Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs
I remember years ago, when NBC (when that company still had its radio network) aired, over the NBC radio network, its 60th anniversary celebration program in 1986. There was a warning at the end of the program: "This program may not be reproduced, duplicated, or recorded, in any manner whatsoever." Two or three short audio tones followed the warning; I believe these tones were used to trigger a crude (by 21st century standards) copy-protection scheme.
However, I doubt if it actually worked as intended, as I am sure many people (myself included) recorded that broadcast on audio tape for posterity. I lost my own audio copy of the show years ago in a move, but I'm still going to try to find it online so I can download it to my computer and thence to a CD-R disk. I already have NBC's 75th anniversary broadcast on VHS, but there were certain parts of the 60th anniversary show I'd like to hear again (such as the old radio commercials for now long-defunct companies like Allis-Chalmers, which manufactured farm machinery in, I believe, the '50s through the seventies -- I still remember the jingle: "The world needs more...of what Allis-Chalmers makes!") Who knows? Maybe that jingle is on the NBC 75th anniversary broadcast as well.
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Jeff,
At the risk of hijacking this thread, I wanted to respond to your memories of the NBC broadcasts you mentioned. Are you sure you are not referring to NBC's 50th Anniversary series of broadcasts from 1976? I'm very familiar with these shows, listening to them when I was a kid when they were first broadcast and many, many times over in the intervening years. This was a series of five, fifty-minute programs each covering a decade in the history of NBC. One of the sponsors was Allis-Chalmers as you recalled, with the commercials voiced by Joe Garagiola. Also, at the end of each program was the warning "This program may not be recorded, duplicated, or re-broadcast, in any manner, whatsoever." I don't recall the tones you mentioned though.
By 1986, NBC radio was in deep decline, RCA-NBC having been purchased by GE, and the next year GE would sell off NBC radio to Westwood One. So I kind of doubt they would have even bothered to produce a 60th anniversary radio special if they were going to dump the radio network. As a collector of programs such as this, I have never heard of one being produced for the 60th anniversary on radio, although there was a 60th anniversary TV show with a little bit on radio history. Anyway, just some thoughts since I have never seen those programs referenced here before. Recordings of the shows are available on-line, although often the commercials have been cut out. Thanks!
Gilbert