A hundred years ago this month, these young patients were having the cheer of the outside world brought to their weary bedsides thanks to a radio. The July 1924 issue of Electrical Retailing reminded readers that hospital committees, “well-to-do patronesses” and individual families were buying radio for sick rooms and wards. The magazine noted that headphones were best if other patients needed sleep, but that sets with speakers could give joy wholesale to the children’s ward.

A great market–and a great humane service–awaited every dealer who sold radio.

Between canoe trips and swims, this young radio fan is pulling in a program from a nearby hotel as she relaxes at the beach in Atlantic City. The picture appeared in the July, 1924, issue of Radio Age, which asks readers whether they wished they were in Atlantic City.

This gentleman is happy listening to his favorite program, but the rest of his family is also happy, because he is listening with headphones. This is because, according to the July 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics, the easy-to-build set is intended for “that member of the family who frequently wants to listen to radio programs whch are not particularly popular with the rest of the group.”

It’s conveniently built in to a cookie jar, and even includes a reading lamp. In many radio circuits incorporating a lightbulb, the lamp was there to drop the voltage for the filaments. But in this case, the lamp was there merely for lamp purposes, and was completely independent of the radio circuit, since the set used a 117N7GT tube, whose filament ran off the line voltage. One half of the tube served as rectifier, with the pentode section serving as regenerative detector.

With a piece of wire tossed on the floor, the set would pull in the local stations, and with a good outdoor antenna, it would bring in the distant stations with surprising volume and clarity.