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Posted by Rob Sherwood   •   Friday, 2008-January-11 • 22:02
I was watching an interview of Fred Thompson by Sean Hannity in some radio studio in South Carolina. My eye immediately zeroed in on the earphones Hannity was wearing. When the camera panned to Fred Thompson, I was struck by the pristine perfection of the borrowed earphones he had on. I presume that talk stations of today have many sets of house phones. At any station I worked, each DJ had their own. One's earphones were like one's toothbrush. For me, a good pair of phones were like a sweater you love and don't want to toss. It didn't take long for them to start looking like Jeb Clampet's car. Toward the end I used an old style of Koss that wasn't made anymore. Gary DeMaroney found a source and bought 2 or 3 pair. They languished in a box labeled "104" for 10 years or so.

Until 1968, I used the industry standard...Clevite's. Am I spelling it correctly? The technology of Clevites was the same as the early telephone. A magnet causing a disc of metal to vibrate...voila! The sound. There was virtually no bass-respone and the damage to my ear drums must have been devastating. What? At WDUZ I used a single ear Clevite. That was bizarre now that I think about it. It all boils down to comfort...like that seater I mentioned. WDGY was the first station I worked at that used a standard over-the-ear, buy-it-at-Radio Shack, earphone. For the first time in my career I actually heard how things actually sounded and it was magical. The sheer volume I ran those phones was ridiculous and after every four hour show, my ear would have a high-pitched squeal for 2-3 hours. What? Huh?

When I began the progression from Walkman to Discman to MP3 to IPod I used the little button things they come with, but at some point I chucked those for on-the-ear models and used those until, rummaging in a box labeled 104, I dug out my Koss. Old and held together with yards of electrician's tape, they sound great. It's kind of fun to connect the technology of the 70's with the technology of the new millenium. Now I have to figure out how to get a Beta machine to work in the car.

Opera tomorrow afternoon....I am soooooo keyed!

Rob
  1. axmanzman wrote on 2008-January-14 22:01:52:
    Rob i know the comfort of a nice set of headphones... I do a bit of voice production in my studio and my set of Pioneers i've had for going on 15 year suddenly refused the abuse anymore.. they totally covered the ears and cut out any sound. I went on a quest for a decent set of headphones and found something alittle like the Pioneers..They were Koss digitals great sounding but they sueednly quit making them after i bought them of course... why? The new stuff does not stand the abuse like the old stuff.. they died within 2 years time.. i now have a pair of Sony .. flat sounding as heck.. UGH... I would love to find an old pair of Pioneers again... Talking about ears ringing because of those little plastic earpieces back in the early days... my ears ring constantly because i loved my music loud and proud!!! I played in rock bands for years.. and when listening to music it always had to be LOUD!!!!!! Today I have 30% loss of hearing and tinitus in both my ears... i hear that high pitched ringing all the time.. and even more when i have played a gig with any band.. I hate the little button earpieces that come with ipods... they stink!!!! rather have the big phones...
  2. randyhendrix wrote on 2008-January-15 22:55:21:
    I know the feel of a good pair i have sony mdvr-6's and man i bought 2 pair , the only 2pair besides a set of radio shack nova's i have ever used. that is what i want to hear more of the fm 104 khop days!!
  3. Rob Sherwood wrote on 2008-January-16 10:23:45:
    Randy....The Central Valley is just around the corner...It's the next stop on my endless journey. Some emailed a funny comment. Squeeling phones. I guess they were listening to some dj and his phones were leaking and the feedback squeels were constant. And everytime they squeeled, he said, "oops" or "sorry". Clevites used to squeel if you pulled them off your ears with the mike open. I once worked with a dj....i'm trying to remember which station??? One of the early ones. He was so lazy that he decided he wasn't going to ever turn off the mike. So, in addition to some squeel from his phones you also could hear him moving about the studio, doors opening and closing, chair roller-wheels moving across the floor and the noise when he sat. I am sure he had a BIG future in broadcasting. Add that to the guy who peed in the wastebasket because it was too far to the bathroom, the night jock who covered all the windows with draping cloth because he was paranoid someone might peek in, the dj who habitually lit a cigarette after starting music and sometimes had 3-4 smoldering cigarettes in the ashtray, the various dj's who got oral sex from underneath the control board while on the air, the few who didn't even bother to conceal the blowee, the dj who cried during music, worried that the song would soon be over and he wouldn't have anything to say, the many who worked drunk, high, hung-over, fell asleep at the switch, or the one who fell asleep on the toilet, or the one who locked himself IN the toilet and couldn't get the door open, or the one who ran to the car and locked himself out of the station, or the one who put on a long song and drove to McDonalds, and milllions of more such crazy stories, makes one's ear-phone picadillos pale by comparison.

    Rob
  4. randyhendrix wrote on 2008-January-16 18:55:27:
    Oh so true Rob...oh so true..thanks for the laughs.Randy
  5. daveb wrote on 2008-February-26 15:45:44:
    I remember having to use Paul Thompson's headphones on a few occasions in Tacoma. Kinda like slipping your feet into someone elses dirty socks. I also remember thinking they smelled a bit like that german cheese my grandfather used to eat. Of course, this led to my first pair of Sennheisers... those yellow foamy earpieces were so the rage...kinda looked like JP Patches ears. Now my kids both have these little ear buds...what the hell are those...can they slip inside and do damage???
  6. Rob Sherwood wrote on 2008-February-27 18:07:18:
    Another gross memory....ear-phone crud....but think of the microphones we worked micro-inches away from the screen the previous 2,000 DJ's had worked so closely. I can remember smelling the previous jocks lunch on the microphone!
  7. daveb wrote on 2008-February-28 16:42:15:
    Microphone smell...ok Rob..that made my throat small for a second there. Toby Hart had that wierd coffee/cigarette smell which would get left behind on the mic, but he was still a ok guy. Always reminded me of Tom Skerrit in "Alien". Always expected him to come running around a corner with a flamethrower chasing Dan Rupe...wow...another name I haven't thought of in yeeeeears...
  8. Rob Sherwood wrote on 2008-March-01 07:42:11:
    Was Dan Rupe the engineer? My memory is so terrible. I remember Harold Greenburg and Ken Copper. A few others have written and I remember them but one of these days you'll have to give me the staff list as you remember it. I discovered spray Lysol early in my career and ruined many a mike with the spray. Those RE-20's were indestructable but even so I eventually just sprayed the paper towel and did a good wipe-down. Solved the problem although inhaling all those Lysol fumes has caused my memory to go hay-wire from the brain damage.
  9. Rob Sherwood wrote on 2008-March-01 07:42:23:
    Was Dan Rupe the engineer? My memory is so terrible. I remember Harold Greenburg and Ken Copper. A few others have written and I remember them but one of these days you'll have to give me the staff list as you remember it. I discovered spray Lysol early in my career and ruined many a mike with the spray. Those RE-20's were indestructable but even so I eventually just sprayed the paper towel and did a good wipe-down. Solved the problem although inhaling all those Lysol fumes has caused my memory to go hay-wire from the brain damage.
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