ABC Transcription Disc: "Philco Television Spot for 11/24/48" & Bizarre Extras

This is a weird one, so stay with me!

This record is exactly the sort of thing that I can't resist, because usually, things like this are completely unique, historical in some way, and often bizarre on some level.  However, in this case, it was a lot stranger than I even guessed.

First off, this is a 12-inch, one-sided disc.  It's a covered aluminum plate, and has three spindle-holes rather than one (you can see where the other holes are, on the label).  This is the kind of "recordable" disc that was used in transcription machines.  It came in a torn-up manilla sleeve with the Soundcraft logo on it:

At this site, you can see scans of a Soundcraft brochure from this time period, that even shows all the equipment it took to actually cut such records, which is pretty fascinating in itself.  (The same sorts of machines were installed in some department stores, allowing customers to pay to cut their own smaller records in booths.  A recording restored for the Beatles Anthology was one of these types--in fact, I have one such record that is speech-only that we will get to in the near future.)

And now, on to the content of this record.  From this disc, we know that this process was used to distribute some radio ads.  But wait, there's more! This record contains three distinct bands, each locked from the other.

The first band is the content described on the label.  It's a 58-second ad for the Philco television sets, recorded at 33 and 1/3 speed, and it's interesting on its own.  What is bugging the life out of me, though, is who the announcer is.  It's a voice that's familiar to me, and my brain is telling me that it's an announcer from some OTR (Old Time Radio) show that I've heard quite a bit of.  I even went back and tried to sample episodes of several shows, but announcers tended to come and go, and I couldn't find him.  To quote Rocky the Flying Squirrel, "That voice! Where have I heard that voice?!" If anyone can solve this mystery for me, I'd be forever indebted!

At this point, the record comes to a dead stop at a locked band.  It was evident there was more content, and I lifted the needle to allow it to travel to the next section.  It was increeeeeeedibly slow, so it dawned on me that we were in 78 rpm territory, which I corrected.  The DJ announces an episode of "Challenge of the Yukon," (which was about the famous Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, and his dog, Yukon King).  The episode begins, but we hear only the introduction, which sounds off-line.  Then, the record hits another locked band.

Jumping the needle to the third and last section, still at 78 speed, everything gets even weirder.  The same DJ seems to be messing around [I made a full transcript, and it is included with the file], doing time-checks, random announcements, and.......barking like a dog (who he then begins talking to).  It's quite bizarre.  The whole disc is over in just under five minutes.  

My theory on all of this is that, in this case, the radio spots that a station received (in this case, purporting to be WENR in Chicago) were delivered on partially-used recording discs, and some supervisor told a young, potential radio announcer to use the remaining space to practice at his own leisure.  That's the only thing that really makes sense for all of this!

Anyway, it's an interesting curio that probably shouldn't even exist, and that is just the sort of thing we will spotlight around here!

LINK:  ABC Transcription Disc 11/24/48

UPDATE (Nov. 2022): The amateur [and interesting] part of the above has been further improved with Audacity, and sounds better than before.  Ain't technology grand? Also, a companion disc has been located, with more of the same person messing around, and it's equally nutty.  See it HERE.