The Stereo Singles Project

The Stereo Singles Project will consist of several discographies, and in the short run some will be more complete than others. The first part will cover the stereo 45s issued during the industry's first stereo single era, 1958-1961. The second part will cover stereo 33-1/3 rpm singles (one song on each side) issued during the early 1960s, as it turned out, mostly for juke boxes. The third part will address the 7-inch, 33-1/3 rpm "Little LP" or "Juke Box LP" discs. Finally, Part 4 will cover the first few years of the second stereo 45 era, starting in 1968 when the industry went to "compatible 45s" that played in stereo.

The "Speed Wars" of 1948-1950

To fully understand what happened when stereo singles were introduced in 1958, we must take a quick trip back to the late 1940s. Before 1948, the industry "standard" disc ran at 78-2/3 rpm (usually called just 78 rpm), and had done so since the 1890s, when the flat "gramophone records" replaced cylinder recordings. Early records weren't always recorded exactly at this speed, sometimes even being recorded at about 80 rpm or other speeds approximating 78. This variation is similar to more modern records being "speeded up" to make the sound more peppy or make the vocalist sound younger. "Standards" for microgroove width or volume weren't always established or followed in the early days of 45s or LPs, either, but an extensive standards discussion is a topic for another time and place.

There were a lot of folks in the industry who felt that the 78s currently being made and sold were just fine, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" or "we've always done it this way." The buying public, on the other hand, considered the 78 to be bulky to store, easily broken, and difficult to deal with in stacks. And the country was just coming out of World War II less than three years ago in 1948, with memories of a shellac shortage and union problems/record bans leaving a somewhat negative feeling about the record industry in general.

In those post-war years, the music scene was dominated by two huge industry giants, Columbia Records, and RCA-Victor. (Capitol was just getting started, and Decca was big, but not particularly innovative on the research side). These two labels were bitter rivals, and generally competed to see which could drive the market with new innovations. Both companies were working on improvements to the 78, improvements in handling and storage, improvement in freedom from the 78 surface noise, improvements in freedom from distortion, as well as improved playing times (even 12" 78s had a limit of about 6 minutes or so on each side, which was problematic for classical pieces, for example).

Both companies were known to be working on hush-hush projects to basically replace the 78. Columbia got to the announcement stage first. In late May, 1948, Columbia announced a new type of record, one that would run at 33-1/3 rpm and be pressed on vinyl. (RCA had introduced a 33-1/3 rpm long playing disc in 1931, although this one offered several improvements.) The new disc would, unlike the 78s, use a much smaller groove (microgroove) with an ultra light tonearm and a new type of cartridge/stylus. They called the new innovation the Lp (big "L", small "p") for "long playing." The new type of record minimized surface noise, the quiet backgrounds being perfect for classical music, with longer playing times of 22 minutes or so per side for a 12" Lp. In fact, Columbia's idea at the time was to use Lp for their Mastersound records, which is where the classical and other highbrow music resided. The industry was energized by the news (see headline at right from Billboard, 5/29/48). By the next week, phonograph makers were rushing to build units that could play the new records, the first of which were due in June.

In June, Columbia held a "technical press conference" in New York for industry folks, explaining the development process for the Lp, demonstrating the discs, and going through all the technical specifications (Billboard story, 6/26/48, at left). They talked about the availability of phonographs. They also offered their new technology to any other labels who wanted them. Labels like the brand-new Mercury Records jumped at the offer, but RCA-Victor declined.

For the rest of 1948, Columbia was busy getting a catalog of 105 new Lp records together, most on 10" but some on 12", mostly reissues of old 78 material, and everything looked bright. But there was still a nagging rumor that RCA-Victor had their own secret project that would change everything, again. The other shoe dropped in December, 1948, when a Billboard editorial (12/4/48, Page 3) revealed that RCA was working on a 45-rpm single which would be easy to carry and store. Albums would be done by booklets of 45s.

Columbia immediately countered by announcing January 8, 1949, that henceforth all their singles would be issued on both 78-rpm and on 7", 33-1/3 rpm discs. By January 15, before RCA could get any 45s on the market, Columbia was already announcing their price structure for 33-singles. In a somewhat self- congratulatory statement, Edward Wallerstein, Chairman of the Board of Columbia Records, announced, "It is the logical step in the completion of the revolutionary technique established when we introduced the microgroove system six months ago." (Billboard, 1/15/49, Page 20)

Also on January 8, 1949, a story in Billboard (page 3) revealed details of the new RCA-Victor 45 rpm disc. Unlike the 78s of the time, or Columbia's Lp, it would have a large 1-5/8" hole in the center, and would work with a new RCA record changer with the thick spindle. The record, measuring 6-7/8 inches in diameter, would use only about an inch of the outside of the record for grooves. RCA engineers had designed it "with the express objective of achieving 100 percent undistortion, or put another way, creating a record which is completely free of surface noises or distortion of any kind." Persons at the time who heard the new disc reported that as far as they could tell, RCA engineers had accomplished their goal.

The long Billboard story on January 8 concluded this way: "While wiseacre trade comment anent RCA's new disk has run along the general lines that the diskery would not sit still for Columbia beating them to the punch with the 33 1/3 long-playing platter, that RCA would find a way of "getting even," the facts behind the new system are these: As is the custom with all its many products, engineering research has gone on in the record division for a long time. As far back as late 1938 the RCA engineers were diddling, not with a new type record, but with a complete phonograph system, which would give completely undistorted music. The record player which will be introduced in March or April of 1949 were actually developed for all practical purposes in late 1946.... In the summer of 1948 when Columbia introduced its long playing 33 1/3 microgrooved disk and won the support of key instrument manufacturers, RCA decided the time had come to get serious about introducing their own version of a new standard. In view of the engineering research, production and other planning necessary to ready and launch such an item it seems ridiculous to believe that pique over the Columbia move dictated the RCA entry... However, there is little doubt that the introduction of the new RCA player and platter in the spring will mark the beginning of a historic disk battle between the Camden characters [RCA] and the Columbia gang from Bridgeport." Speed wars, indeed.

RCA made the first 12 45-rpm singles available the week of April 16, 1949, and announced that starting with the April 29 release, all new releases would be made on both 45-rpm and 78-rpm discs. The advertisement above left is from the April 23, 1949, issue of Billboard, and marks the first time 45-rpm singles were available. With the release of these singles, customers noticed an interesting bonus: they were all on colored vinyl, with "popular classics" (Broadway musicals and operettas) having a dark blue label and dark blue vinyl , green labels and vinyl for country, yellow vinyl with a dark blue label for childrens' records, a crimson red label and vinyl for classical music, rhythm and blues on cerise (orange) vinyl with a flat black label (often hard to read, and often these records had very low volume), and international with a shiny black label on teal vinyl. Regular pop singles were issued on black vinyl with blue labels. It was a matter of only a year or two, however, before RCA started pressing all the 45s on black vinyl.

By May, 1949, phono manufacturers were turning out machines with three speeds, 78, 45, and 33.

Well, Columbia and RCA-Victor stubbornly held onto their speeds, but it couldn't last. The marketplace had the final decision. In the January 7, 1950, issue of Billboard, [page 21], RCA came out with a new policy that henceforth, they would issue albums on 33-1/3 rpm. This was an admission that their idea of "albums" being a collection of 45s wasn't going well relative to Columbia's 10" and 12" albums. But of course in their statement, they just had to say, "To serve those music lovers who wish to play certain classical selections on long-playing records, RCA Victor will introduce on or about March 1, a new and improved, unbreakable long-playing record." [emphasis mine]. Even in defeat, a sideways dig at Columbia.

Columbia was no more gracious. In the August 12, 1950, issue of Billboard, [page 15], Columbia essentially conceded that their 33-1/3 rpm single was unpopular with buyers relative to the RCA 45, but of course had to do it by saying, "Having developed a better 45 r.p.m. record, CRI [Columbia Records, Inc.] will release two of its popular hits on 45 r.p.m. microgroove records in several test markets." [emphasis mine]. The speed wars were over.

Or were they?

The Introduction of Stereo on Vinyl

Stereophonic sound was not new in the late 1950s. People were investigating stereo as early as the 1880s, and probably long before that. Bell Laboratories in New York City gave a demonstration of stereo in 1937, and motion pictures started using some of the techniques around the same time. Walt Disney's Fantasia was partly recorded in stereophonic sound, which was restored in 1956. Movies as early as 1953 let viewers in theaters hear the films in stereo. By 1955, recorded music was being offered to the public on four-track (two-tracks each direction) reel-to-reel tape. The challenge was how to bring stereo to disc.

Various experiments along those lines for decades had been unsuccessful in developing a commercially viable way. The problem had two major facets, first to get it to work, and second to make the records mass-producible. In 1952, Emory Cook divided the two recorded tracks into two separate mono grooves, one near the edge and one near the hub, with two mono tonearms connected to separate mono sound systems. It was not practicable for commercial use, but Cook developed more than 25 stereo records with this setup.

Audio Fidelity Records was the first to solve both problems. They developed a system for stereo on vinyl records in 1957 with several prototype demonstration discs, but problems with reproduction on a mass scale left the industry skeptical. On December, 13, 1957, they stunned the industry with an actual workable, mass-produced disc that had gone through a press run of 500 copies. Unlike previous attempts by others, this disc required only a single stylus. The first stereo disc had The Dukes of Dixieland on one side and train sounds on the other (see above right).

Bel Canto Records, who had been recording in stereo for tape for some time, within days produced a stereo disc that could be used by dealers for demonstration. The Bel Canto discs were on colored vinyl (see left), and were meant to play on demonstration stereo machines lighted from under a transparent turntable so the light would shine through the colored wax.

It took most labels several months to gear up for releasing stereo albums.

During this time, the industry was wrestling with many problems, and as usual, bickering amongst themselves at the introduction of a new format. The Audio Fidelity format, which used lateral and vertical components in a groove with information on each side of a 45/45 degree groove, required a cartridge (which holds the stylus, or "needle") that could move vertically as well as horizontally. The standard mono cartridges could only move horizontally, and mechanically, when playing a stereo record, could shear off some of the tiny informational bumps in the grooves, damaging the record. For that reason, stereo records could not be played on mono players without damage, so they were "incompatible."

Let's listen in on the conversation...

Thanks to Dave Dzurick, Barry Margolis, and Thomas Reed.



On to Part 1. Early Stereo 45s (1958-1961)


On to Part 2. Stereo-33 Singles (1959-1964)


On to Part 3. Compact-33 Juke Box LPs


On to Part 4. Re-introduction of Stereo on 45s (1968-1972)


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