Turntable: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This custom built-in turntable is comprised of a Bogen-Presto platter, Gray Research & Development Co., Inc. tonearm, and Daven Company equalizer. This equipment was used by Annapolis, Maryland radio station WANN (1190 AM).

WANN (1190 AM) was a radio station based out of Annapolis, Maryland that primarily served the area's growing African American community. Morris Blum founded it in 1946, and it broadcast to the entire mid-Atlantic region. The station was home to disc jockey Charles "Hoppy" Adams starting in the early 1950s. Adams hosted weekly events at a local African American only beach, Carr's Beach, which were popular with the area's youth population.

WANN continued to program gospel, rhythm and blues, and public affairs features until 1992 when the station changed to a mainstream country format with the catchphrase “Bay Country 1190.” Around 1998, the station changed ownership and became WBIS, broadcasting a News Talk Information format.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Object Name: turntable
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 8 in x 23 in x 14 in; 20.32 cm x 58.42 cm x 35.56 cm
• Measurements: turntable: 7 7/8 in x 13 1/2 in x 12 in; 20.0025 cm x 34.29 cm x 30.48 cm
• Measurements: tone arm: 4 1/2 in x 17 1/8 in x 3 1/8 in; 11.43 cm x 43.4975 cm x 7.9375 cm
• Measurements: equalizer: 7 1/8 in x 3 1/2 in x 3 11/16 in; 18.0975 cm x 8.89 cm x 9.36625 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: 2002.0319.22
• accession number: 2002.0319
• catalog number: 2002.0319.22
• Credit Line: Gift of Morris H. Blum
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.