Library of Congress Acquires Historic Sports Audio Recordings, Will Be Made Available for Online Streaming

via an LC Announcement:

The Library of Congress announced today the acquisition of 15 years of recorded sports interviews originally broadcast on the radio network program “Sports Byline USA,” hosted by Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ron Barr, between 1988 and 2003. This marks the beginning of a three-year collaboration with the program’s producers to preserve these historic interviews and to make them available for listening on a streaming basis free to the public on the Library’s website. Programs produced from 2004-2014 will be added to the collection over the next two years.
Launched in 1988, Sports Byline USA has presented more than 10,000 interviews with athletes, coaches, trainers, managers, owners, writers and others in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, track and field, and many other sports. These interviews collectively form an invaluable archive and an extensive resource for researchers, fans and sports professionals.
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Notable interviewees in this collection include John Wooden, Reggie White, Mickey Mantle, Elgin Baylor, Hank Aaron, Oscar Robertson, John Elway, Jose Canseco, Charles Barkley, Jimmie Johnson, John Mackey, Archie Griffin, Bonnie Blair, Bill Bradley, Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, John McEnroe and Meadowlark Lemon.
The interviews will be digitally preserved at the Library’s Packard Campus for Audiovisual Conservation in Culpeper, Va. The Sports Byline collection will join other great sports recordings in the Library’s holdings, including Clem McCarthy’s classic calls of the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rematch, and the match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral, as well as many memorable broadcasts featuring such sportscasting greats as Bill Stearns and Mel Allen.
The Library of Congress holds the largest collection of sound recordings in the world and has been collecting and preserving historically, culturally and aesthetically significant sound recordings in all genres for more nearly 90 years.

Read the Complete Announcement

Filed under: Awards, Interviews, Libraries, News, Preservation