availability of 12" singles outside of metropolitan???

[Spellbound]

what was the availability of major label disco 12" singles outside of major metropolitan areas?

what was the availability of disco 12" singles by labels such as west end, infinity, prelude etc... outside of major metropolitan areas?

this question can go either way...

how was it for dj's?

how was it for average person?

if i was an average person living in lets say indiana, alabama, texas or oklahoma could i just walk in to the local record store in my mall and pick up the latest west end 12" ?

if so would the selection have been current and up to date?

if i was a dj living in lets say indiana, alabama, texas or oklahoma could i just walk in to the local record store in my mall and pick up the latest west end 12" or would i be better off joing a dj pool?

would there even be a dj pool in my area or would i be forced to make phone calls to nyc, chicago, los angeles dj pools etc... ?

back in 1978 i would not have exactly been able to log on to a colony records website and place an order.

did places like colony and vinyl mania accept mail orders?

if they did accept mail orders how would i have been able to listen to the records before buying them?

would a colony, vinyl mania or record explosion employee have been kind enough to play little snippets of the 12's for me over the phone?

since living in indiana, alabama, texas or oklahoma would have clearly put me at a disadvantage as far as new disco 12" vinyl is concerned, how would i have been able to keep up to date with all of the latest records?

latest records meaning major label , non major label , promo only, white labels, test presses, disconet, hot tracks, imports etc.....

i seriously doubt that i would have been able to depend on local indiana, alabama, texas, oklahoma radio for this.

there must have been hundreds of examples of non major label 12" disco records becoming popular in nyc clubs months and months before they became popular in indiana, alabama, texas or oklahoma clubs... right?

would the average person from indiana, alabama, texas or oklahoma be better off just taking monthly trips to nyc, los angeles to buy their records?

i apologize for all of the questions here but with this kind of topic can quickly multiply from one question into another and into another...

[Rugger57]

Since I am from Indiana, I can tell you how it was to try to get anything on 12". It was miserable, to say the least. The local record stores might shelve a handful of releases, but they just didnt' move. Once they had the rack full, they just sat there. They didn't sell at all, and then there was no more ordering of current product. If I wanted something I had to order it, hoping it would come in. I ordered "In The Forrest" by Baby O' when it came out, saying SPECIFICALLY I wanted the 12". I recieved the lp. That was ok, as I enjoyed it. "Pork Chops"....ahem! Then there was the closing cut, with an English woman speaking with her lover. When the lover didn't reply, she discovered he was dead and started screaming....then it went on into the song. Pretty bizarre!

Anyway, I usually went to Indianapolis to the bigger Peaches store, and I also shopped at one bathhouse that had a record store inside. The guy who owned it really knew his stuff. I got things like Bits and Pieces II and other bootlegs rare for its' time. That was the only way I had to get what I wanted. As for imports thru a local record store....fugeddaboutit! They didn't even know what I was talking about.