We'd dub the one that came off best into the final transcription. It gave us a chance to ad lib as much as we wanted, knowing that excess ad libbing could be sliced from the final product.

This ad lib way of working is commonplace in the recording studios today but it was all new to us. In 1948 the second season of Philco shows was taped with the new Ampex Model 200 tape recorder using the new Scotch 111 tape from the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) company. Crosby's much-imitated style helped take popular singing beyond the kind of "belting" associated with boisterous performers like Al Jolson who had been obliged to reach the back seats in New York theatres without the aid of the microphone.

He left NBC to work for ABC because NBC was not interested in recording at the time. Crosby then became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. Through the medium of recording Crosby constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing retaking rehearsal time shifting) being used in motion picture production.