Yeah, I loved those QST tapes done by the ARRL.  
I remember really enjoying Vic Clark (sk) who used to describe a lot of the pictures as well.  
I think those reels came in boxes with two flaps so you could return the tapes; and the box was held shut by 1.5-inch wide elastic bands.

Steve, K8SP

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Martin G. McCormick 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: QST on Reel to Reel Tape


I discovered "QST" on open-reel tape in the early
seventies when it was still being read by ARRL staff. We got the
issues about 6 months late but that's the way it was back then
and we liked it. I thought I'd steal a bit there from "Saturday
Night Live."

Once, Ellen White, I think, was reading part of an issue
and a thunderstorm blew up at her house. She went on reading as
if nothing happened but then apologized at the end for the
extra noise.

The boxes containing a particular month's "QST" were
usually tattered and really dodgy-looking but I don't remember
any missing or even seriously damaged tapes. Many times, the
individual reel boxes were also quite well warn but still able
to hold a reel.

I was really sorry to see "Scientific American" go away
and even chided Curt Cilke slightly about it once when he
visited the Oklahoma Library for the Blind in the early
seventies when I used to work there.

He was really nice about the criticism and explained
that Science for the Blind produced the masters and the quality
was so poor that NLS decided it was not a good use of materials.

Having listened to some of those disks made from the
atrocious masters, I immediately knew what he was talking about
and said that I understood. No point in being nasty just to be
difficult. We've got enough of that already.

It sounded like Science for the Blind was using no-name
tape which is okay to fool around with at home but not
professional quality. The sound level was all over the chart
from very loud to almost inaudible. Some of you probably already
know that when cutting phonograph disks, the louder the sound,
the wider the groove becomes and the less recording time you
have. When the level is all over the place, the engineers have
trouble setting the amount of feed on the cutting lathe and
waste space on the record.

I was really glad when "QST" went to flexible disks and
then cassettes, read by NLS readers who generally did a bang-up
job.
Butch Bussen writes:
> I remember radio digest.  I know he often commented he didn't select
> much from q s t as it was available elsewhere.  As I recall, and I don't
> remember how fr back, but q s t as well as foreign affairs and others
> came on those thin flexible records.
> 73
> Butch
> WA0VJR
> Node 3148
> Wallace, ks.
> 
> 
> On Mon, 13 Jul 2015, Lou Kolb wrote:
> 
> > I was wondering the same thing, Mike. I do recall that Science for the 
> Blind
> > had a compilation magazine called radio digest, that was done by a guy 
> near
> > buffalo whose name I think was Henry Kuhn, W2IRU. He would choose 
> articles
> > from the major ham magazines, QsT, 73 and CQ and read them onto a 5-inch
> > reel that was sent out most months. I do think the QsT recordings were 
> done
> > by the library of congress back then. SFB had several neat recorded 
> mags,
> > though, like popular science and consumer reports. Lou WA3MIX
> > Lou Kolb
> > Voice-over Artist:
> > Radio/TV Ads, Video narrations
> > Messages On-hold:
> > www.loukolb.com
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mike Duke, K5XU" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 1:32 PM
> > Subject: QST on Reel to Reel Tape
> >
> >
> >> I began reading QST with the January, 1967 issue. It was on reel to
> >> reel tape until sometime in the mid 70s.
> >>
> >> I may be wrong, but I believe that when I began reading it, the tapes
> >> were distributed by Science for the Blind, not by NLS.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Mike Duke, K5XU
> >
> >
> 
>