Editing Golden Age of Radio (section)

===Reel-to-reel tape recording===
[[Bing Crosby]] became the first major proponent of magnetic tape recording for radio, and he was the first to use it on network radio, after he did a demonstration program in 1947.<ref name=UnivMemphis /><ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=qwcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 ABC Spends 100G in Shift From Wax to Tape Repeats] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317093205/http://books.google.com/books?id=qwcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 |date=2015-03-17 }}", ''Billboard'', Feb. 21, 1948, p. 6.</ref> Tape had several advantages over earlier recording methods. Running at a sufficiently high speed, it could achieve higher fidelity than both electrical transcription discs and magnetic wire. Discs could be edited only by copying parts of them to a new disc, and the copying entailed a loss of audio quality. Wire could be divided up and the ends spliced together by knotting, but wire was difficult to handle and the crude splices were too noticeable. Tape could be edited by cutting it with a blade and neatly joining ends together with adhesive tape. By early 1949, the transition from live performances preserved on discs to performances prerecorded on magnetic tape for later broadcast was complete for network radio programs.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=xBYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 NBC Drops All Wax Bans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317115325/http://books.google.com/books?id=xBYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 |date=2015-03-17 }}", ''Billboard'', Jan. 29, 1949, p. 5.</ref><ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 Webs' Tape Measure Grows] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317122432/http://books.google.com/books?id=Fg4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 |date=2015-03-17 }}", ''Billboard'', Nov. 5, 1949, p. 5.</ref> However, for the physical distribution of prerecorded programming to individual stations, 16-inch 33{{fraction|1|3}} rpm vinyl pressings, less expensive to produce in quantities of identical copies than tapes, continued to be standard throughout the 1950s.