Happy Birthday To Those Little 45's!

On Feburary 1st of 1950, RCA introduced the 45 RPM record player.  Manufacturing began in early 1949 of those little seven inch pieces of plastic that eventually replaced the very breakable 78 RPM platters.  The 45 would soon catch on with the younger generation and the seven inch vinyl format would rule for the next forty years!  That was the way we took home music.  Sometimes the flip side was even better than the A side which was playing on the radio.  Celebrate the 45 on WRCO FM 100.9 on Saturday night during Those Were The Days.  The fifties through the eighties music will be back to life over the airwaves between six and midnight.  I look forward to hearing from you with your requests and perhaps you can recall a story about buying a 45 record when you were young.  My first purchase was 'Have You Seen Her' by the Chi-Lites.  I have since collected thousands.  Some of them did not play without skipping on the record player at home.  A sinker or a nickle would usually give the needle enough weight so the song would play all the way through.  When I first began my career at WRCO, the station was still mostly playing records.  There was a box in the studio that contained the most popular Pop and Country records.  You would pull the record from the front and after playing it, you put it to the back.  A few years later, record companies began fazing out the 45.  We started getting music on cd and cassette singles.  The last 45s sent to the station came in the mail in early 1990.  We began a music service in November of 1989 that sent us new music on reel to reel tapes.  They would send a new one every week and shuffle the tracks.  I was very sad when we took the record box out of the studio at WRCO.  

This Saturday Those Were The Days will be featuring the best music ever released on vinyl!  Join the rock and roll party and request a song, share a 45 memory, or play trivia.  I look forward to talking music with you.

Phil