Wire Mysteries

A while back, I blogged about the Air King wire recorder my son (a lover of old technology) bought out of the bargain bin in the local electronics store.  For those of you who have never heard of these....they are a technology that peaked in the late 40's and early 50's....recording sound on very thin wires.

The recorder came with a wire spool.

The recorder works, sort of (as far as playback) but needs work. It has an arm apparently to play records, but it is broken.  Lights are burnt out.

My son, who loves to fix things, did manage to clean the heads so the wire recording that came with this plays.  I sure wish I could identify what is on it.  Son did record this (via a microphone) onto his computer, just in case.

There is, first, something sounding like a late 40's music piece, which I suspect may have recorded off the radio.  Jazz?  Have to admit ignorance.

The next thing on the spool is a live reading of a satire of "The Night Before Christmas" that may have been done by some drunken fraternity brothers-or people playing drunken fraternity brothers.  As a history buff this one interests me.  I wonder if we could do some detective work to find the former owner of this recorder-although I don't have the time to do this.

The third (and apparently, last) thing is a recording of a woman singing, accompanied by a band, again might be a recording off the radio.

Unfortunately neither of us are up on the music of that era.

For now, the contents will have to be a mystery.  Son was going to visit the local (we actually still have one) TV repair business.  The owner is elderly and may remember these. 

For now, the recorder is a valued addition to my son's Museum of Obsolete Technology.