The Senior Living Magazine published an excellent artice on SPARC!
updated 14 July/2008
SPARC participated again in the "Fair in the Square" event on July 12th and 13th at Heritage Square, in the Maillardville area of Coquitlam.
As in previous years, we had on show some of our nice old radios from our collection. To support the display, we ran a 'broadcast remote', transmitting music to our radios that were set up at our table, and to the speakers throughout the Place des Arts complex.
Jack is 'on-air'!
Our mobile "studio" was set up in Mackin House, with our 'transmitter' site in a car parked outside. The studio consisted of equipment donated by CKWX (the Collins mixer, used for broadcasts from Nat Bailey stadium), CJAV in Port Alberni (the Revox tape machine), and CKNW (the Ampex machine). We also played vintage commercials and station breaks from a cartridge tape deck.
Click here for more information on Place des Arts.
Click here for more information on Mackin House.
The Senior Living Magazine published an excellent artice on SPARC!
Senior Living Magazine, in their February 2008 issue, told the story of our museum to its readers. SPARC's Jack Watson greets you on the front cover, holding an AFRS 16-inch transcription (not an "LP"). This was excellent exposure for our organization, because the publication reaches readers who can remember the old radios when they were new.
You can read the latest issues on-line by going to the mazine's website at www.seniorlivingmag.com and using the link that is below the cover photos. Also on their web page is a link for "Distribution", so you can find out where copies are available - most Lower Mainland libraries and community centers receive copies.
Red Robinson has topped himself - Donates his own tape collection to SPARC.
Red's radio broadcast career has spanned 53 years, from which he has carefully saved many tapes - almost 400 - and he has put them into SPARC's hands. There are celebrity interviews, old radio shows, station jingles, and some priceless airchecks. You should be hearing some of these over the next while on the museum floor! To think we were adjusting to having received Cullen's collection (see below)...
The late adored broadcaster, Jack Cullen, had accumulated a huge collection of LPs, 78s and other recorded rarities over six decades. After his passing, most of his treasure was dispersed to the corners of North America. Some items are even now reappearing on eBay. We're happy to report that a large number of Jack's private archive of recordings did not meet that fate and fell to the care of Red Robinson. Red is also a veteran and current broadcaster who is passionate (and very knowledgable) about radio history. Red has shown his support for SPARC by donating this collection to us. There are over 700 tapes and a two-foot-high stack of 16-inch transcriptions. We have listened to a sampling of these, and what we've auditioned are really engaging. We will be sharing these soon, as audio archives on our website, or by streaming over the internet. Visit our NEWS page to learn of our progress. The icing on the cake was to receive two special items from Red - the original microphone used by the FIRST radio station in Vancouver, CFXC, begun by Fred Hume in 1924. Red also passed onto SPARC the original licence plate "personality" decal sported by George Chandler, showing his station's call letters - CJOR. The present incarnation of that station is still on 600 AM and now has the call letters CKBD.
Thanks doubly, Red!
SPARC made appearances at four community outings last summer.
Not reported earlier on this news page, was our involvement with the Tree Fest, held annually in the Fall in the Riverview grounds. These very grounds on which our museum building is located is also home to a huge variety of tree types, making a yearly conducted tree tour a well-attended occasion. We always put up a table at their rendezvous point. An interesting feature is that the tree fest organizers book the "Crystal Palace" trailer, formerly used by CKNW at the PNE and other remote broadcasts. Since it's a Sunday event, our low-power radio station was able to carry special programming all day. The tree-fest's shuttle bus played our music (off FM) for the whole day. It was a great joint event. We've already received this year's invitation, so with the advance notice, we hope to actually originate our Sunday show from the trailer! The pictures below show it's nearly "as-built" by CKNW. The board is the same model as we got from CJAV (see the Mackin House picture!).
The event at "Fair in the Square" is described below. This was followed by two more successful shows, both including a "broadcast remote". These outings are becoming quite a hit in the community...
On August 18th, the Mission District Historical Society invited SPARC to be part of the 100th anniversary celebration of their Bank of Commerce building that houses the Mission Museum collection. It was a perfect day, sitting comfortably on the museum porch, with the Mission bridge and the Fraser Valley mountains in the distance. Below us in the parking lot were displays and activities for all.
Left: Elaine's vintage Wolsley parked out front became one of the exhibits. Right: Elaine and Jack presiding (Peter took the picture).
Click here for more information on the Mission Museum.
The Maple Ridge Museum hosted us on August 4th. That event was the Mayors' Heritage day, held in the Memorial Peace Park. We were located on the Bandstand. As you can see, we had a good sampling of our radios, and an ambitious broadcast operation playing the music.
Left: The "Gazebo" in Memorial Peace Park. Right: Paul resting - Broadcast remote set up at upper left.
Click here for more information on Maple Ridge, including the Maple Ridge Museum.
'Fair in the Square' - We were at Places des Arts in the Maillardville area of Coquitlam - July 7th and 8th, 2007
A 'first' last summer - we were streaming our live program direct to the SPARC Museum building! Our normal opening day there is Sunday, and all our visitors could hear the live remote, including the visitors from 'KidsWorld'. Our connection was via the internet, using a TELUS wireless data card in a laptop. The quality was excellent, and there were no 'hiccups'. Keep an eye on this NEWS page, because we want the world to hear our broadcasts - the server we're working on will allow that.
This year's event is described above.
As you can see, SPARC often takes items from our collection into the community to promote awareness of the history of radio, the part it plays in our culture, and how we are preserving the artifacts of radio. Whenever we are able, we do this by staging a "remote broadcast", as radio stations often did, playing live music from dance halls, and recorded music on location from malls and even furniture stores! In our case, the music is played over the antique radios on display.
To see more photos of these remotes, go to the Studio News page - the link is on our home page - click on the VU meter.
The Philco Wreck
A recent acquisition at the museum (Really! It is an acquisition!) is a Philco Model 20. Our restoration volunteers are truly gifted, but there are limits. We loved this example of the ravages of a leaky barn so much, that the decision was made to make it a display item as is. The photo here of the chassis layout is pasted on the tube shield at the left in the view from the back. The remains are resting appropriately in a child's "Radio Flyer' wagon. We have two other hopeless cases of this model at SPARC that are pristine by comparison!
For those of you who are hams or SWL (Short-Wave Listener) addicts, the items in the shortwave section are always being added to and reorganized. Existing display items are being electrically restored as nearly as possible to the original factory-operating performance, so that radios of different vintages can be compared. This will allow us to gain a perspective on engineering improvements over the decades.
One group worked on was our fairly complete Hallicrafters product line. Two wonderful items are the SX-42 and SX-62 from 1947 - they are big, heavy, but impressive radios. Also, an SX-100 has just been restored to factory operating condition; as a museum visitor, ask for a demonstration. This late-50s model was Hallicrafters' first set to be aimed at the SSB (single-sideband) user. Pictured on the table, left, is the SX-62, and right, is the SX-100. By the way, after having done the work on the SX-100, there was an SX-96 in storage that we thought was ready for the dumpster. Since it is almost identical to the SX-100, it seemed convenient that we give it a thorough workover. It absolutely came to life. In spite of it not being of display caliber, the lesson is that old items that appear unrepairable can live again!
We should develop a page dedicated to this absorbing section of the museum.
A friend of the Museum came across this curio, and thought it should have a place at SPARC. It is an old record cleaner, carrying the "Nipper" logo. Notice that the company name is The Gramophone Company -- it does not say RCA Victor, or even Victor. It is much older than we first thought, perhaps from the 20s. Apparently it is British in origin, as was the artist who created the 'Nipper' painting.
We've put this in the glass case at the museum entrance, and leaned it up against one of the turrets on one of our excellent Atwater Kents. (Thanks, Peter R.)
A server is being built so you can hear SPARC's vintage music and radio shows on the Web. High-speed access is now running at the museum. We are using a radio microwave shot to link with the world. Trials are being carried out on streaming software. Watch this page for more news and a schedule.
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