real to real tapes for sale on preloved

[Deleted]

Hi Guys.

Dont know if this would be of interest to anyone on here but i've just noticed an advert on preloved.co.uk for 2000 reel to reel audio tapes containing material taped from radio in the 50's 60's & 70's including pirate radio & pick of the pops. advertiser is mickf & he wants 50p a tape. I'd be interested myself but have nothing to play them on but it would be a shame if any rare material was disguarded due to lack of interest.

[Rob Moss]

Buy them. I'm sure someone here will help out with transferring them.

[Stephen Doran]

Any info on the pick of the pops ones dates etc

[Gary Critcher]

I'd definitely buy them, but I don't have a spare £1000!

[LanceM]

Same here, They sound like an interesting batch of materials. I would be interested as well to hear further in regards to the Pick Of The Pops material.

I get the feeling we are all wishing had an extra £1000 to spare!

Cheers, Lance.

[George D]

Im curious if anyone followed up on this?

[Jeremy Williams]

Their are only 1000 tapes left now!

[George D]

whether there was anything there or not i dont know. its a shame that this wasnt followed up on..

[Gary Critcher]

did you contact the seller at all?

[George D]

I didnt see the listing until later on, but if you guys want me to do some contact, Id be glad to do it.

From my readings, it looked liked a collection of record recordings and airchecks (recordings of radio stations) from the 1950s to 70s. The record recordings are pretty much worthless, however the recordings off radio could be one of a kind material.

The ideal would be someone from the uk or someone who could personally go down and inspect and pick the ones that look promising.

Because Im in America, I wouldnt be able to go inspect and see which reels looked like airchecks etc

Im not really knowledgeable about modern music or british musical radio shows. My musical tastes are pre rock and dramatic/talk radio although I know more modern music is popular.

What would be a gold mine for me would be if there were some missing dramatical recordings there (like paul temple) but that half are gone, it appears it was picked through by someone.

Not trying to make a big deal out of it, just seems interesting that for 50p, no one in the british radio conservation circles had any interest in checking it out.

It definately looked like a good lead.

Wherever they went, I hope they went to a good home.

Now if it was a collection of dramatical tv recordings, Id be there shipping it back to the USA as soon as possible... as long as it wasnt stepping on any groups work

If anyone sees similiar type collections, please let me know.. especially original audio recordings of television shows. I would love to find a colllection of someone who recorded tv soundtracks in the 50s and 60s..

[George D]

Since someone suggested I contact the preloved guy and no one else has, I decided to do it. His response will be below. I have no idea if he has anything missing. My thoughts are that it would be best if someone in uk who is familiar with the radio shows (such as pick of the pops goon show, etc) to see if he has anything worth while. Based on the size of this, it doesnt sound practical to ship them to the usa not knowing whats on them. Dont buy if you dont like.. if he has good stuff worth preserving let me know.. Ill chip in if needed if there are missing goon shows etc

If there is anything worthwhile, i would like to see it get into circulation rather than buried with a collector somewhere.

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have for sale probably around 1000 pre recorded reel to reel tapes.I have no idea what is recorded on individual tapes there are far too many of them,but they are all from the 1950s/60s/70s.Some contain pop records from the fifties/sixties,some Pick of the pops, pirate radio stations,plays,the Goons,interviews,opera etc etc etc. Most are boxed some are not.I would be looking for 50p per tape.Happy to do a deal on the lot.I will send via courier but collection would be better.

[Nigel Lees]

I did ring this guy last year, he was quite nice to talk to but towards the end of the phone call I just gave up. He said quite a few had gone - one collector had bought about 200 tapes because the tapes themselves were a certain brand / make, and there was another similar case he mentioned. I told him I was after 60s pop music (radio sessions) or TV stuff and when I suggested going up there and sifting through the lot to see if there was anything interesting I got a quite emphatic "no". He said I would be 'cherrypicking' even though he admitted he'd actually done this himself at first and ebayed some bits he thought were particularly interesting - with poor results, hence the Preloved ad. He said if I came up he would for example go into the garage, pick up the first 200 tapes he found for example, and sell them that way. Many he said were not in boxes, many had no annotation whatsoever. Could be a gold mine but with attitudes like this, I really couldn't be arsed. Why do such cache's like this often end up with patently the wrong people?!
Reminds me of the time there was a guy at the NEC Memorabilia in the early 90s, who's auntie used to run a newsagents. She';d kept one of everything, and this guy had stuff like 60s 'Jackie' mags with the free gifts inside. Billy Fury monthlies, 'Flower Scene', great rare mags, boxes and boxes of them. His stall was swarming, then he told me he'd despatched all the Radio and TV Times to a landfill as he thought no-one would want them! I got his phone number but after about 2 years I gave up! He was just too awkward and it really became a drag.

[Rich Cornock]

yes i think this seller has to be realistic. There is really only a small market for these tapes and i doubt many people would want to shell out a grand for this lot.
As he doesn't know whats on most of the tapes and admits that some are just recordings of records its a big ask to expect anybody just to blindly buy the lot. You could spend hours even weeks going through the lot only to be left with nothing of interest.
I'm sure he paid out a lot of money when he first bought all the tapes but realistically he is better off giving them away or selling them at a low price other wise they will just sit in his garage for years to come.
This is similar to the much talked about private video library which has been way over priced at £20,000 and hence the seller hasnt been able to find a buyer for many years

[John Green]

Years ago,a woman had a very rare Dylan audio tape at a high asking price.Negotiations got nowhere.Eventually a fan went round to her place and was allowed to listen to the tape at a distance.
Later a tape circulated of him chatting to the woman for an hour or so,who the songs played...
Trouble is,many people might quite reasonablly think,if an Oswald the Rabbit 5-minute silent short sells for thousands,surely a more-popular,marketable Doctor Who episode-with sound-should be worth more.
Hats off to people who nonetheless have made these thins accesible to the rest of us.

[George D]

Unfortunately, one has to deal with a lot of unique people in the hunt to preserve material, but Im not convinced thats the case here.

I dont think the price of 50p a real is unreasonable. Especially if is negotiable (maybe 250 for the lot) Have you ever checked what blank reel prices sell for? Its a fraction of the cost. And since a year has past, he may be more looking to move them. I would try again, more low key..(he probably forgot who you are anyway) in other words dont talk to him about cherry picking. Dont talk about looking for rare shows. Just say youre interested in buying and you want to inspect them. If he questions you further tell him your serious about spending but you need to see what your buying first. If he was willing to let you check them out, id go down there and follow his rules. let him pull out a box. If the labels seem promising, pull a portable player from your car and do some sample checks. He wants to make money. If youre gonna go through them and pick out 10 tapes he aint going to be happy. If this is a real aircheck collection, and 20% are decent, then you might want to play "lets make a deal "for the entire collection or offer to pay 100.00 to 200.00 for the 20%.

If your serious about spending, then i would think he's serious about working with you.

Im all for getting the stuff out there and preserving it but the guy needs to be treated with some courtesy also.

IF he was within a reasonable driving distance from me Id check it out but Im not.