Shown here are Dorothea and Alice Hanna of Indianapolis, Indiana, ages 13 and 15, along with the radio they constructed according to plans published in the April 22, 1922 edition of Literary Digest. The set was designed by 21-year-old James Leo McLaughlin of New York, shown below along with his radio.

In a letter to the magazine, the girls’ father reported that they arrived home from school with the copy of the magazine, and immediately pooled their allowances and set off to purchase the required parts at an electric store and stationery store. They had the set assembled by 6 PM. The next afternoon, “refuing all help from father or brother” they had the aerial and ground installed. They were soon receiving programs, “when many expensive sets reported only fragments or no sounds at all.”

The father reported that the girls had never studied physics and had never seen or heard wireless. Their sole assistance was driving the ground pipe into the ground and securing the switch to the side of the house.

The father reported that the girls’ total expenditure was $6.30, which he concluded was well invested.

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