Photo: Ian Hayhurst/Flickr
While browsing for archival audio on the internet one night, radio historian J. David Goldin noticed a 1937 radio interview of baseball great Babe Ruth for sale on eBay. Goldin was startled; it looked almost exactly like the master copy he had donated to the National Archives more than 30 years ago. Goldin started sleuthing. His detective work set in motion an investigation that revealed one of the most serious thefts in the history of the National Archives.
In stealing those master copies, the culprit stole history, a trove of mind-blowing audio recordings spanning decades of American culture. These audio recordings mark an age before television and the Internet, when only sound connected you to the rest of the world. Host John Hockenberry wonders, how does audio transport you back in time better than a photo?
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Senator Gillibrand on Sexual Assault in the Military, Implementing the Affordable Care Act, Responses: Your Most Difficult Boss
The Affordable Care Act in a State that Has Embraced It, U.S. Seizes A.P.'s Phone Records, Inside the World of the ICU
From 'Spinal Tap' to 'Family Tree,' the Wild Worlds of Christopher Guest
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [2]
I wish I could hear a recording of George Washington's Newburgh Address to his soldiers, which he supposedly ended: "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."
I would love to hear the teaching of the religious leaders in their own words. To hear the Buddha, Mohamed, Jesus and others might help dispel a lot of the nonsense that has been written since their deaths.
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