Revisiting An Old Question, What Station Has The Largest Record Library?

[peppertree]

I have changed my mind after listening to Sound of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2 for the last two years.

I was first amazed to hear a version of I Want To Hold Your Hand in Japanese.

Since then BBC 2 has played many songs that I never heard of by people I never knew of. It is to the point where I think BBC would have anything that anyone could ever request. They do requests on Sound Of The Sixties and there are some obscure ones.

I know that some stations had records stolen by employees. This does not seem to have been a problem at BBC. I guess employees there are Civil Service and do not want to risk problems, or maybe the British are more trustworthy.

I can not think of an American station that would have as much music available to them as BBC. <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[peppertree]

I remember an interesting fellow here at KOOP. He lives in the next county (Bastrop) where land is a bit cheaper than in the city. He has the trailor from a tractor trailor truck by the house, with lights and air conditioning in the trailor.

He has a record collection of around 100,000 records in the trailor. Most of them are Tejano or other Mexican type music.


> I have changed my mind after listening to Sound of the
> Sixties on BBC Radio 2 for the last two years.
> <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[CrankyYankee]

Although it may have moved to the Library of Congress, I believe AFN-Frankfurt used to have one if not the biggest library for quite some time.
I'd have to say that honor now belongs to the Library of Congress.

Any thoughts?

p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.<P ID="signature">______________
"What's That?" "French Horns!"

</P>

 

[Oldbones]

>
> p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.
>

At one point he claimed to have a copy of every single to hit the Hot 100 (even those that spent one week at #99). Dunno if he still keeps up with current hits, especially since so few singles are commercially available anymore.

 

[peppertree]

I kind of think that libraries, private collections and record stores/dealers would be a different catagory. I am sure that some private collections are bigger than the biggest radio station library.

Yes, that rules out the guy in Bastrop County as well.

And I heard that Dr. Demento has about 250000 recordings. He has the advantage of getting free audition tapes by Demented acts that want to be heard on his show.

Stay Demented!

> Although it may have moved to the Library of Congress, I
> believe AFN-Frankfurt used to have one if not the biggest
> library for quite some time.
> I'd have to say that honor now belongs to the Library of
> Congress.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[peppertree]

I know of at least two guys with oldies shows on community stations with EVERY Hot 100 song, regional hits and a high percentage of Bubbling Under The Hot 100 songs.

One of them has a station on live 365

www.superoldies.com

> >
> > p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.
> >
>
> At one point he claimed to have a copy of every single to
> hit the Hot 100 (even those that spent one week at #99).
> Dunno if he still keeps up with current hits, especially
> since so few singles are commercially available anymore.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[uncamark]

> I know of at least two guys with oldies shows on community
> stations with EVERY Hot 100 song, regional hits and a high
> percentage of Bubbling Under The Hot 100 songs.
>
> One of them has a station on live 365
>
> www.superoldies.com

The Guinness Book of World Records once said that the main BBC library in London is the world's largest record library. It's been a while since I've seen the citation, but the part I get a kick out of is that it includes recordings where the playback instruments designed for them have disappeared and so cannot be played by any known means. Considering the 80-year-plus existence--and the fact that they've probably never thrown out *anything*--it's probably still true.

 

[Oldbones]

> The Guinness Book of World Records once said that the main
> BBC library in London is the world's largest record library.
> It's been a while since I've seen the citation, but the
> part I get a kick out of is that it includes recordings
> where the playback instruments designed for them have
> disappeared and so cannot be played by any known means.
> Considering the 80-year-plus existence--and the fact that
> they've probably never thrown out *anything*--it's probably
> still true.
>

Wow, and I thought I had a storage space problem! :-0

 

[semoochie]

> >
> > p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.
> >
>
> At one point he claimed to have a copy of every single to
> hit the Hot 100 (even those that spent one week at #99).
> Dunno if he still keeps up with current hits, especially
> since so few singles are commercially available anymore.
>
I must be completely out of the loop: I thought a hit song was determined by a combination of airplay and sales. If individual songs are no longer available for purchase, how does that figure into the equation? They aren't all recorded onto Ipods, are they?

 

[davideduardo]

Re: A hit and airplay

> > >
> > > p.s. Joel Whitburn has quite a collection I hear.
> > >
> >
> > At one point he claimed to have a copy of every single to
> > hit the Hot 100 (even those that spent one week at #99).
> > Dunno if he still keeps up with current hits, especially
> > since so few singles are commercially available anymore.
> >
> I must be completely out of the loop: I thought a hit song
> was determined by a combination of airplay and sales.

That is only true when the song is a current one. To be played on the radio, generally the song must pass research testing, not be on some chart somewhere. A station does not want a chart... they want a measurement of how thier own listeners like or dislike the song.

> If
> individual songs are no longer available for purchase, how
> does that figure into the equation?

Radio airplay for non-current songs is determined by researching the taste of listeners.

> They aren't all
> recorded onto Ipods, are they?
>

Very few people, relatively, ever buy a song compared to those who like to hear it. Radio is not in the record business, so sales are pretty unmpportant barometers for airplay.

 

[apco25]

Simple answer......XM, and they play them all.

> I have changed my mind after listening to Sound of the
> Sixties on BBC Radio 2 for the last two years.
>
> I was first amazed to hear a version of I Want To Hold Your
> Hand in Japanese.
>
> Since then BBC 2 has played many songs that I never heard of
> by people I never knew of. It is to the point where I think
> BBC would have anything that anyone could ever request.
> They do requests on Sound Of The Sixties and there are some
> obscure ones.
>
> I know that some stations had records stolen by employees.
> This does not seem to have been a problem at BBC. I guess
> employees there are Civil Service and do not want to risk
> problems, or maybe the British are more trustworthy.
>
> I can not think of an American station that would have as
> much music available to them as BBC.
>

 

[regionear]

1666

I get the mixed pleasure of hearing Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel

They run a sweeper that says that have 1,666 tunes in the library and play all of em

Mine is around 1,000 but 600 or so are for special shows, features, and blocks

PS- we are classic rock

When I was on an E Alvin Davis oldies station...we had around 600 in rotation...1200 in library for theme stuff

 

[bigwoody]

For terrestrial radio...WMJI for oldies. Library includes all of WIXY's stuff. WMMS has an impressive library as well. Off topic, WMMS has a whole room, stacked to the ceiling, with Coffee Break Concerts from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Priceless stuff.<P ID="signature">______________
Everyone is entitled to my opinion.</P>