When “Dr.” Ernest C. Augsten entered the radio business in Hartford, CT, in about 1938, he realized that there were so many others in the field that he had to make himself stand out. So he decided to try a different angle, and make his shop at 714 Maple Avenue a Radio Hospital.

The dealership was featured in the August 1944 issue of Radio Retailing, which revealed that he employed one Nurse, his wife, who received the patients and maintained their records. His two interns assisted in operations.

Dr. Augsten wore a stethoscope, which he used on occasion in diagnosing a set. The article also explained how a hypodermic needle (filled with carbon tetrachloride) was used for cleaning a dirty part, and a scalpel was used for jobs such as loudspeaker repair. The ambulance was largely grounded for the duration, due to wartime gas and tire rationing. But before the war, when the ambulance was sent out to pick up a set, it was typically carried out in a stretcher.

This usually caused a crowd to gather, and invariably a member of that crowd had a set at home in need of repair.

Dr. Augsten had been licensed as a ham as early as 1924, as shown by this callbook listing, with callsign 1BFU.

Interns Cliff Islieb and Russ Johnston working on patients with a hypodermic syringe and scalpel.