One of several companies devoted mainly to songs in the Welsh language, Welsh Teldisc was set up by John Edwards, of Swansea, in 1962. Edwards had founded Qualiton (q.v.) some eight years or so earlier; according to 'Record Retailer' of the 14th of August 1968 he had left that company and formed Teldisc, but he seems to have continued to be involved with Qualiton. To an inexpert eye the material released on Welsh Teldisc doesn't seem all that different to that which came out on Qualiton, though by and large it may have had a slightly less elevated air to it. It boasted a popular duo in brothers Jac a Wil Davies, who switched from Qualiton, recorded a dozen EPs for the new company and enjoyed big sales by the standards of Welsh language records. Sadly, Edwards died in 1966; his label survived him, however, and it continued to issue records for another five years or so, probably under the control of his widow Olwen - I haven't been able to confirm that as yet. In addition to the main label there were a couple of offshoots. Teldisc Evangelical (8) was launched in 1964 and was aimed at the Christian market; after the first dozen issues the 'Evangelical' was dropped and the label became plain Teldisc (9). As its name suggests, Teldisc Pops-Y-Cymro offered more Pop-flavoured tracks; it first came on the scene in 1965. As an actual label (6) it only lasted for three releases in 1965-66 but its PYC-5440 catalogue series survived it and was used for Pop EPs on the main Welsh Teldisc label (7).
Singles were numbered in an WD-500 series. Initially they were identified by an 'SP' above the prefix (1); this became 'Single Play' (2) with WD-911, and finally 'Record Sengl' (3) with WD-904. The first eleven were issued in 1962-63, after which there was a lull; another five came out in 1969-70. Only one of them, 'Daeth Yr Awr' b/w 'Cwm Tawelwch' by Awelon Hâf, was from the '70s (3). Many more EPs than singles were issued. They generally had numbers in the TEP-800s (4, 5), but as mentioned above there was a PYC-5430 series for 'Pop' flavoured releases. Teldisc Evangelical / Teldisc EPs had their own SEP-300 series. Finally there were a couple of singles on Teldisc which were numbered TD-153 and TD-154; these were secular rather than religious. The last TEP came out in 1968, after which only PYC EPs and WD singles appeared. No records were released after 1970. In 1974 Welsh Teldisc was sold to book publishers Cymdeithas Llyfrau Ceredigion, and it is currently (2022) owned by Sain Records (q.v.).
One basic label design, in dark blue or dark green, served throughout, but the font used for the label name evolved, getting bolder in three stages, as can be seen from the scans, and a mid-blue label appeared every now and then (6). Despite the fact that Qualiton owned a pressing plant the majority of the few Welsh Teldiscs that I have seen in the vinyl have been Phonodisc pressings. Some of the later ones came with the large spindle hole and plastic 'spider' that were characteristic of Phonodisc singles (7). According to the 'RR' article referenced above, Welsh Teldisc carried out its own distribution.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.