Episode 1 – Fred Gaisberg arrives in London

Fred Gaisberg (left) and Joe Sanders (centre) on board SS Umbria from New York toLiverpool

Summer 1898. Fred Gaisberg arrives in London to set up The Gramophone Company at the behest of his American boss Emile Berliner, who invented the flat-disc gramophone. Before Berliner, music only lasted for as long as the notes hung in the air. Now, Fred is under orders to commit as many artists as possible to disc. The recording technology is rudimentary to say the least, but 25-year-old Fred has big dreams. Having sailed from New York to Liverpool with £10 in his pocket, a bicycle and an instruction manual, Fred travels to a sweltering and vice-ridden Covent Garden to open Europe’s first recording studio at 31 Maiden Lane. The delights and temptations of the buzzing city – and the challenges of starting an industry from scratch – soon become all too clear.

Links:

Charles Cros – the man who almost, but not quite, invented the phonograph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cros

https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-charles-cros.htm

Thomas Edison and the phonograph:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison#Media_inventions

https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/the-phonograph.htm

Emile Berliner and the gramophone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Berliner

https://www.loc.gov/collections/emile-berliner/articles-and-essays/gramophone/

Fred Gaisberg:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Gaisberg

http://www.recordingpioneers.com/RP_GAISBERG1.html