COLUMBIA INTRODUCES THE LONG-PLAY RECORD
New York City (JFK+50) On June 21, 1948, Columbia Records introduced the long-playing vinyl record to the music industry. Representatives of Columbia gave a public demonstration of their new record at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here in New York.
The "LP"* gave audiophiles the opportunity to listen to several tunes (23 minutes) on one side of the record. They could then flip the record to hear another set of songs.
LPs, playing at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, replaced the 78 rpm discs which only had one tune per side. As time passed, high fidelity and stereophonic sound were added to the LP listening experience.
*The LP is an analog disc produced in 10 inch or 12 inch diameters. It was adopted as the record industry standard shortly after being introduced by Columbia. Although replaced by cassettes, CDs & MP3s, the LP has made a comeback since 2007. There were 27 million vinyl records sold in the U.S. in 2020.
