In the 1960's and 1970's, many people in the Indian Sub-continent
owned gadgets what were known as 'Radiograms' that played LP Records, 78's and
45's in addition to receiving radio programs on Short Wave and Medium Wave
Radio. Walk into any well-to-do Goan home in Bombay, from Colaba to Bandra, Byculla to
Dhobitalo, or Mahim to Worli, you would invariably hear Jim Reeves playing in
their home. Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck
or Billy Vaughn and Bill Black Combo were also popular among many record
collections of those days.
Incidentally, the radiogram was considered a luxury by any standard, and consisted as a piece of high-class furniture in many well-appointed living rooms of homes and music salons of that era.
In Goa, during the Portuguese regime, in the 1950's and 1960's the radiograms were less common, perhaps an entire village having just one or two of these prized possessions and other top-notch luxuries of that time. Just owning a radiogram was not enough. This sort of enjoyment was expensive and came with an extra price tag, as one had to keep up with the times by adding and collecting more LP's that were costly.
Although during the time when I lived and worked in Dubai in late
1960's and 1970's, Jim Reeves' records, being an RCA label, were then not
available in the Trucial States of Oman (now U.A.E.), folks who travelled to
India on their annual vacation, often purchased them there. Jim Reeves' LPs
were pressed in Dum Dum, India. Jim Reeves' Christmas Carols Album was very popular then, and is popular even now.
