Jan. 10, 1949: A Brand-New Format for the Shirelles, Drifters

A 45-rpm record, with its one-song per side format, was the perfect medium for rock and roll.

Image: Flickr/Ghindo

By Tony Long 01.10.08 | 12:00 AM

1949: The 45-rpm record is introduced by RCA. Can rock 'n' roll be far behind?
Flat disc records began replacing the cylinder for reproducing recorded sound as early as 1887. The original standard, what we know as the 78, had a 10-inch diameter disc with a rotational speed of between 75 and 80 rpm.
The 78 remained the standard for portable recorded sound until the mid-20th century, despite some severe limitations. For one thing, the disc didn't hold much, meaning that longer works, typically classical music, had to be broken in mid-composition (which makes the 78 seem a little like the vinyl forerunner of the four-track tape).
Columbia introduced the 33-rpm disc in 1948, which mostly solved that problem, and its rival, RCA, was right behind with the 45. Despite a diameter of only 7 inches, the 45 could hold as much sound as the 78, and was far more portable and cheaper to produce.

More important, though, was the timing. When rock 'n' roll started taking off in the mid-'50s, the 45 proved a perfect format for this music. With one song per side (the "A side" being the projected hit and the "B side" being filler, which often became the actual hit), the 45 had the distinct advantage of being affordable for most young fans.
The music also mirrored the technology. Fifties and early '60s rock was largely a string of singles, when the 45 reigned supreme. Bands started doing themed albums and "sides" -- the second "side" of Abbey Road, for example -- only after the LP had become the gold standard.

Read More......

Jan. 9, 1969: Concorde Takes to the Skies; Turbulence Ahead

The last flight of the Concorde was Nov. 26, 2003. It landed on the runway in Bristol, England where the first British Concorde flew in 1969.

Image: Adrian Pingstone

By Tony Long 01.09.08 | 12:00 AM


1969: The British version of the supersonic Concorde makes its first test flight.
The Concorde is one of only two supersonic airliners to enter commercial service. (The Soviet-built TU-144, intended as a riposte, was a total bust. The American SST was never built -- shot down on the drawing board by environmental concerns and Washington skeptics.)
A Franco-British collaboration, the Concorde was born largely out of French President Charles de Gaulle's resentment over American domination of the commercial-aircraft industry.
France's Caravelle was a successful conventional airliner, but didn't do much outside the European market. Something more dramatic was called for.
Enter the British, who committed themselves to the project in 1962 in the hope that it would coax de Gaulle to drop his opposition to Great Britain joining the Common Market. (He didn't.)
Both countries had experience building high-speed military aircraft, and now that expertise was lavished on the Concorde, with Britain's Bristol Siddeley and France's SNECMA beginning work on a plane designed to fly twice as fast as the Caravelle.
The prototype that flew Jan. 9 (the French version went aloft two months later) was indeed twice as fast as conventional airliners. Unfortunately, it was nearly twice as expensive to operate, too, and this factor, more than any other, was to dog the Concorde throughout its operational career.
The Concorde burned nearly as much fuel in a transatlantic crossing as the Boeing 747, which entered service at roughly the same time. (The Concorde was also noisy, raising the hackles of environmentalists.) The 747, however, could carry four times as many passengers, which helped offset costs. The Concorde's dilemma only got worse as the cost of aviation fuel soared.
In 1982, the price of a round-trip Concorde ticket between New York and Paris was $3,900. By 2000, the cost had risen to $8,150. Except for the insanely profligate or recklessly narcissistic, that was simply too much to pay to cross the Pond.
State subsidies kept the Concorde going, but the handwriting was on the wall, especially after a Concorde crashed on takeoff at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people. Commercial service finally ended in 2003.

Read More......