Recordings give life to infamy of Dec. 7, 1941
Friday, December 07, 2007
By Dan Majors, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
J. David Goldin holds one of his 16-inch glass disc recordings that were made in Pittsburgh during the 1940s. His home archives include thousands of various recordings.
Pittsburgh residents listening to their radios in the middle of a chilly Sunday afternoon, Dec. 7, 1941, had their choice of five programs on the AM dial.
Four stations were playing music and the fifth offered poetry readings.
One person, a mystery man named Robert Dixon, had a couple of favorites. He liked Bernie Armstrong, the music director at KDKA, who played the organ from 4 to 4:30 p.m. at 1020-AM. And on WCAE 1250-AM, the Pittsburgh Symphony Concert featured Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and Beethoven's Third Symphony.
Mr. Dixon recorded them both.
"Imagine," said J. David Goldin, a rare-record collector and the founder of Radio Yesteryear. "He's sitting in his home recording these programs, and the bulletins about Pearl Harbor come in."
Today, these rare recordings are housed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where they are part of the Miller Nichols Library's Marr Sound Archives, used by researchers, teachers and history buffs to follow the American experience as reflected through recorded sound.
To hear the reports of the bombing of Pearl Harbor the way Pittsburghers heard them 66 years ago, go to
http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/ww2/index.htmLink to PG article
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07341/839947-85.stm