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Program National Recording Preservation Plan

Specialty Interviews and Articles

Transcripts of original interviews, conducted by the Library of Congress, with authors, experts, historians and others an all aspects of audio preservation, theory and history.

Interviews

  • Shadow of the New Deal book cover

    Josh Shepperd is author of “Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting.” In this interview, he discusses the development of public and educational radio.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 229KB)

  • Field Recording Book For Beginners book cover

    Jared Blake is the author of the book “Field Recording Book For Beginners:  Techniques, Gear and Advice” and, in this interview, offers a primer for getting into this unique aspect of audio recording and sound preservation.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 361KB)

  • Broadcast Hysteria book cover

    Brad Schwartz is the author of “Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles's ‘War of the Worlds’ and the Art of Fake News” and, in this interview, discusses Welles’s sensational broadcast of 1938 and the public—and political—fallout that followed.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 275KB)

  • Music Preservation and Archiving Today book cover

    Norie Guthrie is an archivist and the co-author of the book “Music Preservation and Archiving Today.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 163KB)

  • 8 Track book cover

    R.J. King is the author of the 2020 history “8 Track: The First Mobile App.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 353KB)

  • Mixing Engineers Handbook book cover

    Bobby Owsinski is a audio mixer and the author of several books on the art of audio production.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 200KB)

  • Amateur Radio Dictionary book cover

    Along with being an amateur radio operation himself, Don Keith is the author of several books on ham radio.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 195KB)

  • The Soundies book cover

    Mark Cantor is the author of the book “The Soundies: A History and Catalog of Jukebox Film Shorts of the 1940s,” a definitive history of these “film jukeboxes” that once dotted nightclubs, taverns and other nightspots through the country.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 185KB)

  • Music Copyright book cover

    Casey Rae is an expert on copyright, specifically copyright of audio and digital works.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 242KB)

  • When Rock Met Disco book cover

    Steven Blush is the author of the book “When Rock Met Disco” and discusses this most controversial and enduring genres.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 404KB)

  • Daily Source Code book cover

    Adam Curry began his pioneering podcast “Daily Source Code” in 2003 and has remained a fixture of the medium ever since. This is an interview with the man known as “The Podfather.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 213KB)

  • The Lost Media and Research Handbook book cover

    Ziggy Cashmere, a.k.a. Jacob Pruitt, is the author of “The Lost Media and Research Handbook: A Guide In Finding Obscure and Forgotten Information” about the best ways to hunt down those programs of yore that you miss the most.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 194KB)

  • Live from the Underground book cover

    Katherine Rye Jewell is the author of the book “Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 210KB)

  • Women in Audio book cover

    Leslie Gaston-Bird is the author of the book “Women in Audio.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 182KB)

  • The Synthesizer book cover

    Mark Vail has written the history of the synthesizer. See his—and its—story here.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 344KB)

  • Hi-Fi: The History of High-End Audio Design book cover

    Gideon Schwartz is the author of “Hi-Fi: The History of High-End Audio Design”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 334KB)

  • The Jive 95: An Oral History of America’s Greatest Underground Rock Radio Station—KSAN San Francisco book cover

    Hank Rosenfeld is the author of the book “The Jive 95: An Oral History of America’s Greatest Underground Rock Radio Station—KSAN San Francisco.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 310KB)

  • Podcasting book cover

    Jeremy Wade Morris is the author of the book “Podcasting.” Read the Library’s interview with him.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 155KB)

  • Capturing Sound book cover

    Mark Katz is the author of “Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music.”

    Read the Interview (PDF, 283KB)

  • The FIAF Disaster Handbook book cover

    David Walsh, of FIAF, is the author of a manual for how AV archives can handle disasters—natural and otherwise.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 211KB)

  • FM book cover

    Richard Neer is the author of the book "FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 384KB)

  • Ebonie Smith portrait

    Ebonie Smith is the founder of the audio organization GenderAmplified.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 173KB)

  • Ears to the Ground book cover

    Ben Murphy is the author of "Ears to the Ground: Adventures in Field Recording & Electronic Muisc."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 209KB)

  • Scholarly Podcasting book cover

    Ian M. Cook is author of the "Scholarly Podcasting: Why, What How?" (2023).

    Read the Interview (PDF, 256KB)

  • Black Country Music book cover

    Francesca Royer is the author of the book "Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 275KB)

  • High Bias book cover

    Marc Masters is the author of a book on the history of the audio cassette.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 118KB)

  • Olivia Records book cover

    Ginny Z. Berson is one of the foundering mothers of Olivia Records and the author of the book "Olivia on the Record." Read an interview with her here.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 214KB)

  • Devil's Music, Hillbillies and Holy Rollers book cover

    James A. Cosby is the author of "Devil's Music, Hillbillies and Holy Rollers: How America Gave Birth to Rock 'n' Roll."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 266KB)

  • Musics Lost and Found book cover

    Michael Church is the author of "Musics Lost and Found" and "The Other Classical Musics."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 182KB)

  • What About the Fans? book cover

    Bud Hathaway is the author of the book "What About the Fans?: A Rock and Roll Memoir."

    Read the Interview (PDF, 224KB)

Articles

  • “What was the first album?” “What was the first CD?” All your audio trivia questions answered here.

    Read the article (PDF, 890KB)

  • Solitude Standing cover

    For years, unbeknownst so her, Suzanne Vega was known as a “Mother of the MP3.” Find out why.

    Read the story (PDF, 324KB)

Library Profiles

  • old time record player

    Rob Cristarella is an Audio Preservation Engineer at the Library of Congress and he and his work is profiled here.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 317KB)

  • record on a player

    Amy Strickland is the head of the Processing Unit for Bibliographic Access and Recorded Sound at the Library of Congress.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 266KB)

  • sound wave depicted in green and blue

    Brian Bader is a cataloger in the Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress. He details his job in this interview.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 148KB)

Oral Histories

  • Leslie Ann Jones

    Leslie Ann Jones a member of the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board and is a multi-Grammy award winning engineer and is currently employed at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm, Ltd. company. She is a past Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Board of Trustees.

    Oral history: Leslie Ann Jones, audio engineer

    Read the transcript (PDF, 115KB)

  • David Hughes

    David Hughes is a member of the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board. Formerly with RIAA, Hughes now has his own consulting firm Hughes Strategy Consulting.

    Read the Interview (PDF, 169KB)