The Rescue of the Radio Glen /
Abbey Road EMI BTR-3 Tape Recording Machine
An inaccuracy has cropped-up in online material regarding the
later days of the EMI BTR/3 stereo tape machine that once lived in
the Radio Glen F-block and later in the New Terraces
studios. So, before we go further back into ancient history,
let me tell you that story and maybe back it up with some
material.
Around 2010 the 1287 kHz. A.M. transmitter in the bottom floor of
New Terraces at Glen Eyre Halls in Southampton, used by SURGE via
an ISDN link failed for one reason or another and was closed
down. That's another story, but this immediately had me
rather worried. It seemed unlikely that the transmitter
equipment had been removed, and it would be a shame if it was lost
in a subsequent clear-out. This was proper professional
equipment obtained by David Holroyd in a deal made with the
Student Broadcast Network SBN around 1999/2000, and involved much
effort on his part. Over the years, I contacted various
members of the SURGE committee by email to inform them that the
transmitter equipment was still there and that it should not be
lost. On these occasions I also generally reminded them that
there was a rather interesting old studio-quality tape recording
machine there, that being the BTR/3. The answer in general
was apathy, along with some line similar to, "As far as I
know, there is no equipment left in the old studio in Glen Eyre,
at least that what I have been told by the University Residences
team, and talking to long serving staff members of the Union,
they would have been surprised had equipment been left there
when the move was made into the current studio." (Toby
Leveson, 15th January 2017)
Well, If you believe what hall management and long standing
members of the union tell you, you will often lose
equipment. This is something which I've certainly found to
be true in the past. I was quite eager for the investigation
to be done in a fully co-operative manner, so I refrained from
going up there myself and 'blagging my way in' to what was now
being used as a bedding store. Still, the occasional email
every year or so to the changing SURGE staff members didn't seem
to be getting anywhere. Well, it's the 21st century, we have
social media, SURGE have a Facebook page, so on the 15th January
2017 I thought I'd try a more public approach. As well as
the above quote, this resulted in some positive sounding responses
and on 10th February 2017, Toby Leveson, Georgia Rytina, Patrik
Toobe, and I go up to Glen Eyre. We get the key from
reception and walk across the road and car park toward the studio,
passing the old AM antenna pole and tuning box which I point out
to them. I also
point out that the antenna tuning unit inside the tuning box is
worth rescuing.
"Oh, is that the aerial?" They say, "I thought it was
for the CCTV"
We enter the New Terraces studio. There we find
that due to not having the right keys, we can't access the
technical cupboard to get to the transmitter equipment.
However we can get into the old record library where there is some
junk among the stored bedding and the old studio desk
furniture. I clamber over the various bits of wood, and in
the corner there sits a big, grey, heavy-looking cabinet on
wheels.
"Look, Toby!" I say, "That in the corner, over
there, is the BTR/3 tape machine that I was telling you
about. We used to record shows on it. It is rumoured
to be from Abbey Road studios originally. Who knows, such
an urban myth might even be true! I believe that it came
to the station before my time via BBC redundant stock. If
you have somewhere to put it, you may want to make sure that it
doesn't get lost. They are not exactly valuable but they
are very beautiful machines and someone might really want
it. If you can't store it in the station it I'll buy it,
if you can deliver it to me in the union van."
Toby looks rather unimpressed at the prospect of getting the union
van out and moving what he perceives to be half a ton of scrap
metal, but there's no persuading some people. On that day I
take a picture. It's not very good because the lights
weren't working properly, but here it is, just as I found it.
The SURGE committee agree with the hall management and the
security people to get a locksmith out at some stage soon, to get
into the technical cupboard. Days and weeks pass. I
send some messages via various means and get no response. I
still get no response in May. It's now time to go up there
myself to see if there has been any progress and, if necessary, to
indicate to the reception staff that if they haven't already got
access to a cupboard containing an electrical supply right next to
a basement room of a three floor residential block packed
literally floor to ceiling with spare duvets and pillows, then
they should have. On 16th May 2017 I turn up at Glen Eyre
reception and ask the nice lady on the desk if I can get into the
old studios and technical cupboard.
"Yes," she says, "But it was all removed by the SURGE people on
24th February."
I ask if I can go in and look to make sure anyway, and indeed the
cupboard is empty and the BTR/3 has gone. Well, that's a bit
of a surprise as I'd heard nothing, but at least all the gear is
safe now. Job done, if a little bit peculiar. So some
emails, calls, and text messages ensue from me to various people
asking the SURGE committee what they want to do with the TX
equipment. I'll buy it if they don't want it. Two days
later on 18th May 2017 Cameron Meldrum VP DCI, one of the
sabbatical officers at the union with the responsibility of
overseeing SURGE, emails me with pictures and an invitation to
come and look at it, which I take as an offer of sale. I
reply on 19th May 2017 and we arrange to meet at 11:00 Tuesday
23rd May 2017.
Meanwhile I just happened to be doing a bit of web-searching,
wondering what may have become of the BTR-3 and came across this
link on the Abbey Road studios website:
A Welcome Return For Lost Tape Machine
“When we first found the BTR-3 we had no idea what we had
stumbled across, only after an online search did we realise it
was a piece of recording history from Abbey Road Studios! It's
amazing to think that it had been sitting there undisturbed
for such a long time. It's been great fun uncovering the mystery
of it,” Toby Leveson, Surge Radio station manager.
Toby has obviously been misquoted by some unscrupulous journalist
for dramatic effect here. Blowing back the cobwebs in a long
abandoned studio, uncovering the 'mystery' and finding something
interesting is obviously much more exciting to the reader than a
story about being told exactly where and what something was, by
someone who knew that it was there all along. Magical
discoveries are more interesting than my endless grinding away at
many people, actively trying to avoid it being put in a skip by
accident over the years. So I let this pass. It's just
a bit of publicity nonsense. On the following Tuesday I meet
Cameron and Toby, and we exchange some decent amount of used
tenners for the old transmitter equipment and get a receipt from
the accounts people in the union office. I note that they
had removed the transmitter gear from the technical cupboard but
couldn't be arsed to also get the antenna tuning unit out of the
cabinet at the base of the antenna. Oh well. We pass
pleasantries.
I say, "Nice to see that the BTR/3 has found a good home."
Toby, who has been a bit quiet so far:
"Yes, it is, isn't it."
Henry: "It's definitely the best place for it to
be."
Well we're all jolly nice chaps aren't we? I shake on the
deal with Cameron and I drive home with an Optimod-AM 9100A, a
9100B, and a non-functional Radica AM50, safe from the skip at
last. That's almost the end, and it would have been, but
there is an unfortunate post-script. The inaccurate
information in the Abbey Road link shown above and in various
other places has found its way into Wikipedia thus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_Radio
It states:
"In February 2017, a rare BTR-3 tape recorder, previously
used at Abbey Road Studios in the 1960s, was found by members of
the Surge committee in their old Glen Eyre Halls studio."
We now know that is not quite true. I suggest a revision to
improve the accuracy of the statement which could read something
like this:
"In February 2017, ex Radio Glen technical manager Henry
Walmsley persuaded members of the Surge committee to rescue a
rare BTR-3 tape recorder from their old Glen Eyre Halls
studio. This was previously used at Abbey Road Studios in
the 1960s."
I can accept inaccurate information on general websites and in
news releases all over the web. It's on Twitter, Pinterest,
Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook and probably more. But we have
to keep the Wiki clean, right kids? I suggest that this
revision is made by current SURGE members responsible for the wiki
entry, rather than myself.
Previous Emails and Discussion
I could bore you with a full email and Facebook snippet trail but
I don't really think that it adds a great deal to the story, other
than fully supporting the order and nature of the events as
presented here. Formatting all the text into a readable
chronological order would be a body of work. However, I will
do that, in the unlikely event that it becomes necessary for any
reason.
Meanwhile, don't forget the other pages relating to my experience
with the Radio Glen BTR/3 and the lost tapes repository
page. I hope that SURGE and Abbey Road enjoy listening to
our old tapes as much as we did making them.
The Radio Glen EMI
BTR/3 General Information Page
The Radio Glen EMI BTR/3 and other Lost Tapes
Repository
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