In a world of ubiquitous cell phone cameras, the idea of preserving audio without pictures is almost quaint. And yet, as all devoted radio listeners know, the absence of visual information often allows a closer connection. Your mind’s eye beats HDTV every time. Since 2002, the Library of Congress has identified important audio recordings and added them to the National Recording Registry. Gene DeAnna joins Bob to talk about a few of the recordings from the most recent inductees of 2008 — and they discuss plans to archive and preserve thousands of other recordings in a digital vault.
Here is the most recent list, from 2008.
And here are selections from previous years.
If Mr. DeAnna thinks "serious radio" was an "anomaly" and that radio programs from the 20’s to the 60’s didn’t deal with serious issues of the day, he is woefully uneducated and should consider joining the Internet Old-Time Radio Digest discussion mailing list – asking the historians there will open his eyes to the realities of radio during its time as media king. Not to take anything away from Ms. McBride who was indeed an excellent interviewer (and certainly more educational than programs like, "Wendy Warren and the News"), but there were many programs that educated the listener on then-current events, and these programs were on commercial network radio, not segregated to the niche of public radio/television. Serious interviews abound in the recorded record…perhaps the LOC should worry more about preserving these instead of more recently-recorded musical performances that continue to make money for the major labels…