Seeburg Jukeboxes

No discussion of jukeboxes would ever be complete without the mention of "Happy Days" icon Arthur Fonzarelli, aka The Fonz, who was so cool that he could play the selection of his choice on the jukebox simply by striking it with his fist.

The jukebox used in that 1950s nostalgia-fest was a Seeburg, but more importantly, that model was the first jukebox that used 45-rpm records exclusively. It is technological innovations such as the switch to 45-rpm records for which the Seeburg Company is most well known.

However, the Seeburg Company also was very influential in creating the style of jukeboxes during their heyday in the middle of the twentieth century.

When jukeboxes were using only 78-rpm records, the Seeburg Company released a model that had a capacity of fifty albums, of which both sides could be played, giving users a selection of 100 songs. At that time, 100 songs was a staggering amount for a jukebox.

As stated before, Seeburg released the first jukebox using all 45-rpm records, but they may be more famous for another innovation from the same era. The Seeburg 3W1 can still be found in many restaurants around the country. It was one of the first, and certainly the most famous, wallbox. The wallbox is not technically a jukebox; rather, it is a remote station at which customers could pay for the songs of their choice to be played on a centralized jukebox.

These wallboxes were extremely popular at the diners of the 1950s and '60s as they were easy and convenient for customers seated at tables. More importantly, though, proprietors of the diners and malt shops loved the wallboxes because they allowed different customers to pay for the same song, increasing the overall revenue brought in by the jukeboxes.

Aesthetically, Seeburg jukeboxes were influential because they employed bright lights and chrome to make their jukeboxes look sleek and futuristic.