Re: livin' la vida vinyl

[mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>David Harris wrote:
>While there remain a precious few radio studios with functioning
>turntables, it's rare to see those units actually functioning.  Most
>stations have long since disposed of their LPs and 45s.  Not only does
>WUNH 91.3 Durham NH still have turntables in the air studio and vinyl in
>the library, I hear the CD players were removed from the studio earlier
>this month for "Vinyl Week."  Gotta love it!
<snip>

        Based on a few college stations I've seen lately, they still seem
to have turntables in the air studio and production studio. I'd say there
are various reasons. One is that with limited budgets to replace old
recordings they sometimes keep the vinyl and still use it because their
programming tends to be eclectic. And not every recording has been reissued
on CD. There's also the simple reason that it's a lot more work to redo the
whole studio, rip out the turntables and their cabinets, etc., than just to
add on the CDs.
        When I was at WMUA earlier this year, the turntables were being
used for a hip-hop show. The mixing and scratching was pretty impressive. I
get the impression that a lot of the hip-hop DJs in college radio are the
same DJs who do live party DJing.
      Turntables have been born again as an instrument in rap and hip-hop
bands and that seems to be crossing over into pop now--i.e., Sugar Ray.