7 responses to “Historical Footnote – 1915 Transcontinental Phone Call”

1. Busting The Monopoly

   January 26, 2015

   Busting The Monopoly with very hard work, bravery, and risk-taking.
   MCI’s Bill McGowan embodies the spirit of innovation and success.
   http://video.wttw.com/video/1949293907/

2. Busting The Monopoly

   January 26, 2015

   https://www.google.com/#q=how+do+sherman+anti+trust+laws+apply+to+labor+unions%3F

3. Bruce Dickinson

   January 27, 2015

   Folks, Bruce Dickinson is going to invoke the Sherman Antitrust Act and propose a breakup of American Standard Poop Co, which seems to have a monopoly on the diarrhea splattered all over this site! I’m going to have to telegraph an S-O-S signal on AT&T’s lines, which probably haven’t been upgraded in 100 years, to bring in regulators to break up the poop monopoly, just like these telecommunications “disrupters” went crying to regulators to break up big businesses in the past. Yes, it’s the regulators that actually SAVE everyone! So maybe government, namely the DOJ, the FCC, FTC, FDA, DOT, MTC, ABAG, etc, etc aren’t so bad after all, because if a business becomes too successful and too big, maybe they can be broken up into smaller pieces. Notice the irony? I somehow recall using the phrase, “having your cake and eating it too”. Yes, call me prescient!
   So back on topic (sorry Joe, I had to play Daddy Dickinson the Disciplinarian to Delinquents just one more time), Bruce Dickinson is no stranger to telecommunications and technology, as it relates to the music industry, no less. My good buddy, legendary producer Phil Ramone, who I shared some time with at Columbia, was working on one of Sinatra’s last projects in the early 90’s for an album called Duets. Frank is no easy person to work with, and given his advanced age at the time, he didn’t want to be in the same room with other artists, where multiple takes and his own perfectionism would cause him more stress. So he recorded his parts, but Phil wanted the other Duet partners to interact with the producers and musicians at Capitol and there was a time deadline.
   I had just finished working on another project that was wrapping up in Berlin and I was back in LA for an award ceremony, but I needed to get the great Dickinson ears on the rough mixes from Hansa-Ton studios in Berlin before they get sent to final mix and mastering and we only had 30 hours left. One of my engineers recommended streaming the DAT mixes over digital phone lines through EDNet, so I was able to hear them right away. I suggested something similar to Phil, but have the artists sing directly over the lines and have them connected in real time to the studios in Capitol Records where the musicians and producers were. He latched onto the idea and Duets was the first album in the world to have real time artists recording remotely from musicians and producers. And the rest as they say, is legend. Just another little piece of history from the Dickinson archives!

4. Joe

   January 27, 2015

   I thought you were going to relate the story about the overdub of Coca-cola with Cherry-cola in Lola which could have been a lot easier with DAT over digital lines.
   No worries about going a bit off-topic on the fun pieces like this one.

5. Healthy Debate is Good for Society

   January 28, 2015

   Bruce, you remind me of my 2 young children. No potty language, please.
   You should understand nuance better.
   Just because SOME government regulation is helpful to avoid corporate bullying from monopolies doesn’t mean that certain groups, namely government Unions, should be allowed to fester into corrupt monopolies themselves, by giving themselves a pass on their own laws.
   It’s kinda like Jerry Brown changing the term limit laws to let himself continue to be in power.
   Bruce, yes, I know that you’re used to being in charge without anyone questioning you. The intention of this website is to inform and encourage debate.

6. Bruce Dickinson

   January 28, 2015

   Guys, I gotta tell ya, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the definition of a debate actually implies that there is another party caring about and acknowledging what you say that invites a well though out retort. All I see after spammers post are pretty much eye-rolls and empty reactions, thereby making it a “debate of one” if such a thing exists. Think of it another, more oblique way: a person who is truly insane will never, ever say “I think I’m going insane!”
   Contrast that to *the* Bruce Dickinson, who seems to have gathered quite a fan base, numerous responses, and no doubt many chuckles from my cultural references and double-and triple-entendres, if you will. I would verify with Joe and Russ, but I would be willing to wager a Ferrari that whenever the *cock of the walk* posts, the page views of the Voice probably go off the charts! Of course this assumes that I can collect on my win of the wager, which is a big assumption, so maybe I’ll take your Discover Card instead and use it to buy diapers for the pooper(s) at Wal-Mart, as their poop can be contained and you can keep the cash back. I kid, I kid, of course, there’s no need to explain my value to this site, in that it provokes thoughts, laughs, and REAL debate!

7. you are not aware

   January 28, 2015

   Bruce, you may be rich, but you are not aware and nor do you care.
   https://www.google.com/#q=why+do+the+rich+think+they+are+better+than+everyone