May 7, 1949…The First 45 RPM Record Hits The Billboard Charts
The song was “You’re Adorable” by Perry Como. The next week, the year’s biggest 45 hit appeared on the Billboard charts…”Riders In The Sky” by Vaughn Monroe.
The 45 rpm record was RCA’s pushback against Columbia’s 33 1/3 rpm long-playing disc, introduced the previous year. The two systems directly competed with each other to replace 78 rpm records, bewildering consumers, and causing a drop in record sales. The years from ’49 to ’51, in media, were referred to as “the war of the speeds” years.
By the way, around September of ’48, William Paley, at CBS had offered RCA’s Sarnoff the rights to the 33 technology at no cost as it would help boost the 33 format record sales for all. Sarnoff thanked Paley and told him he would think about it, but RCA had already perfected it’s secret 45 project. Paley was shocked and more than a bit miffed when RCA rolled out the 45 a few months later.
The number 45 came from taking 78, and subtracting Columbia’s new 33 rpm format speed, which equaled 45. Record companies and consumers alike faced an uncertain future as to which format would survive. In 1949 Capitol, and Decca started issuing the new LP format, and RCA relented and issued its first LP in January 1950. But the 45 rpm was gaining in popularity, and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. Soon other record companies saw the mass consumer appeal the new format allowed. and by 1954 more than 200 million 45s had been sold.
RCA had announced the new format, and introduced the player in January of ’49, but it was months later till there was a use for it. The first 45, was released on March 31, 1949; it was the RCA Victor label’s “Texarkana Baby” b/w “Bouquet of Roses” by Eddy Arnold. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
I had one of the RCA changers as a kid. I still have lots of the early boxed 45 record sets…which are less than ideal, chopped up and abridged versions of the original works in some cases. But…best singles format ever.
I have a 9EY3 45 player….the first that came out apparently…had to replace the cartridge, and had a guy remake the top knob as it broke off on a 3D printer..that part is hard to find, but works fairly well.
Initially, RCA released different kinds of songs on 45 in different-colored vinyl, like green for country, red for classical, yellow for kids’ records, etc. Their demo film introducing the 45RPM record is pretty hilarious, but I haven’t found that yet on YouTube.
I love old time radio and RCA used to sponsor the Phil Harris/Alice Faye show. As a huge 45 collector, it’s a kick to hear the ads for this system when it first came out.
I’ve also read that RCA’s star conductor Arturo Toscanini needled Sarnoff into finally issuing classical programming on LP. That’s how much things have changed. Imagine a classical artist asking for anything from a major label nowadays….
I gotta say that as a DJ in the early 70s 45s were way easier to work with .
Every time I see the RCA Victor brand, I remember how their Japanese manufacturing operation had been nationalized during WW2 and became the Japanese Victor Corp. Now known as JVC.
Excellent piece on musical technology. 🙂
Nice, but the longer we get from the format the more primitive it seems. I know some people into Vinyl and I just laugh inside that they’re paying $25 for the same album we paid $5.99 for back in the day.
Though they both were intended to replace 78rpm records, 45’s and LP’s were very different from each other. Since the 45 had a much more limited playing time, it was more like a 78 rpm record than the LP was. With their original purpose fulfilled, the formats went on to co-exist by meeting two needs of record buyers: Longer selections for classical music with LPs and short songs for popular music. It worked out quite well for both RCA and Columbia.
RCA covered themselves by issuing cuts on 45 that did not appear on their 33. Of course, once the CD version came out, everything appeared.
I recently retired after 34 years in local TV as an audio guy (a dying breed). My daughter had this cake made for me. And the real RCA 45 changer was restored and works great!
they were just practicing for VHS vs. Betamax….
My memory of the RCA 45 changer was plugging it in to an RCA jack on our Zenith console. Turned out that jack was for a pilot light at the bottom of the case. The phono input was actually the Cobra preamp, which wasn’t compatible with the RCA changer.
“The number 45 came from taking 78, and subtracting Columbia’s new 33 rpm format speed, which equaled 45.” Oh, no! This is the oldest urban legend in the annals of consumer electronics. RCA had been working on a replacement for the 78 since before the war, and had experimented with speeds ranging from 30 to 50 RPM. They were balancing the playing time (5 minutes – the same as a 12″ 78) with disk diameter, to get the most compact format that would have a surface velocity and lack of “pinch effect” so that the sound would not degrade as the stylus reached the inner diameter. In fact, for all but the outer inch or so, the 45 has a higher surface velocity than a 12″ LP. RCA was not looking for a replacement for the 78 album, but for thee 78 single. They were convinced that there would be no market for that. Both Edison and Victor had tried to introduce long playing records in the 1920s and failed. Columbia had a different strategy, that of replacing the 78 album. Under Columbia’s plan, the 78 would continue as the format for singles. Columbia only introduced a 7″ 33 single in response to the 45. “Eeevil Sarnoff” gets too much credit for manipulating things behind the scenes in this tale. The 45 was actually better thought out than the 33. Here’s the white paper on its development published by RCA Labs: http://tildebang.com/jukebox/rec_and_changer_comp_design_45.pdf
Our RCA Victor 45 player featured Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs illustrations on the casing. That thing did change records in a flash. Wish we still had it.
I have a 1956 RCA 45 rpm player. It needs restoring, but I love it because it’s just like the one I wanted as a kid, but my dad wouldn’t get for me.
There is an interesting book called The Victrola 45 which tells the story in detail. You can get it from Amazon.
My older sister had this. Think it came with my parents 9-12″ RCA TV in early 1950s.
We had that 45 player. RCA had a jack in the back of their TVs that you plugged the machine into for sound. Almost everything RCA sold from radios to TVs had that plug. I still have some red label 45s and a couple of Sun with Elvis.
Teens loved the 45s. They could buy three or four hit records (each with a “b” side) for the price of one LP.
In so many Juke Boxes as well, I’m sure that helped push the 45 sales up.
I started in radio in the 60’s.and there was no greater workout than doing the show all on 45’s.Most then in the 50’s and 60’s running 2 :30 min.
Great remember those 45 s have G . MILLER ALBUM ON 45 S YNX.
The 45 RPM speed was NOT chosen because of the 78 minus 33 coincidence, according to “Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record” by Richard Osborne.
He says the speed was based upon calculations made by J.P. Maxfield, who argued that the best balance between playing time and signal-to-noise ratio would be given by a groove density of 3 minutes per radial inch, and also that the innermost groove of a disc should be half the diameter of the outermost groove. Given the 6 7/8 diameter of the record it was found that 45 rpm provided the desired playing time within the designated bandwidth.