The V-DISC - The history and the sound explored

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The V-DISC - The history and the sound explored

Postby Tape Splicer » Fri May 29, 2015 1:27 am

With 2015 marking the 70th anniversary of the end of world war 2; I began to consider the music our grandparents listened to while serving in the armed forcesover seas.

I realize these links relate to the entertainment provided the U.S. troops .I would be interested in what was provided to our Canadian or even the British forces in the form of recorded entertainment.

I am well aware of the recordings that was available to the public on shellack and vinyl from the era that have been reproduced on compact disc.

What I was looking for were the "V-Discs" that were produced for the armed forces.
So I started searching online and fount these three sites dedicated to the "V-Disc".

This first YouTube site is a history of the "V-Disc" in several clips
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 2C5EF8DDF3

The second and third links are for sites that have "V-Disc" recordings that can be listened to online... these sites each have quite an extensive selection and a wide variety of music.

This link is from "Internet Archive"....
https://archive.org/details/V-discs1-991943-1944

This link is from a side called;"V-Disc Home Page'.....
http://98.130.146.204/v_discs/v_discs.html
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Re: The V-DISC - The history and the sound explored

Postby Tape Splicer » Fri May 29, 2015 2:19 pm

Adding to this discussion -
While I was staying at my brothers home on summer vacation in the mid 60s, I recall that my brother, who was in the navy at the time; was working on a ship - removing equipment as the ship was being completely overhauled. He came home and presented me with a couple of reels of audio tape. The tape reels had CBC heat stamped on them and the boxes had CBC/Radio Canada decals on the lid. The tapes each contained a 30 minute variety program. The tape was acetate and very brittle. The oxide flaked off very quickly...Too bad I would have liked to have kept those programs as part of my personal audio collection.

So I will assume that CBC/Radio Canada provided material to the troops over seas to give them a sense of home. It would be interesting to find out if any of this of this audio exists digitally. Not sure if the CBC archive or even the BBC archive would have any d some of that audio online.
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Re: The V-DISC - The history and the sound explored

Postby radiofan » Fri May 29, 2015 10:41 pm

Boss Radio 93 KHJ in Los Angeles kept up the tradition of V-Discs. In 1971 they distributed an unscoped hour of PM Drive Boss Jock The Real Don Steele on LP to US troops overseas.

At the time, I was on KHJ's mailing list for their weekly Boss 30 Surveys. I saw mention of the V-Disc on one of the weekly surveys, so I sent them a letter requesting a copy.

A week or so later, the mailman delivered my package from KHJ with the V-Disc LP in it along with a 93 KHJ T-Shirt! The T-shirt is long gone, but I still have the LP in my collection.

Someone has posted one side of LP on You Tube ... Listen to Boss Radio at it's best with The Real Don Steele ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-ELnYikg1M

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Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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