has been discussed here already...I didnt recall seeing it here before.

This is the description from Arcadia:

Book Description: Philadelphia radio broadcasting began in 1922, when the city's first officially licensed stations went on the air. Within a few years, what had begun as a small, experimental medium became a full-fledged craze as families listened to live news, sports, and entertainment for the first time. In 1932, the first building designed for radio broadcasting opened on Chestnut Street, coinciding with the golden age of radio that featured live orchestras, soap operas, and imaginative dramas. In the 1950s, a few stations began playing rock and roll, and Philadelphia became known as a city that not only produced hit music but also consistently broke new acts. By the 1970s, FM radio began to grab the majority of listeners, and once again Philadelphia stations were responsible for breaking new artists, such as Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.

Author Bio: Alan Boris is a local radio historian and the founder/director of the Philadelphia Radio Archives. In Philadelphia Radio, he has compiled a collection of rarely seen images from a variety of sources, including Philadelphia radio personalities, listeners, stations, and historical societies.

This is a link to it's page at Arcadia Publishing:

http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9780738575087
 
the 1932 'building' referred to is 1622 chestnut st, built by william s paley to house wcau studios and the philadelphia base hq for then 16 cbs stations. but paley's business model was different from nbc, where he would offer cbs programs to stations, and let them share in the profits of the national billing, giving him many more 'ears' to sell. that one particular room where the live broadcasts originated is jaw dropping, from both a historical and engineering standpoint. it's actually the whole floor, between what was the orchestra area, audience, stage and control rooms. loving restored by the art institute of philadelphia. that room is a marvel, even by 2011 standards: for acoustic purposes, it has not ONE right angle! one side length is longer than the other, the ceiling is bowed and sloped, the corners of the walls and ceiling are rounded and angled, not mitre joined at 90 degrees. the height of the ceiling is a few inches taller on one side of the room than the other, as it is front to back...a carpenter's nightmare...audio genius.
 
btw...if your radio station or studio has windows with 'V angled' opposing glass that point toward the floor and away from each other, with an air gap between them, that acoustic window was designed at 1622 chestnut street in 1932.
 
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