This young woman is undoubtedly tuned in to a foreign shortwave broadcast as she shows off her 1937 Westinghouse chairside console. The seven tube set featured a slanted dial panel for easy chairside tuning. The accompanying caption in the November 1937 issue of Radio Retailing notes that the set also featured vertical grille pilasters to add a distinctive note to the cabinet. It tuned 540 kHz to 18 MHz and included a “precision eye” tube.

The magazine didn’t include a model number, and I wasn’t able to track one down. If you have more information on this set, please leave a comment below.

To get some idea of what signals she might have been trying to pull in, the August 21, 1937, issue of Radio Guide gives some ideas. The MacGregor Arctic Expedition was underway aboard the General A.W. Greely, en route to Fort Conger, Ellesmere Island. The NBC network was carrying updates, which originated from W10XAB, a 400 watt transmitter aboard the ship.

Another curious broadcast, which took place on August 17 is somewhat chilling in light of the fact that the Nazis were by then firmly in control of Germany and the stations in question. The German stations DJB and DJD were to “feature a special broadcast to the State of Minnesota. Just seventy-five years ago to this very day, the Sioux Indians made their last assault on New Ulm, Minn., founded by German emigrants from Swabia, from the old town of Ulm, famous for its cathedral. This event and more so, the quick reconstruction of New Ulm, are fine examples of the part which German settlers had in making Minnesota a prosperous and busy state. The station hopes listeners in New Ulm will be particularly interested in tuning in this broadcast.”

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