If you lived in a small town or out in the country a hundred years ago, you probably heard of radio. And if you were lucky, you probably got a chance to hear one. But it would have seemed risky to buy one. Would you be able to pick anything up, or would it wind up being a waste of money.

Burns’ Electric Shop in Lancaster, Wisconsin, took away the risk, as shown in this ad in the Grant County Herald, February 21, 1923. They would put a set in your house for five days at their expense, and then the radio would sell itself. It probably wasn’t a big risk. The town was in southwest Wisconsin, and eastern Iowa was a hotbed of radio activity at the time. At night, those stations would come in loud and clear, as well as stations in Chicago and more distant places.