This young woman shown above in Popular Mechanics 70 years ago this month, June 1951, is using her portable radio to pull in some entertainment at the beach. But she also realizes that in a civil defense emergency, the set might have a vital role to play if the bombs started falling.

The problem, of course, is that you need batteries for the radio, and many sets had oddball shapes and sizes, some of which might not be available in the runup to an emergency. Therefore, the magazine gives some pointers on substituting what’s available. Even though the batteries might not fit in the case, with a little thought, it was a relatively easy matter to power the radio for emergency information.