Evica - WWUH

[Charles Drago]

Well in excess of 150 90-minute cassettes. My estimate.

[Jerry Ellis]

Charles, if it comes down to a pool of volunteers keep me in mind.

I can make some time for things like this. Essentially retired.

I would think that a procedure should be decided on and each volunteer follow that for a consistency of result and organization. Not sure how good the tape player has to be. I have a JVC dual well cassette tape deck that originally cost under $150. Not really audiophile or broadcast quality but surely adequate for the purpose. I need to get it serviced and new belts.

And by the way I live in CT, a town over from Hartford and West Hartford.

A group of volunteers should be close as far as trust and agreement of common purpose. I am not looking to take on a lot of work, I can provide help if needed. No big deal either way but I believe that these things should be done. Commercialism and Corporate do have a way of changing the outcome of things a lot.

- Jerry

[Charles Drago]

Thanks again, Jerry.

Right now my thinking is to engage a professional studio to do the job. But all possibilities are open to discussion.

I'll keep all interested parties informed.

[John Kelin]

About ten years ago I got a box full of tapes on loan from Hood College. The tapes dated to the mid-sixties and were on the original small reels. Just try to find a reel-to-reel player nowadays!

So I took them to a local audio place, basically a one man shop, some tech-head with a lot of gadgetry. He charged me about a dollar per minute of tape time to digitize and burn to CD, and led me to believe it was a bargain rate. Which it probably was.

Anyway I bit the bullet and got it done. I'm very glad I did essential to the work then underway, and afterward a permanent record of stuff that would have been forever lost.

Around the same time, I was conducting many many interviews. Most were by telephone, recorded on cassette tapes on a clunky old phone answering machine. Later I was able to digitize these myself (still a project in progress, in fact). Did it for the same reason: I see the value and want to preserve.

Some of you may know that a guy name Clay Ogilvie undertook a similar task at Hood College. He digitized some, most, or all of Harold Weisberg's vast collection of stuff for the most part, hard copy, but essentially the same thing.

I know a little something of how Clay worked, and I suggest the same thing for the Assassination Journal. To wit (and yes, this is really obvious), the slow and steady approach. A little bit at a time over a long period. With an estimated 150 90-minute tapes, it could probably be done at minimal out-of-pocket expense within a year or so, if one took a methodical approach.

When I digitized cassettes I used a very old Fostex multi-track tape player, directional. The important thing of course is that a "line out" feature is required. Not a rare feature by any means, but more than you'd probably find on an inexpensive cassette player. I connect to the computer with a common mini-plug.

By the way, I never had the privilege of hearing the Assassination Journal, but I'm assuming it originated at a public radio station with a shoestring budget. So this station isn't a likely underwriter for such a project.

I wonder if anyone has an association of any kind with a university whose resources could be used for this? A library or media center with a decent audio/computer connection? Baylor University has done some digitizing in its Penn Jones archive. It has already been noted in this thread that there is no existing archive to be trusted with this stuff. But if there were physical resources not far from where the tapes are now, and this source could be exploited...well, that would be the best solution, no?

I'm sorry to be so wordy here. I'm just trying to demonstrate that, from personal experience, professional places are expensive. With minimal technical know-how, though, it could be done very cheaply, and with acceptable quality.

Thanks again, Jerry.

Right now my thinking is to engage a professional studio to do the job. But all possibilities are open to discussion.

I'll keep all interested parties informed.

[Jerry Ellis]

Charles, if you could be so kind as to send me an email via my profile with a contact address I would like to mention a few things regarding this with you via private email.

Thanks.

Jerry

[Phil Dragoo]

How To Convert Cassettes To Digital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-iQ9JHOG_o


I understand the intent will be to use a professional data service, but I offer the above brief demonstration on the basis of its elegant simplicity and its uncanny irony encapsulated in its final sentence.



Here is a longer and more detailed explanation from a long-time syndicated professional whose userfriendliness is legend:




http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=9087&page=1



The tip of poco a poco is quite apt. Our friend with a large collection of classical records gave us a shoebox of cassettes over the course of our friendly business association, one symphony at a time.



Eggs, basket.

[Ed Jewett]

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/79235

The Cassette To MP3 Converter.
This is the portable device that plays and converts treasured audio cassettes into digital files for listening on an iPod or other MP3 player. Unlike similar converters, this one has a speaker and microphone that allows voice recording while you convert cassettes--you can comment before, during, or after a song or add narration to non-musical tracks. Simply connect the converter to a computer via USB and insert a cassette. The included audio editing software quickly and easily downloads tracks and exports them in MP3 or WAV format. The compact unit also operates as a standard cassette recorder with all the expected functions (record, play, rewind, fast forward, pause, stop/eject) and works with most types of cassettes, even CrO2. It has an internal 2 1/2" speaker, and RCA input/output jacks to record and play through a home entertainment system or other auxiliary source. For Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac. Includes RCA and USB cords. Plugs into AC. 3 1/4" H x 6" W x 9 3/4" L. (2 1/4 lbs.)

Item 79235
$99.95

**** **** ****

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/

[John Ramsey]

Just found this thread and joined your group so I could respond. I am the general manager of WWUH at the Univ. of Hartford, George Michael Evica's home base. I had the pleasure of working with him the entire time he produced Assassination Journal. I'm embarrassed to say that the station retained very few tapes of his program so I am thrilled to discover that copies exist. WWUH would be more than willing to transfer those tapes to digital media and then make the recordings available to those who are interested in the material.

John Ramsey
ramsey at hartford.edu

[Magda Hassan]

Welcome to the DPF John and I am so pleased to hear that you can do the transfer of the tapes to digital format. I am looking forward greatly to hearing them when they become available. Thank you.

[Dawn Meredith]

As will I. Welcome to DPF John. I look most forward to your contributions.

Dawn