Advisory Group to Evaluate "18½ Minute Gap" Audiotape
Media Alert · Monday, September 18, 2000

College Park, MD

WHAT: An information-gathering meeting of the National Archives and Records Administration Advisory Committee on Preservation to evaluate recent technological advances in the recapturing of sound on audio recordings. The members will hear presentations from representatives from both the public and private sectors. The meeting will specifically address the issue of whether current advancements in the field could recapture sound from the "18 ½ minute gap" from the Nixon White House tape recordings.

WHO: Dr. Norbert Baer, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Preservation will chair the meeting. Members of the Committee Peter Waters and William K. Wilson will also be attending. National Archives experts will begin the discussion by describing the condition and the preservation of the audiotape. Six additional experts including: Bruce Koenig from BEK TEK; Dr. James E. Paul from Digital Audio Corporation; John G. McKnight from Magnetic Reference Laboratory; Steve Smolian from Smolian Sound Studios; Jim Ryan from the FBI Engineering Research Facility; and Steven St.Croix from Intelligent Devices, Inc. will describe current technologies which might prove useful in recapturing sound from the audiotape.

WHEN: The meeting is scheduled from 9 A.M.- 4 P.M., Thursday, September 21, 2000.

WHERE: Lecture Rooms B, C & D at the National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD.

ATTENTION ELECTRONIC MEDIA: There will be a mandatory pool.
The media must set up by 8:45 A.M.