THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE OVERVIEW
ESSENTIAL QUESTION How did changes in the technology of record manufacturing effect popular music, radio, and the people who consumed both?
OVERVIEW The earliest recordings made with Thomas Edison’s phonograph in 1877 required no electricity. To record, musicians directed their performances into a large, funnel-shaped horn. The narrow end of this horn was attached to a needle that recorded the sound vibration by cutting a groove into a wax cylinder as it was rotated by turning a crank. To play the sound captured on that wax cylinder, this process was reversed. Though the improvements to this process have been many, the basic concept of making “records” in the pre-digital era continued to involve capturing sound in the form of indentations on a material surface. What did change over the course of time was the surface on which records were made. Wax cylinders were replaced by flat shellac discs. Shellac however was hard, heavy, and, worse, breakable. Vinyl, the more flexible compound still used for records today, was introduced in the 1930s. With the introduction of vinyl, fierce competition within the recording industry led to two closely timed technological advances in the late 1940s. First, in 1948, Columbia Records introduced the “Long Player,” a 12-inch record that rotated at 33 1/3 rpm and held almost three times as much music as previous records, roughly 18 minutes per side. The following year, Columbia’s main competitor, RCA Victor, released a new 45 rpm 7-inch record. Though it held only 4 minutes per side, RCA also promoted their new, small and portable playback system that automatically switched between records that the user could stack on its spool. Though this 45 rpm 7-inch, which became known as the “single,” and the 12-inch “LP” were initially marketed as direct competitors, the different records led to different uses. Teenagers in particular were drawn to the 45 rpm record. Many among the teen demographic listened to “Top 40” radio, on which they could hear their favorite songs in regular rotation. With RCA’s record player, teens could be just like their favorite DJs,
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
OVERVIEW (CONTINUED) playing individual songs by different artists one after the next. The LP would find its natural radio format some years later, with the rise of FM radio and with a somewhat older audience, and by the late 1960s, the LP was the format most recording artists had in mind when they entered the studio. Some artists would go so far as to not release singles at all. New technologies prosper only when they become meaningful to users. The stories of how the single and the LP became meaningful in different ways in American music culture provides a unique glimpse of American life in the mid-20th century. This lesson explores the technology of “records” and what it meant to the people who consumed them. Students will learn how a record works and why a needle on a disc can record and play back music. Moreover, students will investigate how these technological changes had far reaching effects, even in the domestic setting. Finally, this lesson follows the 45 rpm and LP record through the airwaves of both AM and FM radio, using excerpts of broadcasts by the pioneering DJs Alan Freed and Tom Donahue and investigating how the possibilities and limitations of each medium and their respective places on the radio dial provide a framework for historical analysis.
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this lesson, students will:
1. KNOW (KNOWLEDGE): 2. BE ABLE TO (SKILLS):
• About Thomas Edison and the invention of • Evaluate the effects of technology on history and sound recording culture
• How a vinyl record stores audio information • Interpret and discuss the meaning of a variety of primary source materials, including radio • How the emerging youth culture of the 1950s broadcasts and print material can be understood in relation to technological advancements in record and record player • Read, listen to, and watch a variety of sources production to gather information and draw historical and thematic connections • About the inventions of AM and FM radio broadcasting, how the technologies differ, and • Analyze content from historical materials to arrive how these differences affected American music at a better understanding of the past culture • Understand connections between popular culture • How FCC regulations created space for the and the time, place and social circumstances in emergence of FM radio which it was created
• About the pioneering DJs of AM and FM radio, and their roles in American youth culture
• How trends in the formats of recordings and radio broadcasting reflect concurrent changes of broader American culture
ACTIVITIES
MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY:
Ask your students:
• How do you listen to music? (Students will likely suggest their phones and computers. Also encourage them to think about whether they use speakers or headphones.)
• How do you think your parents listened to music when they were your age?
• Do you own any “physical” music releases such as CDs, cassettes or records? If so, where do you listen to them? Do you relate to these recordings differently than you do to the Mp3s or music that you stream?
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
PROCEDURE: Ask your students:
• What family members are present in each 1. Play Clip 1, Soundbreaking - The 78 rpm advertisement? Record and ask your students: • What room of the house do you think the people • How do you think music is stored in the grooves are in in each advertisement? on records? • Do you think it would be easy to move this • Why do you think this type of record was called record player, or bring it to a friend’s house? a 78? (Students should note that “rpm” is an abbreviation of “rotations per minute.”) 5. Now display the following two slides (Slides 3 & 4, College 45s Ad and Philips 45 2. Distribute Handout 1: How Records Work Player advertisement). and read it out loud as a class. Ask your students:
• Why does a record that spins slower allow for longer playing time?
• What advantages might a “long playing” record have?
• Can you think of any reasons people would want Ask your students: to purchase a short, 45 record? • What family members are present in these 3. Play Clip 2, Soundbreaking - The 45 and advertisements? ask your students: • Do you think the absence of parents is significant? What might it suggest to young • In this Soundbreaking clip, Steven Van Zandt people? Is there any music in your life that you mentions that the portable 45 player that a enjoy but your parents do not? “kid could take into his room” was a significant development. In what ways do you think this • How is the size of the record player represented might have changed the way young people in these advertisements? listened to music? (Students should note that this was a level of privacy previously • In what ways do you think the size of the 45 unattainable. Young people and their friends rpm record player might have been attractive to could now listen and dance to music in their young people? own private spaces.)
• Why do you think that George Martin suggests 6. To encourage your students to consider the that the louder a Rock and Roll song was the difference in music consumption between better it would sell? 1960 and the present, make a T-Chart on the board with one side representing the 4. Display the following two images (Slides present, and the other representing the 1 & 2: Westinghouse Record Player year 1960. Ask your students the following advertisements, 1940s). questions, keeping track of their answers on the board:
• On what devices do you listen to music? On what devices do you think people listened to music in 1960 (Students might answer that in 1960 people listened to music on the radio and on record players.)
• How much music can you access on your
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
PROCEDURE: (CONTINUED) device(s)? How much music could a person • In what ways do you think a show like Freed’s access on their device in 1960? could help sell 45s?
• How do you discover the music you listen to? How do you think people discovered new music 10. Play Clip 5, Soundbreaking - Bob Dylan in 1960? (Students might answer that in 1960 and the Transition to FM Radio ask your people discovered new music from the radio and students: television, but remind students that people have always discovered music from each other.) • In what ways does this clip suggest that Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” broke with • Once you discover what you’d like to hear, do established AM radio formatting? you buy it? If so, how and in what form? How do you think people did this in 1960? (Students • Do you think “Like a Rolling Stone” would have will likely mention the radio, but remind them fit into Alan Freed’s broadcast? that people went to physical record stores and • In what ways does this clip suggest that the lyrics bought their music as well.) of “Like a Rolling Stone” might have presented • Overall, how do you think the differences in the new possibilities for both artists and DJs? way the 45 rpm generation and your generation listen to and discover music affects the way you 11. Distribute Handout 3: FM Radio and the experience music? Long Playing Album and read it as a class. Ask your students: 7. Play Clip 3, Soundbreaking - AM Radio and the Hit Single ask your students: • What about FM radio do you think might have made it an ideal space for “free form” • Why do you think radio was such a powerful broadcasting after the end of simulcasting in the force in the 1950s and 1960s? late 1960s? (Students should note that it was largely a blank slate with no clearly established • What do you think might have drawn young rules or formats, a sort of “Wild West” open to people to a particular radio station or show at experimentation.) this time? (Encourage your students to consider the power of a DJ to function as a tastemaker.) • Though it was initially an AM hit, in what ways do you think Bob Dylan’s success with “Like A 8. Distribute Handout 2: AM Radio and Alan Rolling Stone” might have inspired subsequent “freeform” stations on FM? (Students should Freed and read it out loud as a class. note that the song’s popularity, despite its extended length, suggested that people were 9. Now play Clip 4, Excerpt from Alan open to alternative formatting.) Freed’s March 23, 1955 “King of the • How does Murray the K suggest that FM Moondoggers” radio show. Have students programming reflected a “matured” or “grown take notes using the following guidelines: up” form of Rock and Roll?
• Make a timeline that indicates how much • How does Murray the K suggest that this more time is spent on each: music, advertising, and “mature” Rock and Roll changes the role of the DJ? dedications
• How would you describe Freed’s pace? 11. Now play Clip 6, an excerpt of pioneering FM DJ Tom Donahue’s 1969, KSAN radio • What age group do you think this show was program. Have your students pay attention to directed toward? Why? his discussion of the music he’s just played • In what ways do you think that the record and his overall style of delivery and ask: format of the 45 was well suited for a show like Freed’s? • How would you contrast Donahue’s verbal delivery with what you have heard from Alan Freed?
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
PROCEDURE: (CONTINUED) • What does Donahue say he’s just played on his • In what ways do you think Donahue’s demeanor show? How does that contrast with what we reflects Murray the K’s statements in Handout heard of Freed? (Students should observe that 3 that, “You didn’t have to hype the record Donahue names at least two songs, so he’s anymore. The music was speaking for itself”? returning from a stretch of at least 8 straight minutes of music.)
SUMMARY ACTIVITY:
Show Clip 3, Soundbreaking - The Bronx in the 1970s and have your students take notes, focusing on the origins of rap and the people who created it. Ask your students:
• When you listen to your favorite artists, do you listen to albums or singles? Do you even think of music in those terms?
• When you listen to the radio, how would you describe the DJs? Are they like Freed, Donahue, or something completely different?
• In what ways do you think current formats of music releases and radio reflect the world you live in right now?
EXTENSION ACTIVITY:
Have your students interview a parent about how they consumed music in their youth. Have students write a short essay that addresses some or all of the following questions. You may also wish to add region-specific questions to this list. Have students share their essays with the class.
• How did you discover new music when you were my age?
• Did you buy music? If so, on what format did you buy it? Did you buy singles? Did you buy LPs?
• How did you play your music back? Did you have a personal listening device?
• Did you listen alone, or with friends?
• Did you usually listen through speakers or headphones? If you had both, when and why did you use each?
• Did you listen to the radio? If so, do you remember your favorite channels? Were they AM or FM? Do you remember any of the DJs? What do you remember about the DJs? What kind of music did your favorite radio stations play?
• Did you listen in headphones ever? Did any of your friends use headphones?
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
STANDARDS
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
College and Career Readiness Reading Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 for Literature and Informational Text
Reading 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
College and Career Readiness Writing Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects
Writing 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Writing 9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening for Grades 6-12
Speaking and Listening 2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
Speaking and Listening 3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language for Grades 6-12
Language 6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain- specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.
SOCIAL STUDIES – NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES (NCSS)
Theme 1: Culture
Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Theme 7: Production, Distribution and Consumption
Theme 8: Science, Technology and Society
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT: HOW 45 RPM SINGLES AND 33 1/3 RPM ALBUMS HELPED SHAPE RADIO AND AMERICAN CULTURE
NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Core Music Standard: Responding
Analyze: Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response.
Interpret: Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’ and/or performers’ expressive intent.
Evaluate: Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.
Core Music Standard: Connecting
Connecting 11: Relate musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.
RESOURCES
VIDEO RESOURCES HANDOUTS • Soundbreaking – AM Radio and the Hit Single • Handout 1: How Records Work • Excerpt from Alan Freed’s “King of the Moondoggers” • Handout 2: AM Radio and Alan Freed Radio Show (1955) • Handout 3: FM Radio and the Long Playing Album • Soundbreaking – The 45 • Soundbreaking – Bob Dylan and the Transition to FM Radio • Excerpt from Tom Donahue’s KSAN Radio Program (1969) • Soundbreaking – The 78
SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES