During radio's "Golden Age", most programs were aired live, rather than prerecorded. Luckily, many were recorded while they were being broadcast - sometimes so a sponsor, a producer, a director, or a performer could listen to them later, other times for legal purposes or for rebroadcast. Most were recorded onto 16" records, called electrical transcriptions or "ET's". With the introduction of audio tape in the early 1950s, transcriptions gradually became a thing of the past, with many being discarded in large quantities. As a result, with the passing of the years, they have become increasingly rare and hard to find.
Though it does take special equipment to play such a large record, many radio enthusiasts do collect them. Some are interested solely in discs from a favorite series, while others just like to own a few rare and high-quality transcription recordings to frame and hang on their wall. Radio Archives has a variety of unique and interesting transcriptions to choose from – all original, all in very good condition, and all affordably priced. Whether you have hundreds of transcription discs in your collection or simply want to purchase one or two as conversation pieces, we know these one-of-a-kind discs from radio's hey-day will make a welcome addition to your collection.
Below you will find discs offered from many different radio series. We have only one copy of each transcription disc. All are 16" in diameter and only playable on equipment capable of accommodating discs of this size. To aid in your selection, we have included a picture of the disc label for each transcription disc. We're sorry but, aside from the information contained in this listing, we are unable to provide any specific content information for any of the discs being offered.
