Eighty years ago, production of civilian radios was still banned, but the public and radio manufacturers knew that the end was in sight, and manufacturers were gearing up to meet the pent-up demand. This ad appeared in the Detroit Evening Times, August 26, 1945, and shows what Emerson had planned.

Unlike some similar ads, which were a little bit unclear about what exactly they would be selling, this one hit it pretty close, and featured the 5-tube model shown here. It’s identified in the ad as the model 502.   To make sure you got one of the first, you could go to your local Emerson dealer and place an order.

The set was popular.  My family had an Emerson 503 in the kitchen. This was a more or less identical model, but with a wooden case rather than Catalin. When it stopped working, it was given to me to “fix,” although I wound up simply dismantling it. Many years later, I got another example on eBay, and got it working by replacing the capacitors. Mine is shown here.  (If you look carefully, you can see the dial light, as it was playing when I took this picture.  Like most AA5’s, it’s a pretty good receiver.