Fidelipac

Fidelipac
	Top view of a Fidelipac cartridge
Media type	Magnetic tape cartridge
Encoding	Analog signal
Read mechanism	Tape head
Write mechanism	Magnetic recording head
Usage	audio playback
Released	1952

The Fidelipac, commonly known as a "NAB cartridge" or simply "cart", is a magnetic tape sound recording format, used for radio broadcasting for playback of material over the air such as radio commercials, jingles, station identifications, and music, and for indoor background music. Fidelipac is the official name of this industry standard audio tape cartridge. It was developed in 1954^[1]^[2] by inventor George Eash^[3]^[4] (although the invention of the Fidelipac cartridge has also been credited to Vern Nolte of the Automatic Tape Company^[5]^[6]), and commercially introduced in 1959 by Collins Radio Co. at the 1959 NAB Convention. The cartridge was often used at radio stations until the late 1990s, when such formats as MiniDisc and computerized broadcast automation predominated.

^ "Earl Muntz Meets George Eash". The Billboard. Vol. 84, no. 47. November 18, 1972. p. 62."Eash hand-made his own plastic cartridge for his first working unit and in 1954 began showing his unit to record people" ... "What Eash did in the Fidelipac cartridge - a term invented in 1956 by a Toledo advertising agency - was splice tape together."
^ "Car Cartridges Come Home", pp.18-22, HiFi / Stereo Review's Tape Recorder Annual 1968, retrieved May 22, 2023. (Detailed diagram of a Fidelipac cartridge on p.20, with comparison to Lear Jet 8-track cartridge and Phillips cassette diagrams on p.21.)
^ "SAC Debuts Tape Cartridge Players". The Billboard. Vol. 71, no. 7. February 16, 1959. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510."The almost-square plastic-cased Fidelipac magazines, which come in three different sizes, are produced by the Fidelipac division of SAC [Stereophonic Automatic Corporation], located in Toledo, under the direction of George Eash, inventor of Fidelipac."
^ James Wong. "A History". The Audio Circuit.
^ The History of Recording Technology
^ "New Fidelipac Tape Magazine Used in Radio". The Billboard. Vol. 71, no. 37. September 14, 1959. p. 41. ISSN 0006-2510. "Conley Electronics Corporation, Skokie, Ill., granted a non-exclusive franchise for its Fidelipac continuous tape magazine to Collins Radio Company, Cedar Rapids, Ia. The Collins broadcasting division has incorporated the Fidelipac cartridge into its Automatic Tape Control record and playback units."