Pop Culture History- After nine years of development, RCA Victor introduced the first 45 rpm record on 31 March 1949- "Texarkana Baby" by Eddy Arnold..

45 Record Adapters

After nine years of development, RCA Victor introduced the first 45 rpm record, a 7-inch wonder promising better sound and easier playability than the current standard, the 10" 78 rpm record. It was also designed to compete with the Long Playing record introduced by Columbia a year earlier.

The first 45 rpm released was "Texarkana Baby" by country and western singer Eddy Arnold. The disc was made of green vinyl, part of an early plan to color-code singles according to the genre of music they featured. The colors of the records were: cerise, or cherry red, for Blues & Rhythm; green for Country & Western; sky-blue for International; midnight blue for Popular Classics; black for Popular; red for Classical; yellow for Children's Entertainment.