Hello, Our old high school had the fun cl***es as well as “college prep” cl***es we all had to take. One of the cl***es was a Radio-Production Workshop Cl***. It was a mini acting, doing plays and getting the sound portion of the production to the exact points of the entrance of the main characters in the “talking” radio show. During the last two years, I needed two elective cl***es in addition to the metal shop and automotives cl***es. In the last year, all facts about the Impala, not given by me to the freshman writer… were placed in the story and got a lot of chuckles by my friends and the whole school… But, it was the last newspaper for our high school in May of 1962. But, in that radio production workshop cl***, I did learn how disc jockeys played their records "On the air." How does the music start just at the right time, when the manager points at you and wants you to "cue up" the record? What was the needle lift mechanism for during LP plays? ETC... I was the guy in the separate room that had a couple of turntables. There was a switch that allowed the sound to go into the room where the other students were lined up with their play character sheets. Those sheets were printed and underlined with the little section that said something like… “Mary enters the room with a frown on her face…” The music was supposed to come in and fade out to help the listeners get the mood of the acting with sounds. A somber sounding music made the scene for the listeners. Once the final edition was complete without any mistakes, it was recorded and edited to a final tape player. Now, it could be played over the school loud speakers or in specific rooms that were doing their essays about… Plus, sometimes, the soundtrack was recorded to play at school ***emblies for a laugh or two during the breaks in the other school activity presentations. Jnaki It was good training as I learned how to put the needle on the album and back up manually, on the turntable, while listening to the track. Now, when I released the lever, the record sound played at the exact spot for the entrance or somewhere inside of the play’s action. Later on, the learned record LP action was applied to the hundreds of LP albums my wife and I bought during our coastal beach apartment days. Instant music and also, allowed me to learn to get to the soundtrack on any album for an exact start with the films I took at Lion’s Dragstrip. This was years before the digital age of soundtrack editing… YRMV So, one does learn something in high school that is/was useful in real life... HA!
The Jalopy Journal
