Talk:Muzak

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This article is within the scope of WikiProject North Carolina, an effort to create, expand, organize, and improve North Carolina-related articles to a feature-quality standard.

1 North Carolina?
2 The article says:
3 Two items worthy of mention but need confirmation
4 look angle

[edit] North Carolina?

The HQ is allegedly in South Carolina.

[edit] The article says:

In a recent poll, 17% of people regarded piped music as "the thing they most detest about modern life".

What poll was that? It would be appropriate to mention that in some References section or something.

Will do in due course, but there are plenty of allusions to it on the Web if anyone else wants to research it.Shantavira 19:30, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I've only been able to find a secondary source so far. They don't respond to my emailed enquiry. Will keep trying to find the original source. Shantavira 12:36, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

It's been over a year; I'm deleting the poll claim. Jgm 22:30, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two items worthy of mention but need confirmation

There are two items related to Muzak that I think would be worthwhile to include in this article ... if they can be sourced. The first is a claim by Red Skelton, made during a press conference during a visit to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan back in the 1980s, that he wrote original music for the company. (His exact words, and I still remember them from having seen the press conference, was that he composed a piece for Muzak every morning as part of his daily routine). The other claim was a report I recall from the early 1990s that a major rock and roll star -- I believe it was Ted Nugent -- attempted to purchase Muzak in order to disband it "and end the curse" of elevator music. As I say, either of these would be great pieces of information to have in here, but they need verification and citations. Any takers? 23skidoo 20:10, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I cannot remember where I read it, but I think that the Muzac Company originally pioneered a way of "transmitting" music through the mains electrical sockets in retail premises so the subscriber could simply plug a special speaker into any mains socket and music (presumbly from a base unit similarly plugged in) would come out. I could be wildly wrong! Any comments?

Thanks 81.79.123.17 20:12, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

No, you are right.....it was in early 1930s in a New York City business district (if I remember) and was done by Muzak's founder, Major General George Owen Squier, retired from the U.S. Army Signal Corps. His company at that time was called "Wired Music Inc." which was the pre-cursor to Muzak.

Wired Music's programme "line-up" (a term which at that time had yet to be coined) included a programme of classical music, a programme of dance music, and a news programme.

Wired Radio's original technology is still somewhat in use today, although undoubtedly ravised greatly over the years, in many home "wired intercom" devices which you simply plug one unit into the AC line, then do the same with the other......I think Radio Shack used to sell those years ago. Similar concepts are also being implemented with new Broadband over Power Lines technologies as well, although their electronic transmission systems are completely different than those I mentioned before.

Interesting to note that Wired Radio also sort of formed the basis for another little subscription service we have today, which I like to call "cable television". Shortly before his death Squier made a prediction that wired subscription entertainment services would make it to mainstream America in the future and look at what we have today.........almost 5,000 channels and nuthin' on!! ;o)

MotoFox, amateur Muzak "historian" and longtime Muzakforum yakker

172.150.251.131 22:07, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Correction: "at that time was called 'Wired Music Inc.'"

sorry.....it was called WIRED RADIO INC., not WIRED MUSIC INC. Sorry I ditzed ya...........that just occured to me while eating at a restaurant last night.