Nagra - early history

[rstl99]

For the last several years I've been navigating the interesting waters of  antique clock and watch collecting, restoration, research and writing.  But I think that the time has come back for me to get back to my earlier passion, tape recording and in particular, the Nagra's.

 

I've been wanting for some time to try my hand at writing a piece on the early years of Nagra, say the first 2 decades, up to the launch of the 4.2 and IV-S.  The fact that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the production of the Nagra I, encourages me to embark on this now.  As a labor of love, and out of respect for Stefan and his early collaborators.

 

Last year I created a humble website to share some of my research and published articles on antique horology, and have recently put up a couple of small Nagra-related articles, to build upon.

 

The first is just a very general basic piece on Stefan Kudelski.

https://timetales.ca/2021/03/14/stefan-kudelski-recording-time/

 

The second is a profile of a Nagra IIci which I previously owned, and sold (in a temporary phase of foolish downsizing) to a collector on this forum.

https://timetales.ca/2021/03/14/the-nagra-iici/

 

So I plan on writing and putting up some articles on the early history of Nagra, a story which sadly has never been told well enough, to date.  My articles will be written chronologically, and focus in part on the recollections of Stefan and some of the people who were around him at the time, obtained from radio documentaries that were released after he died in 2013.  I'm transcribing these French-language interviews and will translate relevant excerpts for the series of articles.

 

If this subject interests any of you, I could put a link to the articles (under this topic) as they go up on my site.  

 

Also, please feel free to PM me with suggestions of any other pertinent material I may not be aware of, to help flesh out the early years of Stefan Kudelski's life and career, and of the Nagra.

 

Regards,

 

Robert

 

 

[Tunes]

Thanks for sharing your writing about Nagra with us Robert. I look forward to reading more as they become available. 

[rstl99]

Scott D. Smith (CAS) did a fine job of summarizing the highlights of Stefan's early life in his tribute to him in 695 Quarterly (2013):

 

https://www.local695.com/magazine/the-nagra-recorder-stefan-kudelski-tribute/

 

I'll be able to fill in many of the details about Stefan's origins as an engineer, and the creation of his Nagra product and company, based on his own words revealed in some fine interviews (in French).  Still collecting and organizing materials.

 

Robert

[rstl99]

https://timetales.ca/2021/12/07/stefan-kudelski-and-the-origins-of-the-nagra-recorder/

 

This is a rough early draft of the beginning of my first piece on the origins of Stefan, and of his Nagra recorder.  Just to give an idea of how this is shaping up.  Much more to come...

[Tunes]

This is great Robert!

Looking forward to your next chapter(s).

[Philip Perkins]

Very well done.  There have been so many interviews, films etc about Mr. Kudelski already, but yours is very well written and contains much that I had not read before.  I look forward to reading the rest of your article.