Gramophone record-collecting teens found Ottawa Phonograph Society - Action News
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Gramophone record-collecting teens found Ottawa Phonograph Society

Most teens crave the latest Playstation or iPhone, but not these two. A couple of antique-loving 17-year-olds from Stittsville have founded the Ottawa Phonograph Society, collecting equipment and 78s that are many decades old.

'My family is unenthusiastic about it, to say the least'

Connor Boudreau, left, and Devyn Barrie, right, founded the Ottawa Phonograph Society because of their love of gramophone records. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)

While still relatively uncommon, it wouldn't beastretch to imaginetwo Stittsville teenscollecting vinyl records it's atrendy mediumthat's been eating upmore and more of the musicmarketin recent years.

But teens collecting 78s and phonographs dating back to the 1910s and 1920s, and even earlier?

Not so much.

I think [people]think we're a little bit weird, [that's]probablythe best way to describe it.- Devyn Barrie

But that's exactly what Stittsville teensDevyn Barrie andConnor Boudreauare up to these days, and they've even started a phonograph society forOttawans who share their unique interest.

Check out pictures of their records and equipment here.

So what's it like, having such a niche interest at 17?

"Most of our peers, they don'treallyknow anything about this so they're sort of shocked that we'd be interested in all this. Our families, too, they're also sort of bemused as to why we're into all ofthis. My father, he can't understand [it],"Boudreausays.

Barrie is a little more succinct.

"I think they think we're a little bit weird, [that's]probablythe best way to describe it. ... My family is unenthusiastic about it, to say the least."

'Coming back to life'

But the two teens clearly aren't deterred. They each have their own collections of equipment and records, from old cylinders to even older flat record albums, some of which they keep in a safe because of their historical significance.

It allows you to recreate music exactly the way it was 100 years ago, the way our ancestors listened to it, and there's a lot of spirit in it.- Devyn Barrie

"It allows you to recreate music exactly the way it was 100 years ago, the way our ancestors listened to it, and there's a lot of spirit in it," Barrie says.

The crackles and pops and hisses are all part of the experience, he adds.

"It's just music coming back to life after 100 years. After a while you kind of start to filter it out.We've gotten pretty good at that."

Here's someof their equipment in their collections:

  • A Victor Victrolamodel six, from 1919, picked up at a flea market inStittsville.
  • A Victor Victrola model 11, from 1917.
  • Two Edison Amberola30s, from 1915.
  • A Victor OrthophonicVictrola.
  • A Columbia Grafonola.
Devyn Barrie plays a record on one of his machines. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
This record is called "Wait till I'm as old as father" and it's by Billy Williams, a music hall performer who lived from 1878 to 1915. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
Some of the records they collect still have their original sleeves. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
This record comes in the shape of a cylinder, and it's played on an Edison Amberola phonograph. Blue Amberol Records were manufactured in the U.S. from 1912 to 1929. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
Here's what an Edison Amberola phonograph looks like when it's playing a Blue Amberol cylinder record. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
Here are some other Blue Amberol record cases. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)