- jim Young "If you can say, 'It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht', Then yer a'rict , ye ken." - Sir Harry Lauder, G. Grafton and W. Cunliffe Many young people today may have never heard a “78 rpm record” played, but they will at least likely know what it is. Oddly enough, their great-grandparents, who actually listened to them on the other hand, probably wouldn’t have known what you were talking about in their day if you called it that. 78s were just known as “records” until after World War II when there was a need to distinguish between them and the newly introduced 33 ⅓ rpm record. Shortly after, came the 45 rpm and the elusive 16 ⅔ rpm records. Each has their own story but my story today is about the old 78 rpm records. Fun Facts About The 78 rpm Early 78 rpm records spun at a wide variety of speeds until 1910 when they generally rotated between 78 and 80 rpm. 78.26 rpm was finally chosen as a standard in 1925 when motorized phonographs were introduced. J...