BY KYLE LOVERN

We’ve seen it for years. Many things from the past – clothing and fashion styles, toys, TV shows, movies and more things seem to come back and have a resurgence.

One of the popular trends today is vinyl records. They have made a huge comeback. We just called them albums back in the day. Round plastic discs (LPs or long play) that played music on a record player or turntable played on 33 speed on your record player. We also had 45s, which were smaller records with two songs, the main song on the A side and another on the B side. These were played at 45 speed. You had to change this on your record player with a small switch.

I always loved music, and the first records I saw and listened to were those purchased by my sister Karen. Like many of her friends in the mid-1960s, I can recall her becoming a fan of the Beatles and other bands and singers. There is no doubt many of my early musical tastes were influenced by her.

I always loved to listen to the radio growing up, and that is where you could keep up with the Top 40 songs of the week and listen to the DJ spinning those records.

My love for music and playing records led me to a job at WBTH in Williamson, W.Va, where I had several jobs – selling advertising, sports broadcasting the Williamson Wolfpack football and basketball games, later news and sports director, live remote broadcasts and yes, being an on-air DJ. That was a dream come true. It was a fun job. However, if you talk to most folks who worked in the industry, especially during that era, the money was not very good. It was tough to make a living in the industry.

I probably couldn’t run a “board” at a radio station these days. When I was there, we had a pair of turntables, cart machines (tape players for commercials), your microphone and the manual control board. I know now everything is computerized.

I started to DJ on the side, going to school dances and parties. Years later I purchased equipment and got back into the business playing music at high school reunions, wedding receptions, birthday parties and more. It was more for the extra money, and although some events were fun, it was more of a task and job – especially as I got older.

So, needless to say, I began a collection of 45s and albums back in the 70s and 80s.

Years later, I switched to CDS. I still have my collection of both vinyl records and CDs.

I still also have a few smaller cassettes, which I purchased in order to play them in the car. Who remembers the Sony Walkman, with your headphones and seeing people walking around with a small cassette player hooked to their pants listening to music as they walked or jogged?

Before that, many of us “Baby Boomers” can recall 8-Track tapes, which I purchased a lot of at the TV Center and Record Shop or the old Sundry Store in Williamson. These were popular, especially in the 70s and early 80s, but they first came onto the scene in the mid-60s. Talk about a waste of money. Those 4-inch by 6-inch plastic tapes were not very durable. After you played them a lot in your car or home stereo, they usually ended up in the garbage.

Now much of the music is played on computers, phones and MP3 players. Most music is digital.

Of course local radio stations are not the same as they were in the past. Most vehicles now have satellite radio where you can pick up any kind of music, sports, news, comedy or other broadcasting you want to listen to while you’re driving.

But it makes me smile to see that vinyl or plastic records have made a comeback. My granddaughters are now buying albums. I’ve even gifted them some of my classic rock albums for their birthdays.

Teens today are buying record players and turntables again. The market for them has grown in the last couple of years.

The tide has turned. While CD and digital sales once dominated the music industry for the last few years, vinyl record sales are getting their literal “groove” back. (Records have grooves in the plastic and that is why they have different sounds.)

Record shops are popping back up. Most antique stores have a section for older classic music such as country, rock, pop and even classical. There is a certain classic sound when that needle marries that spinning round record.

For the first time since the early 80s, phonograph records are making a big profit and CDs and other forms of music are not as popular.

If you have an old record collection, you may have some value in those great discs that brought you listening enjoyment back in the day. Dust them off and dig out your old turntable or go buy a new one.

It’s amazing how things definitely come back around.

I’m certainly happy to see this revolution and revival.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)