Monthly Archives: August 2016

Endorsements: Craig Foss for Minnesota Supreme Court, Ryan for Congress, in the August 9 Primary

I’m sure most OneTubeRadio.com readers have been eagerly waiting for my endorsement for the contested Minnesota Supreme Court seat, so here it is.

There are three candidates running in the primary election. Voters are asked to vote for one candidate. One will be eliminated from the race, and the remaining two candidates will appear on the November ballot. This is the only statewide primary election.

The incumbent is Justice Natalie Hudson, who was appointed to the bench in 2015 by Governor Dayton. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she served from 2002-2015 on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and before that as an Asistant Attorney General. She began her legal career in 1982 as a staff attorney for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services. I will probably be voting for Justice Hudson in the November general election. You can read her response to questions by the Minnesota State Bar Association at this link.

Justice Hudson faces two challengers, Craig Foss and Michelle MacDonald.

Mr. Foss unashamedly states that he wants to become an appellate judge because “the demand for legally blind attorneys is not high. So I decided to see if I could get elected to a job.” He is a duly licensed attorney in the State of Minnesota, and has been since 1995. He therefore meets the minimum legal and constitutional requirements for the position he seeks.

Ms. MacDonald is also a duly licensed attorney and has been since 1987. Therefore, she also meets the minimum legal and constitutional requirements to appear on the ballot. Ms. MacDonald also ran for Supreme Court in 2014 and sought, and obtained, the Republican endorsement. I was present at the 2014 state Republican convention when she was nominated, without discussion, after the now dissolved judicial elections committee recommended her nomination. (For the record, I did not vote for her during the otherwise unanimous voice vote.) Unfortunately, the committee recommended her without disclosing that she was then facing criminal charges. She was ultimately found guilty of some (but not all) of those charges. When her criminal charges came to light, the party backpedaled its support and refused to offer her a spot at the Minnesota State Fair. Ms. MacDonald showed up anyway and created a scene.

In 2016, she once again sought the Republican endorsement. This time, with her record known to all of the convention delegates, the party wisely decided not to endorse. In fact, it went a step further and disbanded the judicial nomination committee. I voted with the majority on both of those votes.

For these reasons, I recommend voting against Ms. MacDonald in the upcoming primary. It is very likely that Justice Hudson, because of her incumbent status, will be one of the two top votegetters in the August 9 primary. Therefore, to ensure that Ms. MacDonald does not appear on the November ballot, I will be voting for Craig Foss. There will be two candidates in the November general election. In my opinion, Ms. MacDonald does not have the required judicial temperament to serve on the state’s high court. On the other hand, I have no reason to believe that Mr. Foss would not serve fairly and impartially. Indeed, his disability would probably bring an unrepresented point of view to the high court. I doubt if I’ll vote for him in November, but if he’s elected, I have every reason to believe that he will take his position seriously and will serve with distinction. He would not be an embarrassment to the state or to the legal profession.

Therefore, I endorse Craig Foss for Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court in the August 9 primary election.

I also endorse Greg Ryan in the Republican primary for U.S. Congress in the 4th District (St. Paul area).

Attorney Richard P. Clem is solely responsible for the content of this page. This page is prepared and paid for by Richard P. Clem, and is not paid for by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

1941 Chicago Talking Juke Box

Seventy-five years ago today, the Chicago Tribune, August 7, 1941, offered an interestingly candid look at the juke box industry in Chicago. Typically, a juke box would contain 20 records, and the patron put in a nickel in exchange for playing one of them.

Things changed when the K.P. Music corporation of 1057 Wilson Avenue came along with talking juke boxes known as “automatic hostesses.” Instead of twenty records, the patron had a choice of 680 records. When the patron inserted his coins, he was connected, via leased telephone line, to a hostess at 1057 Wilson Avenue, with whom he could exchange banter, make a request, and even dedicate a particular number to his friends.

Eighteen taverns quickly signed up and junked their old jukes. This went over well with everyone, with one exception, and that was Michael J. Boyle, also known as the “Umbrella Man,” the head of the Electrical Workers’ union. He had two objections. He first argued that the new jukes were too good, and that hundreds of traditional juke boxes were in other taverns, with hundreds of dollars tied up. The new talking juke boxes would cut in too heavily, making the investment a “dead loss.”

Umbrella Mike got his name from his practice of hanging an umbrella from the bar when making a visit. The owner of the tavern could then conveniently deposit an envelope into the umbrella so that Mike could be on his way with a minimum of fuss.

The old machines were serviced by, and more importantly, in the territory “belonging to” the Apex Cigaret Company of 4220 Lincoln Avenue. Depiste the name, Apex wasn’t in the cigarette business. Its business was juke boxes.

The newspaper identified Joseph “Gimp” Mahoney as the nominal president of Apex, “but Eddie Vogel, old time Capone gangster, is known as the power behind it. Those gentlemen’s relations with Mr. Boyle are cordial.”

To express their displeasure, the union’s business agent, along with about a half dozen members of the union, showed up at the 18 bars in question. They carried signs announcing that the talking jukes were “unfair to organized labor.” After picketing for a bit, the business agent would slip inside and unplug the machine. He also left some advice to the owners that “it was in their best interests that the boxes remain silent.”

Eleven of the 18 taverns took the advice, but at seven others, “the tavern owners showed the agent the door and the talking jukes went on talking.”

The newspaper reporter visited the talking jukebox studio and described the operation. The “hostess,” Miss Mickie Martin, shown above at the microphone, would be signaled by a light that some business was coming in from one of the taverns. Another indicator would show how many nickels had been fed in. Confirming that payment had been received, she would flip the switch and say sweetly, “hello, what can I do for you?”

The reporter noted that many voices would come over the wire, both old and new. “Some were those of strangers, some those of old friends who’d built up an acquaintance thru many nickels with Mickie.”

In one case, the connection was interrupted, and Mickie advised that they were having trouble at that establishment, since the business agent was there.

The firm’s attorney was dispatched to the bar in question, but by the time he arrived, the agent had pulled the plug and left the scene. The attorney lamented, “I’ve got 17 cousins on the police force, but what can you do when you run up against this kind of stuff?”

And not insignificantly, the old juke boxes were serviced by members of his own union.

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1956 Two Transistor Shortwave Regen

Sixty years ago this month, the August 1956 issue of Radio Electronics carried the plans for this receiver, which was probably the first, or one of the first, examples of an all-transistor shortwave receiver. Up until this point, high-frequency oscillation had been the stumbling block for a transistorized receiver. But GE had just put on the market the 2N137, and the circuit shown in the article could oscillate up to 12 MHz, and could even function at higher frequencies with less sensitivity.

The transistor had a steep retail price of $6.50, but this was predicted to drop as demand and production grew.

The author described the set as “a real ‘red hot,'” and reported that the dial was usually crowded with hundreds of stations. With an antenna consisting of 8 feet of wire on the floor, the set consistenly pulled in European and Asian stations and could keep pace with many communications receivers. It also performed well on the standard broadcast band.

The set used band switching, and had tuning ranges of 800-1600 kHz, 3.8-6.5 MHz, and 6-13 MHz. Regeneration was adjusted by means of variable inductive coupling, and the author reported smooth operation, even better than most vacuum tube circuits. The tickler coil was mounted on a plastic shaft, and could be rotated from the front panel to adjust the orientation with respect to the antenna coil. One stage of audio amplification (with a 2N107, kept the headphones isolated from the detector and almost eliminated the tendency for movement of the headphone cord to affect tuning.

The author suggested that the use of plug-in coils might push the operation of the set to higher frequencies, but the plans shown were a good starting point for anyone interested in the use of transistors at high frequencies. It resulted in a good portable radio that was both rugged and had very low power drain. He noted that these attributes made the set attractive for emergency or disaster use.

Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon

Wartime B Battery Eliminator

Despite appearances to the contrary, Junior is not trying to do anything untoward, and it’s clear from the picture that the father’s fingers are safely on the low-voltage connections. What this wartime father and son are doing is getting their battery portable back in commission, despite the unavailability of B batteries due to the war.

They are working on an emergency power supply, following the plans contained in the August 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics.

Even though B batteries were unavailable due to the war, the perfectly good radio could be put back into operation thanks to this power supply, which could be assembled from noncritical materials found in the radio enthusiast’s junk box.

Two different diagrams were provided, adapted to the needs of the particular set. Rectification was accomplished by using one or more radio tubes. If triodes were used, the grid and plate were tied together. The filament voltage for those tubes was obtained by wiring them in series with one or more 60 watt light bulbs. For a filter choke, the secondary winding of an old audio transformer could be used. Two or three electrolytic capacitors were required for filtering. In addition, a couple of 1 watt resistors were used as a voltage divider for supplying the various voltages required by the radio.

The 1.4 volts for the filaments of the radio could be supplied by a flashlight battery, or two wired in parallel.

As shown below, despite wartime parts shortages, this ingenious device successfully brought an otherwise useless portable receiver back to life.

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1941 Illinois State Police Radio

Shown here on the cover of the July-August 1941 issue of National Radio News is one of the operating consoles of the radio system of the Illinois State Police.

Shown are senior operator E. Swaringen and supervisor C.I. Hopper. They are at the zone and interzone console at the Springfield station.

The magazine reported that in its three years of radio operation, the apprehension of criminals had rocketed to record-breaking heights. For example, the percentage of stolen cars recovered had jumped from 13% to a new high of 83%.

Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon

TV in New York Taverns: 1941

Seventy-five years ago, television was making its appearance in New York taverns, as reported in the August 1941 issue of Radio Retailing magazine.

In the photo above, the set is placed at a spot in the bar “where it keeps feet on rails longer,” while some other highbrow establishments had built the set into the wall.

The article noted that hundreds of Du Mont sets had been installed in public places around New York. The public intitially flocked to them out of curiosity, but when commercial broadcasting was authorized on July 1, 1941, having a set in a tavern or cafe became a practical trade benefit.

The biggest draw was sports, with boxing, wrestling, baseball, basketball and football being the most popular, in that order. However, other programs proved popular, such as news events. “Some taven and cafe owners even advise that fashion programs have brought in some ladies!”

Sets were typically placed in the bars on a trial rental basis for a month or two. Almost invariably, after the initial term, owners discovered that the sets were paying for themselves in increased trade. They then had the option of continuing the rental, or applying rental payments to purchase of the set.

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1936 Stealth Radio

If you wanted a radio in your living room 80 years ago and wanted to be stealthy, you could construct this five-tube TRF set concealed behind a tapestry, as shown in the August 1936 issue of Popular Science.

The set, in addition to the rectifier, contained one stage of RF amplification, a detector, and two stages of audio amplification. The antenna was concealed in the silk cord that supported the picture, a power outlet could be installed behind the picture, and the tuning and volume knobs were at the bottom of the frame.

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1941 Popular Science Midget Regen BC Receiver

Seventy-five years ago this month, the August 1941 issue of Popular Science carried the plans for this midget one-tube broadcast receiver geared to the needs of the outdoor enthusiast.

According to the magazine, the set was small enough to be carried in a knapsack on hiking trips, but would pull in stations up to 400 miles away at night. It used a single 1T4 miniature pentode and got power from a standard flashlight cell running the filament, with a midget 45 volt battery supplying the B+.

When used in the great outdoors, a long nail could be driven into the earth for the ground connection, with a 40 foot wire tossed over a tree.

Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon