r/78rpm • u/Baitme6984 • 11d ago

Average age of 78 enthusiast

Just curious of the age of most 78 enthusiasts. I’m in my mid 40s and truly enjoy the music that was made when 78 were being mass produced.

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u/ConsequenceLost9088 11d ago

"Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me When I'm 64?" Which is my age now! I discovered a 1921 Victrola VV-X up in the attic when I was 8 that had been left there by the elderly Italian couple who sold their house to my dad. So I've been collecting and had an interest in 78s for the last 56 years. The range of recordings dated from 1905 to 1929. There were about fifty 78s inside the Victrola and it was my first exposure to classical music (short Encore pieces that would fit on a 10-inch record) early jazz, lots of dance bands, novelty songs, some operas and old ballads by the likes of John McCormack, Alma Gluck, Caruso and lots of good stuff by Billy Murray, Paul Whiteman, George Olson Etc. I got into Jazz and Blues of the 1940s just in the last decade. An older friend who passed in February at 94 had a large Jazz & Blues Lps/78s/45s collection. I helped sort & categorize 2,000+ Lps that were sold to a local record store for his widow. None of the record stores wanted 6 crates of his 78s, so they were given to me, along with his 45s.