culture
The Tape Heard
‘Round the World
RADIOLAB SERIES BY UNIVERSITY OF OREGON ALUM EXPLORES THE
ROLE THE CASSETTE TAPE HAS PLAYED IN HISTORY
By Henry Houston
adiolab’s Simon Adler grew up at the
tail end of the reign of the cassette
tape, and the only tape he says he
remembers receiving growing up was
by the Backstreet Boys for Easter
one year.
Adler, an alum of the University
of Oregon, has dug deep into the history of the cassette
tape. His five-part Radiolab series titled MIXTAPE looks at
events where tapes went beyond the stereo, from fueling
a revolution to revitalizing Bing Crosby’s career.
“They’re the first on-demand media you could consume,”
Adler says about cassette tapes. “It was the first thing
you could take, put in your ears and listen just by yourself
whenever you fucking wanted to.”
His research started with self-help cassette tape
sets or, as Adler says, “podcast pioneers.” He says he
got fascinated by how cassette tapes were being used
throughout the world, a technology seen by most people
today as a transition from vinyl to CD. “It turned out that
this little piece of plastic was more important than I could
R
ever imagine,” he adds.
One instance where the cassette became literally
revolutionary was its role in the Iranian Revolution.
In 1978, Iranian Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeni lived in
exile outside of Paris. Adler says the ayatollah wanted
to keep sending information to Iran, so he recorded his
sermons onto a cassette tape. Someone with the phone
company would then set up a conference call in Iran.
Then the sermon would be run over the phone line, and
people in Iran would have it go to an answering machine
and would capture it.
“One number I saw was that there were 20,000 different
mosques and centers that were recording and passing
this information around,” Adler says. “So this guy who’s
thousands of miles away from the revolutionary action in
Tehran suddenly is present in everybody’s lives because
of these cassettes.”
Cassettes tapes are easily duplicated, he adds, so
Khomeni’s sermons were passed around, resulting in his
becoming the de-facto leader of the revolution, despite
being physically in France.
QuickStopCannabis.com
Walk In or Curbside Pickup
$39.99 for 7 grams
BLOOD ORANGE
$22.99 for 3.5 grams
MAC 1
25.2% THC!
Normally priced $60!
Don’t miss out.
29.9% THC!
Sativa hybird with an
earthy lemon aroma.
“What he was able to capitalize there, as Donald Trump
did, was make intimate connections with people who were
interested in him,” he says. “And talking to them not in
a polished way of politicians but in a rural vernacular
that people connected with. Suddenly, this man who was
basically forgotten in 1977 was seen as a leader and hero
of this revolution.”
Adler’s Radiolab series also includes episodes about
how the cassette tape brought rock ‘n’ roll to Communist
China, how it saved Bing Crosby’s career, carried a village
history for boys fleeing violence in South Sudan and its
role in the Vietnam War.
Even though audio is in the streaming age, where
listeners rely on services such as Spotify and Apple
Music, the cassette tape is still around. Although many
music collectors have returned to vinyl, some are also
buying cassette tapes, and independent music labels are
distributing albums on cassette, such as the Seattle-based
label Den Tapes.
He probably doesn’t have that Backstreet Boys cassette
Easter gift anymore, but he does have a cassette collection
that started with sets on amateur piloting and an IT
professional’s guide to Windows 95 — about 400 to 500
tapes.
Adler uses the collection to write music in the electronic
musical genre vaporwave. In addition to production and
reporting, he also scored the music for MIXTAPE.
Speaking of music, while attending the UO, Adler says
he played alto saxophone in a ska band that he doesn’t
remember the name of and guitar and sang in indie rock
band Winter Time Carousel, and he and his bandmates
were always trying to get into Eugene Weekly. “I’m honored
to have finally made it,” Adler says. ■
MIXTAPE has new episodes weekly, from Friday, Oct. 22, through
Friday, Nov. 19. Radiolab airs 10 am Sundays on 89.7 KLCC and is
available wherever you listen to podcasts.
GEM FAIRE
America’s Premier Jewelry & Bead Faires
$5.99 for 50 mg THC Tasty’s Cookies!
Peanut butter, Chocolate Chip & Snickerdoodle options available.
A lot of Easy Parking at the
corner of 7th and Chambers
1681 W 7th Ave
(541) 393-6857
Do not operate a vehi-
cle or machinery under
the influence of this
drug • For use only by
adults 21 years of age
and older • Keep out
of reach of children
NOVEMBER
5, 6, 7
EUGENE
Lane County Events Center
{ 796 W. 13th Ave., Eugene, OR }
GEM FAIRE HOURS:
FRI 12pm-6pm
SAT 10am-6pm
SUN 10am-5pm
*Bring this ad
to receive ONE
FRE on E
admissi
*****
Admission $7
JEWELRY ² CRYSTALS ² GEMS ² BEADS
MINERALS ² FASHION ACCESSORIES
Jewelry Repair | Largest Selection | New Vendors!
Gem Faire is following CDC & local public health authority guidance.
* Not valid with other offer. ONE per person. Property of Gem Faire, Inc, can be revoked without notice. Non-transferrable.
Sponsored by GEM FAIRE, INC
12
O C T O B E R
2 1 ,
2 0 2 1
|
(503) 252-8300
|
GEMFAIRE.COM
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M