# UMKC Marr Sound Archives

Official URL: https://library.umkc.edu/marr  
Category: Institutional Sound Archive · Operator: University of Missouri–Kansas City Libraries · Founded: 1986  
Benchmark Card: https://www.radiologs.org/data/providers/umkc-marr.md · JSON: https://www.radiologs.org/data/providers/umkc-marr.json

## Summary

The physical institutional repository housing J. David Goldin's legendary 16-inch transcription disc collection and KMOX/CBS regional masters. Transfers audio at museum-grade 24-bit/96kHz resolution, but only ~7% of its radio holdings are playable remotely over the web.

## Pricing & Access Regime

- **Model:** institutional ($0 (Institutional))
- **Monthly / Annual USD:** $0/mo · $0/yr
- **Billing Note:** Public university special collection; select digital collections free online.
- **Free Tier / Access Note:** ~6,500 digitized recordings streamable via UMKC Digital Commons; 350,000+ physical items on campus.

## Catalog & Technical Metrics (Audited 2026-11-01)

- **Playable Broadcasts:** 6,650
- **Catalog Broadcast Records:** 95,000
- **Distinct Series:** 2,200
- **Full-Length WebVTT (.vtt) Subtitles:** 60
- **Date Span:** 1925–1975
- **Online Streamable Share:** 7%
- **Median / Max Bitrate:** 192 kbps / 4608 kbps
- **Audio Formats:** WAV (24-bit/96kHz), MP3 (192 kbps Online)
- **1 Item / Episode (IA + Stremio SDK UUID):** No

## Features (14 Audited Capabilities)

**Yes (6/14):** 100% Free Catalog ($0/mo), Instant Play (No Account Login), Zero Mid-Roll or Display Ads, Primary Newspaper & Trade Log Scans, Per-Episode Actor ↔ Character Graph, 16" ET Disc / Lossless FLAC Streams

**No (8/14):** Public Recording UUID / RID Index, SHA-256 Audio Stream Deduplication, Schema.org RadioEpisode JSON-LD, Per-Series Podcast RSS Feeds, Public JSON API & /llms.txt, 100% Full-Length .vtt Subtitles, Original Studio Broadcast Scripts, Sequential Multi-Part Serial Arcs

## Verified Specification Evidence

- **100% Free Catalog ($0/mo):** Only ~1,250 of 18,000 holdings stream online; remainder requires Kansas City reading-room visit.
## Provenance & Archival Methodology

- **Primary Master Source:** Physical home of the J. David Goldin 16" ET Collection, CBS/KMOX discs, and Raymond R. Wile Collection
- **Air Date Methodology:** Archival finding aids & physical 16" disc label metadata
- **Cast Attribution Method:** Library Dublin Core / MARC metadata from Goldin discography
- **Caption / Subtitle Engine:** None (Select oral histories only)

## Capability Scores & Quoted Evidence

- **primary_source_verification** (verified, score 95/100): Cataloged directly from physical 16" transcription disc labels and institutional finding aids.
  - Evidence: "Metadata derived directly from the physical 16-inch electrical transcriptions in the Goldin and KMOX collections."
- **cast_credit_accuracy** (verified, score 88/100): Incorporates Goldin's detailed performer and production credits in archival finding aids.
  - Evidence: "Finding aids preserve complete performer, announcer, and sponsor credits from the Goldin database."
- **vtt_transcripts** (none, score 8/100): No synchronized WebVTT transcripts for dramatic/variety radio broadcasts.
  - Evidence: "Digital Commons audio embeds do not include WebVTT timed caption files."
- **master_provenance** (verified, score 99/100): Direct stylus-to-ADC transfers from original 16" lacquer and vinyl pressings by professional audio engineers.
  - Evidence: "Digitized in-house from original 16-inch transcription discs using custom archival turntables and stylus profiles."
- **serial_continuity** (partial, score 60/100): Finding aids list episodes sequentially, but online digital exhibits feature curated highlights rather than full serial runs.
  - Evidence: "Online Digital Commons portal hosts selected highlights rather than complete contiguous series runs."
- **open_api_export** (partial, score 45/100): OAI-PMH library harvesting supported for metadata, but no public audio streaming API.
  - Evidence: "Supports institutional OAI-PMH metadata harvesting via UMKC Digital Commons."
- **ad_free_playback** (partial, score 65/100): Free and ad-free for the ~6,500 items online; remaining ~88,500 items require Kansas City reading-room access.
  - Evidence: "On-site research access at Miller Nichols Library required for non-digitized or rights-restricted discs."
- **dedup_integrity** (verified, score 94/100): Accession and disc matrix numbers uniquely identify every physical transcription disc.
  - Evidence: "Unique institutional accession numbers mapped to physical disc shelves."

## Limitations, Trade-Offs & Gotchas

- **[CRITICAL] 93% of Holdings Require On-Site Kansas City Research Visit:** While UMKC holds the physical 16" discs behind RadioGOLDINdex, copyright policy restricts online streaming to a small subset of digitized exhibits.

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*Audited by [radio logs](https://www.radiologs.org/) — Built by [The Archive of American Radio (radioindex.org)](https://www.radioindex.org/). Held to the same primary-evidence audit rules across all 22 platforms.*