Part 4 HOW TO GET STARTED You have few are no tapes, and without anything to offer in trade you feel like your collection is never going to grow. Fear not, there are many different roads you can take. Grateful Dead Hour If you live in an area that has the Grateful Dead Hour radio program hosted by David Gans you will be in business. The GDH runs every week with live Grateful Dead music from recent shows to old rarities. Call or write the station running the GDH and tell them how much you like it. If it is an NPR or other non-commercial station make sure you send them a little money when they have their fund raisers. If no station near you runs the GDH start bugging some to get it. If you find a station that is interested, you can contact David Gans at the addresses listed below. Cutting out commercials and other announcements you can usually fit the GDH on one side of a 100 minute tape. I use a 110 to be on the safe side and don't try to cut anything out. GRATEFUL DEAD HOUR National broadcast schedule as of February 1, 1995 WDHA-FM 105.5 Dover NJ joins the GD Hour network Sunday, February 5 at 7pm KYUK-AM 580 Bethel AK WQPR-FM 88.7 Muscle Shoals AL Friday 11pm WUAL-FM 91.5 Tuscaloosa/Bham AL Friday 11pm KZON-FM 101.5 Phoenix AZ Monday 11pm KEKO-FM 92.1 Tucson AZ Friday 10pm KHSU-FM 90.5 Arcata CA Tuesday 10pm KPFA-FM 94.1 Berkeley CA Wednesday 8pm KFCF-FM 88.1 Fresno CA Wednesday 8pm KLSX-FM 97.1 Los Angeles CA Sunday midnight KNSQ-FM 88.1 Mt. Shasta CA Saturday 8pm KAZU-FM 90.3 Pacific Grove CA Saturday 6pm KNCA-FM 89.7 Redding CA Saturday 8pm KSEG-FM 96.9 Sacramento CA Saturday midnight KCBQ-FM 105.3 San Diego CA Sunday 11pm KGNU-FM 88.5 Boulder CO Saturday 8pm KSUT-FM 91.3 Ignacio CO Saturday 9pm WHCN-FM 105.9 Hartford CT Saturday 11pm WRUF-FM 103.7 Gainesville FL Sunday 10pm WJCT-FM 89.9 Jacksonville FL Friday 11pm WOZN-FM 98.7 Key West FL Sunday 3pm WZTA-FM 94.9 Miami FL Sunday 11pm KFMG-FM 103.3 Des Moines IA Sunday 10pm KRUI-FM 89.7 Iowa City IA Sunday 4:30pm KBSU-FM 90.3 Boise ID Friday 11pm KUOI-FM 89.3 Moscow ID Thursday 9pm WEFT-FM 90.1 Champaign IL Friday 7pm WXRT-FM 93.1 Chicago IL Sunday 9pm WFHB-FM 91.3 Bloomington IN Saturday 7pm KMKF-FM 101.5 Manhattan KS Sunday 11pm WRNR-FM 103.1 Annapolis MD Wed 10pm&Sun midnight WKHS-FM 90.5 Baltimore MD Saturday 7pm WWDX-FM 92.1 East Lansing MI Monday 11pm WLAV-FM 96.9 Grand Rapids MI Sunday 10pm KUMD-FM 103.3 Duluth MN Saturday 4pm KTCZ-FM 97.1 Minneapolis MN Sunday 10pm KOPN-FM 89.5 Columbia MO Friday 8pm KKFI-FM 90.1 Kansas City MO Friday 10pm KMNR-FM 89.7 Rolla MO Saturday midnight WNCW-FM 100.7 Charlotte NC Wednesday 10pm WNCW-FM 88.7 Spindale NC Wednesday 10pm KZUM-FM 89.3 Lincoln NE Wednesday 10pm WNHI-FM 93.3 Concord NH Tuesday 9pm WDHA-FM 105.5 Dover NJ Sunday 7pm <- NEW KLSK-FM 104.1 Albuquerque NM Wednesday 9pm KGLP-FM 91.7 Gallup NM Saturday 9pm KTHX-FM 94.7 Reno NV Sunday 8pm WQBK-FM 103.9 Albany NY Tuesday 11pm WGR-FM 96.9 Buffalo NY Sunday midnight WHCL-FM 88.7 Clinton NY Friday 11pm WMAX-FM 106.7 Rochester NY Sunday 10pm WRPI-FM 91.5 Troy NY Thursday 11pm WNCX-FM 98.5 Cleveland OH Sunday 10pm KSBA-FM 88.5 Coos Bay OR Saturday 8pm KRVM-FM 91.9 Eugene OR Sunday 3pm KPUR-FM 94.5 Forest Grove OR Friday noon KSKF-FM 90.9 Klamath Falls OR Saturday 8pm KSMF-FM 89.1 Medford OR Saturday 8pm WXPN-FM 88.5 Philadelphia PA Sat. 7pm & Thurs. 11pm WDUQ-FM 90.5 Pittsburgh PA Sunday 8pm WQSU-FM 88.9 Selinsgrove PA Saturday 7pm WNCW-FM 97.3 Greenville SC Wednesday 10pm WNCW-FM 96.7 Knoxville TN Wednesday 10pm KGSR-FM 107.1 Austin TX Saturday midnight KZFX-FM 107.5 Houston TX Thursday 11pm KLZX-FM 93.3 Salt Lake City UT Sunday 10pm WCVE-FM 88.9 Richmond VA Saturday 11:30pm WROV-FM 96.3 Roanoke VA Sunday 11pm WKOC-FM 93.7 Virginia Beach VA Sunday 11pm KISM-FM 92.9 Bellingham WA Sunday 9am KBCS-FM 91.3 Seattle WA Tuesday 10pm KHSS-FM 100.9 Walla Walla WA Sunday 8pm WOJB-FM 88.9 Hayward WI Friday 11:30pm WMMM-FM 105.5 Madison WI Sunday 11pm KUWR-FM 91.9 Laramie WY Saturday 11pm -- David Gans tnf@well.sf.ca.us http://www.well.com/www/tnf/ Truth and Fun, Inc., 484 Lake Park Ave #102, Oakland CA 94610 Local Friends After the GDH, the next best way to get some tapes is to meet Deadheads in your area. Many Deadheads, including myself, are more than happy to loan out tapes for people to copy. Just make sure you take very good care of them and do not loan them out to anyone else. Also dub them quickly and get them back as soon as you can. It would be a nice gesture to give the lender a little something for his kindness. He/she should not *expect* something though. Always remember how someone helped you out and be willing to lend tapes to others who are just starting out. Buying Tapes at Cost For a variety of reasons sometimes tape traders need to liquidate part or all of their collections. The most ethical price is the cost of the blank tape. Some feel they deserve at least something for their effort in acquiring the tape. Also the cost of blanks can vary quite a bit. This will be debated forever. To me $1.75-$2.00 a tape seems to be a fair price in most situations. The price could be a little higher if the tapes are metal or Maxell XL-IIS or lower if they are normal bias tapes. The recipient of the tapes should pay the postage. Don't be willing to pay too much out of desperation to get new tapes. Something will come up. It is considered unethical and technically illegal to sell tapes above the cost of the tape. Use your best judgment. Tape Trees Getting on tape trees will not only guarantee you the tape being treed, but if you are in a good position on a tree you can get a few additional trades out of it. This is where high quality equipment can help you out as tree placement is largely based on that. Groveling When all else fails you can always grovel for people to make you copies if you send blanks. Keep an eye out on the Internet for people making offers. Also look in the classifieds of Unbroken Chain, Dupree's Diamond News, and Relix for people willing to spin tapes for blanks. Be polite when asking people to make copies for you and don't be put off if they won't do it. Usually when people offer to spin for blanks they will get deluged with requests and end up with more than they can handle. When someone offers to make you tapes DO NOT send more than was agreed on. Don't deal with anyone asking for something in exchange like you sending 5 blanks and him sending back 4 and keeping one. There are too many people willing to do it for nothing. It is a nice gesture to let the taper keep the Maxpoints. It is also a nice gesture to send something along as a way of saying thanks. It does not have to be much, something like stickers, tape covers, or the like Make things as easy as possible for the person making tapes for you. Get a padded envelope and address it to yourself and have the correct postage on it. (see section on shipping). Put the blanks in the padded envelope. Put the padded envelope inside a non-padded large envelope addressed to the person making the tapes. Include a list of the shows you want or ask the person to pick favorites from certain years or all-time. Suggestions On What Tapes To Start With When you are getting your first tapes you obviously will be looking for tapes you want, but you should also keep in mind what tapes will make good trading potential. If you try to get low generation tapes of really good shows, you will then have some good stuff to offer in trade. Most of the classic shows are really common, so be patient and wait for good copies to turn up. Eric Doherty makes some good points: "The most important thing for me when collecting tapes (although not always anymore as I search for rare tapes) is getting quality low gen recordings. High quality low gen tapes are what people are looking for and you should get them whenever you can. If someone has a 1st gen SBD of some show in 1973 you should pick that over some unknown generation tape from 1972. You are likely to find that '72 tape on other lists, but you may not find a SBD/1 of that '73 show again. What you are looking for when you trade are tapes that will allow you to get other tapes. It is all one big game. Consider your SBD/2 1973 tape a key which you use to get a SBD/2 of some 1970 show. I also think it is valuable advice to wait for better quality tapes when you can. I waited about 6 months to get a copy of 8/27/72. I saw it on lots of lists, but I was looking for the best copy I could get. If you do not absolutely need a copy of 2/15/73 then wait around and see if something better turns up later. The fewer times you have to upgrade shows the more money you will save and the more tapes you can collect. It frustrates me when someone picks an AUD tape from '93 on my list over a SBD/1 rare 1970 show. They are going to get a lot more mileage out of that 1970 show, and that is the trick to this game, IMHO." Once you get a few good tapes you should be all set for trading. Use your best tapes as bait. Deadbase If you are planning on really getting into tape trading you should get Deadbase. This will give you all the setlists, reviews, stats and also has a section listing favorite tapes for individual years and all time, among many, many other features. Deadbase VIII covers everything up through 1993. The yearly editions have extensive stats and reviews for just that year. Ordering information: Book Rate First Class Deadbase '93 12.00 14.00 DB 88-93 (6 book set) 56.00 60.00 Deadbase VIII 29.00 32.00 <-new prices Deadbase VIII (hardcover) 37.00 40.00 <-new prices DeadBase 93 is likely to be the last in the series. Deadbase Orders P.O. Box 499 Hanover, NH 03755 Deadbase is only available through the mail or from Terrapin Tapes. Terrapin Tapes Terrapin Tapes 1-800-677-8650 will give you just about as good a price on blank tapes and audio equipment as you are going to get anywhere. They also sell Deadbase. Internet users are offered additional discounts. They are an independent business and deserve our support. *******GUIDE TO CASSETTE DECKS AND TAPE TRADING*************** by MICHAEL BELL mbell@mail.utexas.edu version 1.01 February 1995 Permission to copy this document or *complete* parts is freely granted. Please do not break up sections.