Bill from Ohio writes with sad news about the closure of the Quantegy (formerly Ampex) tape factory in Alabama. The story of Quantegy/Ampex is amazing - The company started during the war, when the army was using captured German audio tapes to record propaganda speeches. One such tape didn't properly erase, so Eisenhower's speech was mixed with an old recording of Hitler, causing 'fear and confusion among the German people'. The President banned the use of any more German tape, and Major John Herbert Orr had to set up a US tape manufacturing plant in two weeks. That factory was in Alabama, and it closed this week after Quantegy filed for bankrupcy. And they seem to have been the only company in the world making open-reel tape. US Recording Media, who sell the stuff, say: "we're convinced there will be analog tape manufactured once again and we don't feel it's dead".
Posted by Tom Whitwell. 
: 12:34 am