Tom Mix

Starter of this subject: Jim Stokes
Last post in this subject: 7/28/2000
Messages in this subject: 6

Jim Stokes 7/28/2000
6 replies
Although Jack French wrote a very nice bio on Tom Mix and the Tom Mix radio show, I may have missed a name in the cast. So here goes. If it's in already in there, then fergetaboutit. :)

Anyway, I didn''t see a mention of Forest Lewis, who played "Wash," the cook and all-around sidekick of Tom. Mr. Lewis went on the play in many radio shows. I have heard him in several Johnny Dollar radio shows. And he was a regular character actor in TV shows and movies. He often took the role of a judge on the original Raymond Burr TV shows of Perry Mason.

Happy Listening!

I store my OTR shows on 10 1/2-inch reels, recorded at 3 3/4 speed. I have found that 1.5 mil tape is the way to go, even though you lose a bit of storage time. But it is worth it. The 1.0 mil tape is awkward to handle, I have found. on the big open reels I use. It tends to scrEEEtch from the increased tape on the reel that the motor and drive system have to pull.

And Ampex 456? Will never use it again. Back-coated (insert your own expletive) headache!

:) But merrily we roll along! Jim Stokes

Nate Williams 7/28/2000
5 replies
Jim: I marvel at your tape capabilities. I remember in the late 1940s my Dad brought home a Webcore wire recorder and I had a ball recording whatever came out of the radio. The real fun came with playback and the doggone wire would snap. All one did was to tie a knot in the wire, trim the ends, and you were back in business. Fidelity wasn't even in the dictionary then. I wish I could see your fine setup.
Jim Stokes 7/30/2000
4 replies
Nate -- My setup surely isn't MP3 digital state-of-the-art, but it works fine as long as I clean the heads, pinch roller, capstan, and all the other metal parts in the tape path. :) And then oil the motor once in a while. And don't run the machine more than a half hour or an hour at a time. She's old and likes to rest. Heh. I am getting the same way! I have found that open reel decks like the one I have, which they now call a "prosumer" or "high end consumer" when it was being manufactured.; are just about indestructable. I have an Akai quarter track head machine. Touted for their "cross-field heads." As long as I use 1.5 mil tape, I am okay. Like said the Ampex 456 WILL squeal.

And unlike digital, you WILL get a signal even if there is a bit of dropout. Analog just keeps rolling along.

I suspect you might be pulling my leg a bit here, Nate. I notice your are a W9, which tells me you have been a ham for a while and/or you have gone all the way through the code and know your basic electronics and then some.

Anyway, I will continue. Have you tried recording audio on VHS tape? Works great in consumer VHS decks, as long as you feed about a minus 10 dB signal in, so the AGC won't pump and distort like a rock station. The minus 10 dB on the input is amiable to the AGC in these machines.

Of course, you can't splice the tape very handy!

Jim Stokes

Nate Williams 7/31/2000
3 replies
No Jim I am not pulling your leg, I haven't really ever been that serious a OTR collector as to taping; actually we don't have any source to record. Most of my tapes have been purchased thru Radio Spirits; listened to one time while on the treadmill since my quadruple bypass; and then they sit on a shelf over in a corner. I've tried to sell them on eBay at a fraction of cost but nobody seems interested. Yes, you are correct. After years of listening to Jack Armstrong; Captain Midnight; Tom Mix; Superman; Terry and the Pirates; the Lone Ranger I bought a 1939 Zenith Model 12S371 console which, besides the neat green eye tuning indicator, had the short wave bands and amateur radio bands. After listening to hams around St. Louis talk over the air I thought that would be fun and in 1955 got my ham ticket. Over the past years have contacted others in 333 countries. Its a fun hobby but dying now that the internet has come alive. No longer does one have to tune around for those rare stations when they can pull up local broadcast stations in Australia and New Zealand on the internet. I envy you guys that have all the shows recorded. My enjoyment with OTR is to read the boards and learn oh so much about those programs that we used to listen to. Then to hear the snippets of the programs and the commercials always evokes great memories. Memories are ours, unchanged forever.
Jim Stokes 7/31/2000
2 replies
Nate. I see your situation now. Well, I must say that I really don't have much of a collection. Just enough to turn on the old Akai tape machine and play back some shows now and then. My all-time favorites are the Johnny Dollar shows that I got from a trader here in Minneapolis, who seems to have faded away. And indeed, memories are the greatest. :) Sorry to hear about the quad bypass. Hope you are mending well. A friend of mine here in the Twin Cities had a quad bypass some years ago now. He was quite avidly into OTR at the time. So, 1955 for your ham ticket! In 1955 I got my First Class FCC Radiotephone License, as it was called then. And that got me into broadcast work for many years. Last station I worked for is now an oldies station that changed formats from real oldies -- classical music -- in 1977, to several other formats. And now is doing okay with the other kind of oldies. Actually, the better sounding rock oldies. We have the Radio Spirits When Radio Was shows hosted by Stan Freberg five nights a week in this area. Glad to have it! Wishing you the best!

Jim Stokes

J.Cooper 8/1/2000
1 replies
Ohhh-so that is where you get your OTR shows, from the OTR programs that your station is playing 5-times a week. haha--good for you. I am sorry that we dont have any here in my area in or near WV, distant stations are not that good quality to dub, so I trade and yet have one of the largest collections,first started collecting and trading in 1950s.......and publishing my own OTR magazine. My only problem now is I yet have many-many of those original reels of shows but only one good reel-to-reel machine working. All the other shows(and there are many) on cassettes. I have 3 reel-to-reel machines here that do not work..and I would only hope to find somone that could get them going again...oh well....I still say the TOM MIX radio kid show was..the Best!!!!(HA)
Jim Stokes 8/1/2000
0 replies
J Cooper. Did I say I taped off the air! My goodness. Don't ask. Don't tell applies to that. heh. Re-- fixing your open reel machines. If the motor and transport works, the rest is a matter of electronics. Assuming your head assembly works, then an electronics transplant will be in order. You might go to local radio stations. Most of them have back rooms full of old gear. Now then, you are talking about old professional recording gear. If you are real lucky, you might wind up with a PT6 Magnecord. It takes a lot of stop a "Maggie," as we called them back in my radio hey-days! Look for a two-speed deck. Most of those old decks were bought with 7-inch reel capacity. So at 3 3/4 speed, you can get an hour's worth of recording from (you fill in the blank), using 1.5 mil tape. Using 1 mil tape you get 1.5 hours. Most PT6's were full track. Some stations bought the half track version, so they could turn the tape over, as when they recorded ball games. Then you'd get 3 hours at 3 3/4. Of course, you'll get about zero dropout recording at 7 1/2 speed and full track! And you will have a VERY HOT SIGNAL laid down on the tape! There is so much more to talk about. I have three operating PT6 recorders of various head configurations. There is supposed to be an old tape recorder BBS. I had the name stored in my e-mail. But in cleaning out my files, I destroyed all the files in my e-mail last Friday. What a nightmare to restore it! So now, if anybody has the web site for old tape recorer BBSing, please let me know. :) And I hope this bit of chit-chat on recorders helped you, J Cooper. I am a great believer in re-using old gear! And I love the hands-on of fixing things. Sure beats