World Premiere!

The problem in 1985 was the background music in the front bar in the entrance area. A tape recorder with endless tape was not bearable on the length. We couldn't afford a real music box and there was no possibility to place the playback music box separately in a room to control the control box on the wall in the small bar. And where to get all the suitable music on singles?

Necessity is the mother of invention. 

Dieter Schärer's main customer was Telion AG, which was the main importer of Shure Mics, Teac and Tascam equipment, among others. The company was also a sponsor. The newest cassette professional devices had a search system of single tunes, if it had a mark (numbering) between the respective songs. So we bought 6 Teac pro cassette decks and they went into the recording studio down in the basement. We pulled a cable up to the bar and now all we needed was a device on the wall where the customer could enter a track for a fee. I then found an electrical distribution box for heavy current in the construction center and painted it. In the device came a coin machine for 3 coin types and a lockable coin box. A light and a keyboard were added to enter the tune numbers. Then there was the possibility to choose e.g. Eddie Harris, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Webster, Funk and other styles.

Unfortunately I don't know the name of the young electrical engineer who was responsible for the whole electrical interior (who knows; maybe he'll get in touch some day)…