Category Archives: Phonograph History

Lonely Wife: 1942

1942Dec21LifeEighty years ago today, the December 21, 1942, issue of Life Magazine featured on its cover this portrait of a lonely wife whose husband had gone to war. The cover actually depicts a model, namely actress Joan Thorsen, playing the role of the lonely wife. But the accompanying feature details the plight of a number of real ones, along with advice from author Ethel Gorham, who had written a handbook for them, So Your Husband’s Gone to War.

The magazine noted that no two situations were the same, but it showed the example of one lonely wife who put many of the couple’s goods in storage and moved to a smaller apartment. But author Gorman stressed the importance of keeping the overall living style similar to that enjoyed before the war, since the husband will undoubtedly be home on furlough.

1942Dec21Life2The book also provided pointers on finding a job. The woman shown in the Life article took a job in a record store, shown here. According to the magazine, work which involved meeting and talking to people was advisable for women living alone. She also had a civilian defense job answering the telephone in a New York precinct station house report center.



1952 Record Player

1952DecPMSeventy years ago, these youngsters were listening to some favorite records, thanks to a new record player that Santa had just delivered. But little do the kids know that Santa had some help–Dad actually built the set, courtesy of plans found in the December 1952 issue of Popular Mechanics.

When not in use, the tone arm is placed on its holder, which actuates a switch mounted inside the cabinet, turning it off automatically. The only control for the kids to mess with was the volume control.

The amplifier used a single 3V4 tube, whose fast warmup meant that the player was ready for action the moment the tone arm was picked up. One interesting feature of the circuit is the source of the 3 volts for the filament. The set has no transformer, but the power supply for the B+ uses a selenium rectifier.  The filament voltage seems to take advantage of the rectifier’s voltage drop, as it seems to be wired across the rectifier (and in series with the phono motor and two resistors).

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1962 Westinghouse Saranade Part 15 Doll

1962NovPM3Sixty years ago, the editors of Popular Mechanics did some testing of the latest toy offerings to see how they would hold up to rough use. The results appeared in the November 1962 issue.

One of the most intriguing toys they tested was the $40 Saranade doll from Westinghouse, shown above. But Saranade was much more than a doll. She was what one site called a “creepy Part 15 doll.” She came complete with her own record player (which played all speeds, 78 through 16 RPM). But it wasn’t just any record player. The player had a “DOLL – PHONO” switch. In the phono position, it played just like any other record player. But in the doll position, the speaker cut out, and the sound came out of a speaker strategically placed in the doll’s stomach.

The player had a one-tube amplifier inside, and when the switch was flipped, it became a transmitter on 180 kHz, in the Part 15 Lowfer band.  In fact, it’s the only commercial product that I can think of that took advantage of this band. The doll contained a receiver, apparently transistorized, tuned to this signal. The doll contained neither tuning nor volume control. Fine tuning was accomplished with a control on the record player.

As with other toys reviewed, both the doll and record player survived drop tests, and were pronounced by the editors to be suitable for rough service at the hands of kids. Other items reviewed were the megaphone and perfume kit shown below, as well as the General Electric model EF 150 5 transistor shortwave receiver kit, which retailed for $29.95.

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Green Record Shop, Chambersburg, PA, 1947

1947NovRadioRetailingShown here is Judy Rohrer, sales clerk at Green Record Shop, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The November 1947 issue of Radio Retailing profiled the store. Despite the town having a population of 15,000, the store grossed sales of $75,000 per year, thanks to the marketing efforts of owner Raymond L. Green. The store had a marketing plan which included utilizing every inch of available wall space, taking advantage of the album covers, which were designed as attention getters. The store also got the name and address of each new customer and recorded their musical likes. When new records came in that might interest them, the store followed up with a handwritten postcard.

Radio ads were also important, and the store advertised over WCHA, a 1000 watt station with listeners as far away as Harrisburg. The shop assistants, Judy Rohrer shown here and Wilma Barnes, were billed as “Punch and Judy,” and new customers often asked for them by name. In other words, the store personnel were turned into well-known personalities.

Green had custom built the store’s fixtures for displaying albums, making the most of the store’s long, narrow layout. Record salesmen took note, and he had a sideline of building fixtures for other stores.

A neighboring town was the site of a “wealthy preparatory school,” and Green set up a table and album rack at a store in that town twice a week. This practice made him an institution among the record-hungry students.

In addition to records, the store also sold radios and radio-phono combos.



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Broadcasting for Servicemen Overseas: 1942

1942Sep28BCEighty years ago today, the September 28, 1942, issue of Broadcasting carried this article on the subject of getting American broadcast programs to servicemen overseas. Elsewhere in the magazine, it was reported that the Office of War Information was purchasing time on broadcast stations in Alaska and Hawaii to get programs of interest to military personnel there. But overseas, the problem was more accute.

In Europe, the BBC, of course, carried programs in English. But other than the news, programs were generally regarded as quite dull to the American ear. Shortwave didn’t fill the gap entirely, because of propagation and the lack of receivers on base. One plan under consideration was a string of 50 watt stations near bases, all on the same frequency. Of course, thought had to be given to camouflaging them and shutting them down in case of air raids.

Morale kits were in heavy demand. The goal was to provide one kit for each 116 men. These included a radio for long, medium, and short waves, for either battery or plug-in use, one phonograph, 25 transcriptions of radio shows, and 48 records containing the latest hits. These were dubbed the “B Recreation Kit,” although I haven’t found any references using that terminology.

The soldiers shown at left are listening to a phonograph that was part of one such kit. Interestingly, due to shortages of shellac, the records supplied by Uncle Sam were actually vinyl 78 RPM discs, and were one of the first uses of vinyl for phonograph records.



Clark & Jones Piano Co., Birmingham, AL, 1922

1922Aug26If you were in the market for a phonograph a hundred years ago in Alabama, then the place to go was the Clark & Jones Piano Company, 1913 Third Avenue, Birmingham. This ad appeared a hundred years ago today in the August 26, 1922, issue of the Birmingham Age Herald.  They had outfits ranging from $25 to $350. You could take home this handsome model, along with ten records, for only $2 a week.

Yu can view a photo of the store’s display window at the website of the Birmingham Public Library.



Radios for Phonograph Dealers: 1922

1922AugTalkMachWorldA hundred years ago, phonograph dealers started to realize that radio was, indeed, going to be a thing. And if they wanted to remain profitable, they would have to start selling radios.

The August 1922 issue of Talking Machine World included a number of radio ads, of which this one was typical. The general theme was that if you wanted to stay in business, then you should start selling the other kind of talking machine, namely, the radio.

This one, from the Harpanola Company of Celina Ohio, itself a phonograph maker (and before that, furniture maker) was typical. The time to act was now, and you couldn’t wait for the horse to be stolen before locking the barn door. There were radio stores out there, but the ad admonished the phonograph dealer to “let the radio stores sell the experimenters and the boys.” The phonograph dealer would be the place to go for those who wanted a “drawing room” radio, in a well-finished cabinet. The company promised that it would “show you the way to introduce cabinet radios successfully. The profits and volume of sales are going to set new records in money-making.”



1947 GE Radio-Phonos

1947Aug18LifeLife Magazine for this day 75 years ago, August 18, 1947, carried this ad featuring Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens extolling the virtues of General Electric’s “natural color tone” line of radios.

All of the models shown featured automatic record changers with GE’s “electronic reproducer” cartridge which magnetically recreated the full recorded sound, without the need to change needles. The model 417A and 502 consoles featured FM and shortwave in addition to standard broadcast. Both models covered both the prewar and postwar FM bands. The 502’s shortwave coverage was 9.4-9.8, 11.5-12, and 14.8-15.5 MHz, meaning that there was good bandspread on the 31, 25, and 19 meter bands. The 417A had the same coverage on 31 and 25 meters, but no 19 meter coverage.

The model 326 console covered broadcast and shortwave.

Rounding out the lineup was the model 304



Health Builders “Daily Dozen” Records, 1922

1922JuneTalkingMachineWorldA hundred years ago this month, the June 1922 issue of Talking Machine World carried this advice for phonograph dealers worried about a summertime slump in sales. Their lifesaver would be the “Health Builder” records featuring the Daily Dozen exercises of Walter Camp.

Camp had worked as an adviser to the U.S. military during World War I and came up with a physical fitness regimen for servicemen. This became the “Daily Dozen,” a series of twelve simple exercises to get a running start on the serious work of the day. The Daily Dozen were featured in books and articles, and starting in 1921, in this series of phonograph records. So the dealer could sell not only the records, but also the phonographs to coach customers on their fitness regimen.

Camp’s company could supply the literature and cut-outs, and suggested that the dealer run demonstrations. They could use an athletic member of the sales force, or a young husky from the neighborhood.



1947 Phono Maintenance Tips

1947AprPMrecord1947AprPMrecord2This young woman enjoyed listening to her record player, but thanks to the hints in the April 1947 issue of Popular Mechanics, she also knew how to take care of it. The record player was designed to withstand rough handling, but it was also a precision instrument that required occasional attention.

For one thing, the wires under the pickup arm could come loose and drag along the record. The magazine explained how to pull the wires tight to prevent this.

If the record player wouldn’t play at all, it was likely the cartridge, and the magazine explained how to replace it. It also explained the importance of cleaning dust off records, as well as the need to occasionally oil the bearings.