Heritage Rooms to showcase city’s music history at reopening

MADISON HEIGHTS — When Madison Heights reopens its historical museum, it will do so with the click of an eight-track tape.

The Heritage Rooms will once again be open to the public on April 15, following a presentation from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. titled “The History of Music: In Madison Heights and Beyond.” Located on the lower level of City Hall at 300 W. 13 Mile Road, the museum has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic amid the construction of the new Civic Center. A flood during that time made renovations necessary, but largely spared the contents of the room.

Along with tracing the evolution of music from the earliest recordings to modern-day streaming, the program will touch on the “format wars” that occurred in Madison Heights in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when organizers say two companies — one a cassette maker, the other designing eight-tracks — were both in town.   

The Historical Commission is behind both the Heritage Rooms and the music history program, which will be co-presented by Mike Sheppard — president of Northern Audio Service, a vintage and antique audio repair shop at 27633 John R Road — and Mark Bliss, the city’s mayor pro tem and a self-described “eight-track enthusiast” who collects and rebuilds the tapes.

“At one point in the late ’60s, early ’70s, the music industry in Detroit would knock out 90 albums in just 30 days, which at the time was considered impossible,” Sheppard said. “What most people don’t realize is Madison Heights was part of that, making the tape portion of it. And many people who worked in the industry lived in Madison Heights and other Detroit suburbs.”

Bliss and Sheppard point to a Detroit Free Press article, published in 1969, which describes two companies that once operated in Madison Heights. Rael Sound worked on eight-track technology and was founded by former Lear engineer and eight-track architect D. Richard Kraus in 1965, just 10 years after Madison Heights was incorporated as a city. Playmate Industries was founded in 1970 by another former Lear engineer, Ted Ritz, and worked on cassettes — then a newcomer to the scene.

Both were in Madison Heights, but Bliss said he is working with the city clerk to try and find records pinpointing exactly where they were located and how long they operated. Another key player was Tape-Tronics, now closed, which operated at 750 E. Mandoline Ave. starting in 1967. It had a run of nearly 57 years, printing eight-tracks and cassettes for Motown Records and United Sound Studios.

“Many businesses from back then in our city simply don’t have records — there was simply not enough documentation at the time — but we know that these companies were springing up here in parallel to the fall of the eight-track and the rise of the cassette, and the overall dominance of Motown,” Bliss said. “It’s all local here.”

A question-and-answer session will follow the program, and then guests will be free to peruse the contents of the museum, which includes a recreation of a schoolhouse from the early 1900s, complete with furnishings from the era, as well as myriad photos, yearbooks, and even a new exhibit with memorabilia of the late Jim Myers — a former teacher and coach in the Madison Schools better known nationally by his professional wrestling alias, George “The Animal” Steele.

Those who check out the City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m. the same night can also hear a report from the Historical Commission detailing their recommendations for which community figures should have city parks and facilities named after them next. The recommendations will then have to be reviewed and approved by the City Council.

Last year’s initiative led to Twelve-Sherry Park being renamed after Oakland County Commissioner Gary McGillivray, who was present at the dedication in August before dying that fall. The new youth room at the Madison Heights Public Library was renamed in honor of Robert Corbett, while the pavilion at Monroe Park was named in honor of Bob Gettings, who both died while still serving on the Madison Heights City Council. Each dedication is accompanied by a plaque describing the person’s contributions to the city.

At press time, officials were staying quiet about which figures will be honored next.

“To me, it’s not about naming at the place or structure. It’s about raising awareness for the people who helped build our community in its nearly 70 years of existence,” said Bliss, who serves on the Historical Commission’s naming subcommittee.

Sheppard said he’s looking forward to the music program, and discussing how cassette tapes overtook eight-tracks as the dominant portable music format of the time.

“Cassettes have made a huge comeback even now. We are servicing more cassettes now than we have in over 30 years (at Northern Audio Service),” Sheppard said. “Part of it is nostalgia, where ’80s and ’90s kids are growing up, but part of it is the recording industry itself. Using cassettes is a stab at the industry — smaller bands who don’t want to be controlled and make 1% or less of their fee for the music, they can produce on cassettes and have more control, although that also means less distribution.”

Bliss said that guests will be able to go hands-on with cassettes and eight-tracks, including tapes from his personal collection, getting a feel for a mechanical quality that is increasingly lost to time.

“We’ll talk about how they work, and even what to do and where to look if you’re trying to maintain them,” Bliss said. “We’ll go over how music formats evolved, how that factors into local Madison Heights lore and even Motown and the general area, and we’ll go hands-on with them, too. Overall, I think the program will be very well-rounded for such a short session.”