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The Record Room, Wichita, KS (2026)

05/27/2026

NEW ARRIVALS- 8-Track Tapes

Nothing says 1970’s quite like 8-Tracks, America’s first truly portable playback system. Muscle cars, draggin’ Douglas, hanging out in the Sandy’s parking lot, waiting for that classic “ker-chunk” that signaled Deep Purple’s Machine Head was about to play “Highway Star” on track 1! Time to lay some scratch! We’ve just reloaded our 8-track bin with a bunch of new titles so check ‘em out. Also check out the dandy faux gator, 36-hole 8-track tote we just put out. Hey, you’ve got to have a way to get them to your ‘72 Chevelle! Sorry, no Frampton Comes Alive in this bunch but we’ll keep looking here at The Record Room. We’re located at 228 N Market inside Hewitts Antiques in downtown Wichita.

05/14/2026

NEW ARRIVALS- Vintage vacuum tube Radiorama!

We just stocked a nice array of tube radios dating from the late 1940’s to mid 1950’s. AM ruled the airwaves and television was just a baby at the time these were made. Folks got most of their news and entertainment from these devices and competition for sales was fierce so design and innovation changed constantly. We’ve got three RCA’s that also have a phono inputs, as their new 45 RPM format was taking off as a music source. RCA made a variety of small changers to play the new 45’s and LP’s and started adding phono channels to a lot of their table top radios. Also with the right adapters, you can play about anything (including your phone) through these mono phono channels, even a guitar. Imagine shredding your favorite Metallica hooks through a 1949 RCA 9-X-571 “Bullhorn!” There’s also a really handsome 1954 Capehart C-14 clock radio that is a fine example of mid century modern design. Both the clock and the radio work fine. Most of these work and if they don’t we’ve listed the issue or issues on the price tag. Check out these and other vintage audio, musical instruments and of course, records at The Record Room, located inside Hewitts Antiques at 228 N Market in downtown Wichita.

05/13/2026

ALBUM O THE DAY- F***y-F***y Hill (1972)

British rock dominated the world in 1972 and this all-girl Brit band wanted a piece of it. Founded by Filipina sisters June and Jean Millington, “F***y Hill ( which was named after an 18th century naughty novel) was the band’s third LP. Listening to “F***yHill” brings the word eclectic to mind: hard rock, glam, Donovanesque ballads and pop tune or two. One thing’s for sure though, these girls could play their instruments…and write. Contemporaries like Bowie and the Beatles loved them and “F***y Hill” was recorded at Apple studios in London with Stones sax man Bobby Keys sitting in. Todd Rungren produced their next album “Mother’s Pride.” Like a lot of bands F***y was short lived and by 1974 they were no more. Jean Millington left the band and married Bowie guitarist Earl Slick. There’s a PBS documentary, “F***y: The Right to Rock” that tells the story of this ground, and barrier-breaking group.

05/06/2026

NEW ARRIVALS- 1970’s Realistic Minimus Speakers

If you’ve never had a pair of these iconic speakers, now’s your chance. We just brought in 3 pair. Debuting in 1977 these little shelf speakers caught on quickly due to their big sound and small size and affordable price. They packed a 4” woofer with an oversized magnet and a tiny tweeter into a little aluminum cabinet and the result was A LOT of sales. Virtually indestructible, many were mounted on porch and patio ceilings due to their rugged construction. (In fact you often find them in the wild with house paint splatters on them.) We’ve got a pair of Minimus 7’s, a pair of 5’s, which is the 7 with a larger woofer and walnut veneer cabinets and another pair of 7’s branded “Mr. Audio.” (They’re either knock-offs or manufactured by agreement.) All have been tested and sound great The 7’s are rated at 40 watts and the 5’s at 15, 15 watts is just about right for that old shelf unit you’ve got down in the basement!

04/15/2026

NEW ARRIVAL- Stack-O-78’s

We just reloaded the $1.00 78 bin with this big ol stack of 78’s. You’ll find no Perry Como or Doris Day in this group but there is a lot of R&B, Jazz and a few classic country. They date from the 30’s to the mid 50’s with most clustered around 1945-55. These sound great on vintage console and portable record players but I’d leave them off your stereo turntable unless you’ve got a flip-over cartridge.

03/16/2026

New Arrivals-“LIVING STEREO” LP’s

Stereo recordings hit the mass market in 1958 and within a couple years almost all recorded music was being offered in stereo. Mono recordings hung around until the mid 1960’s before eventually fading from the scene. We’ve just added a new box of $5.00 classical LP’s and most of them are from this early STEREO period from 1958-64. The marketing departments of the record companies were quick to hail the merits of this new technology, emblazoning their album sleeves with phrases like “LIVING STEREO, STEREOPHONIC, LIVING PRESENCE” and other Madison Avenue goodies. Specially printed LP inner sleeves explained the new technology; how it worked and the equipment needed to fully enjoy this new “Living Presence” experience. But, it wasn’t all hype. Many recordings from the early stereo era are considered some of the finest ever made and are quite collectible, rivaling all other genres in collectibility. The recording equipment was all vacuum tube gear of the highest equality and the operating engineers, seasoned pros already, quickly mastered the new techniques. HiFi enthusiasts were the first to adopt the new format and they were largely dominated by classical music lovers, who also loved fine gear. Early stereo systems were basically two separate mono systems with two preamps and two amplifiers driving two speakers, all being fed by the “new” stereo phono cartridges. (You’ll often see home brew stereo conversion rewiring on mid to late 1950’s higher end turntables.) Integrated stereo pre amps and amps quickly followed and some of that early gear will set you back a few house payments. (And that’s house payments on a big house!)

03/01/2026

NEW ARRIVALS-Compilation CD’s

Compilations have been around since the era of the 78 RPM. Record companies took individual singles from their stable of artists and combined them into 4 disc albums, usually with a theme of some sort like “Jazz” or “Romance” or “Cowboy Songs”, etc. The 50’s saw the introduction of 10”and 12” LP’s and the practice exploded. They started adding themes like “exotica, “Hawaii,” Rumba” and Latin”since GI’s had just returned from overseas and experienced the world of music outside the U.S. The themes were numerous and many an LP collector has waded through boxes of these studio compilations to find that lone Miles Davis or Elvis LP. The digital age and the massive amount of reissues converted into the CD format saw a lot of digital files changing hands and ending up on compilations like we’ve just added to the New Arrivals boxes here at the Record Room. There’s some great music jumbled up in these so check them out. Most are priced at 3 dollars.

02/23/2026

NEW ARRIVALS- CD’s

CD sales are humming along here at The Record Room so we’ve been busy restocking. We’ve added an eclectic mix to our New Arrival boxes including a few “Target” CD’s from the early 80’s. American CD manufacturers were not prepared for the rapid acceptance of the new medium and as a result had to import product from Europe and Japan to keep their bins full. Target contracted separately with foreign companies to satisfy their demand. “Target” CD’s were low issue (and early issues) of vinyl’s most popular titles and have become quite collectible. Just like vintage vinyl or 1st edition books, CD value is based in what issue you have as well as condition and content. See these and more at The Record Room located inside Hewitts Antiques at 228 N Market in downtown Wichita.

01/29/2026

NEW ARRIVALS- “Import” LP’s

We’re using the term “import” very lightly in our headline because this latest stack we’ve dropped in the New Arrivals box aren’t exactly fine European limited edition pressings. In fact, they are the opposite: Cheezy bootlegs from 1960’s-70’s Taiwan made for US servicemen stationed in SE Asia. They often made the master by recording an original album with whatever was handy and worried about the sleeve and label later. The result was cheaply pressed LP’s, photocopied or completely new “interpretations” of the original album art (often hilariously awful) and equally hilarious misspellings on the labels of song titles and even band names. (I’ve got a copy of “Tink Floyd The Wall” in my collection I’ll never part with! How they screwed that up we’ll never know. I’ve also got “Sgt Peppeb’s Loney Hearp’s Club Band, possibly the greatest album title Taiwanese butchering of all time. Sorry, not for sale either.) For collectors, the more butchered the art and spelling, the higher the record’s value. Check these beauties out at The Record Room, located at 228 N Market in downtown Wichita.

01/05/2026

ALBUM-O-THE-DAY

Orion- “Rockabilly”/1981 Sun Records/ Sun-1021

Orion (real name James Bell Hughes) was a REALLY, REALLY ,REALLY good Elvis impersonator. So good in fact that the folks at Sun Records cooked up a scheme to put a mask on him in 1979 and put out an album called “Reborn.” The album’s cover shows Orion standing over an open casket (that presumably holds an Elvis-like figure) while Orion belts out “Via Las Vegas” or some other Elvis anthem. The LP was pressed on gold translucent vinyl to add a pearly gates touch to the package. The back cover continued the Elvis resurrection theme with the album’s song titles chiseled onto a tombstone with roses laid at its base. It sold well. Really well. Evidently so well that Orion churned out 7 more albums in less than two years, all pressed in gold vinyl and tagged as “Collector’s Editions” by Sun. Our Album-O-The-Day is “Rockabilly” from 1980 which has Orion covering the likes of Matchbox, See Ya Later Alligator, Peggy Sue and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. (For the curious, he wore a mask on all 7 album covers.) Sun never said Orion was Elvis…but they never said he wasn’t either. The momentum from grieving Elvis collectors made for a handsome payday for the folks at Sun. Colonel Tom would have been proud.

The Record Room

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