This image could be mistaken for the studio of a small radio station, but it’s actual the public address console of a wartime industrial plant. Specifically, it’s the console of the RCA Plant Broadcasting System. It appeared in the August 1945 issue of Radio Service Dealer, as part of an article penned by the manager of RCA’s Music Library Service. The article is one of a series giving dealers ideas on how to promote the P-A business, and focused on providing music in the industrial environment.

Plant managers learned that by piping in the right mix of music, they would increase productivity and worker morale. Such sound systems were suitable for industrial plants, as well as office areas devoted to stenographic and clerical work. Business offices such as banks and insurance companies could play music both for workers and customers. And in hospitals, hotels, and stores, music could be piped in over sound systems.

RCA had the musical programming down to a science, and had packages of records available for sale to companies. Musical selections were broken down into four categories.

First of all, there was music for the opening period. These songs would play as workers arrived, and would continue for about fifteen minutes after starting time. These were invariably marches or patriotic tunes, such as “Stars and Stripes Forever,” or the “Washington Post March.” Other possibilities would be upbeat or fast tempo dance selections such as “Pennsylvania Polka.”

About an hour and a half after starting time, and again about an hour and a half before lunch, songs from the “Fatigue” playlist would be played. More songs from this list would be played similar times in the afternoon. Many of these were waltzes, and also popular hits, Latin and Hawaiian tunes, or old time favorites. Some songs on this list included “Green Eyes,” “Star Dust,” and “Begin the Beguine.”

The magazine stressed that the playlists had to be fine tuned to the audience. For example, it noted one small plant where about 75% of the workers were girls between 18 and 23. The music picked for that audience simply wouldn’t work at a plant where most workers were over 35.

RCA’s library also included some records for special occasions, such as Christmas songs and more patriotic tunes.

Workers at Davis & Geck, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., pack surgical sutures with the help of music piped in from wall-mounted RCA speakers.

One office employed 600 girls doing monotonous filing duties. Normally, at about 3:00, fatigue would set in, but the author observed those 600 girls instead singing along softly with a popular recording. The office manager was initially skeptical, but experience showed that the vocals did not impede efficiency.

A plant with many Polish or Slavic workers would get more polkas and folk dances. One plant in Trenton employed mostly Italians, and that plant had almost every record Caruso ever made.

Toward this end, one service featured by RCA was a survey that could be given to workers and analyzed at headquarters in Camden, N.J. to come up with a custom record library from the RCA catalog. “The psychological effect of having the personnel feel that the music is theirs, played for them, gives them a personal interest in the project which is otherwise unattainable.” The overall effect was greater efficiency, less absenteeism, and better output.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain was also seeing to it that war workers had music. The BBC program Music While You Work was programmed following similar principles. One interesting rule for the BBC program was the banning of the song “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” due to the potential danger of workers taking their hands off their work to perform the hand claps in the chorus.

Vera Lynn. Photo, Practical Wireless, June 1938.

We are sad to report that Vera Lynn has died at the age of 103.  She was known in Britain as the “Forces’ Sweetheart” for her songs that helped raise morale during World War 2.  Her most famous recording was “We’ll Meet Again,” which was recently echoed by Queen Elizabeth II in her address to her subjects about the coronavirus.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the Freddy Fender Museum in San Benito, Texas. We are shown above in front of Freddy’s motorcycle and one of the suits in which he performed.  The museum is part of the Museums of San Benito, along with the San Benito History Museum and the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

We were shown around by a friendly volunteer, and the visit was well worth the small detour we took to get there.  Unfortunately, the exact future of the museum is in question, and it might not be there when you read this.  On the very day we visited in December 2019, some of the Freddy Fender exhibits were being removed.  The museum will be moving to a new location, but the exact new location is not known at this time.  Some of the exhibits were apparently on their way back to Freddy’s widow in Corpus Christi.  The volunteer seemed optimistic, however, that the museum would continue in either San Benito or Corpus Christi.  But the exact future location has not been determined.  Before making a special trip, I would contact the museum to check on the status.  The museum is currently open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Fortunately, some of the exhibits remained, and are shown here.  Notably, Freddy’s two gold records are still on display, for Before the Next Teardrop Falls, and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights:

Of particular interest to our readers is this chair, marked “Zenith Arm Chair Radio,” in which Freddy Fender probably sat.  I’ve heard of Zenith chairside radios, but this is the first I ever heard of an actual Zenith chair.  The tag on the exhibit indicated that the chair was from “the 1970s”.  Perhaps it was in use then, but my guess would be closer to the 1930s or 1940s.  The tag indicated that the chair was last used at the Rio Grande Music Company recording studio, 1165 Sam Houston, San Benito, TX.

The museum also contained another room displaying some of the equipment from the studio, shown below:

The “Rek-Kut” record cutting machine is shown below.  You can click on the images for a larger version:

There were also two Ampex recorders, one identified as a Model 354:

As mentioned above, there were two other museums in the same building, and this radio was part of the display in the general history museum:

I couldn’t make out any brand name, but it appears to be from the late 1930s or 1940s, and covers the broadcast band and 5.8-15 MHz shortwave.

Finally, this shell casing was in the museum.  It was from a captured German gun from World War 1, and was engraved with the names of the American soldiers against whom it was directed.  The engraved text was very hard to read, and I unfortunately didn’t have time to try to transcribe much of it.  It would be a great service if some reader in the area could take the time to transcribe the text and post it online somewhere.  I’m sure that the relatives of the soldiers listed would be very appreciative.