Wartime parts shortages in 1943 meant that radio repairmen had to improvise to make do with what was available, and magazines were full of tips to allow substitutions.
Goldberg noted that tubes for the standard “All American Five” circuit were hard to find, but equivalent six volt tubes were still available, and that 6 volt filament transformers were also fairly easy to come by in most areas. So one solution to the problem was to replace the series-string tubes with 6 volt equivalents, as shown here. This particular version meant that the tube sockets could be kept as-is, other than rewiring the filaments. The article also suggested other possible substitute tubes, although other substitutions would require rewiring the sockets.
For those of us who grew up in Minnesota, or ‘CCO Land, as it was called, an important winter morning ritual was tuning to WCCO to listen for school closing announcements. Thousands of schoolchildren would listen intently for their town to be named, perhaps for the announcement of “buses and school two hours late.” Of course, the grand prize was simply to hear the word “cancelled,” meaning that there would be a carefree day of play in the snow.
This was a longstanding tradition, as shown in this ad in the July 5, 1943, issue of Broadcasting.
In addition to the morning closing announcements, the station reminded advertisers that listeners throughout the state would stay tuned in, perhaps so that mothers could be told that children from a stalled bus were safe and warm at some wayside farmhouse.”
Can you spot the typo in this ad? It’s not a minor error. And yes, if you’re wondering, this ad was printed in 1943. If you find the typo, comment on our Facebook page.
This picture of the remote unit of WTCN radio in Minneapolis appeared in the June 1948 issue of FM and Television magazine. It operated in the 152-162 MHz range. According to the accompanying article, the FCC had moved the allocation for that service to the 450-460 MHz band, which caused some consternation for broadcasters, since equipment for that band was not yet available. Existing licensees would be able to continue on the old allocation for a few more years, but the cost of installing a new system would be prohibitive, since it could be amortized over only a few years, due to the pending change.
The WTCN system was provided by Link Radio Corporation of 125 W. 17th Street, New York. The mobile unit was a 50 FM transmitter operated by a 12 volt dynamotor. Twelve volts was chosen rather than six due to the power consumption and long duty cycle. It was also possible to switch over to operation from AC power where available. A vertical antenna was mounted on the roof.
At the receiving end, the station had a vertical antenna mounted on top of its FM broadcast antenna on the Foshay Tower, which was also pictured in the article. A rack-mounted receiver picked up the program for delivery to the station. Other types of antennas could be employed.
For a history of the WTCN call sign, see this link and this link. The station was owned by the Twin Cities Newspapers, hence the call sign. Since the article is about the remote unit, there’s no explanation of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune helicopter shown next to it. It appears to be a two-seat Bell 47B, as shown at left.
Eighty years ago today, the May 15, 1938, issue of Broadcasting carried this snapshot of the adoption of radio in the United States, including figures broken down by state and county.
Nationwide, 26,666,500 homes had a radio, representing 82% of the nation’s families. The highest adoption was in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, with 95% of households having a radio. Mississippi brought up the rear, with only 42% of the state’s households having a radio.
Minnesota was well served by radio. 93% of urban households and 77% of the rural had a radio, for a statewide rate of 85%.
One of our readers recently sent us the catalog shown here. The full catalog is 168 pages, and we’ll periodically post a few pages.
The catalog is from a distributor I had never heard of, Lew Bonn Co., 1211 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis. It doesn’t seem to have a date, but it appears to be from early 1941. The book listing includes the “new” 1941 edition of the Radio Handbook, and it also includes the Rider Manuals up through volume 11, covering 1940-41 radios. It also notes that the 12th volume will be available soon.
The catalog also contains a full selection of amateur gear, indicating that the catalog came out before Pearl Harbor. Therefore, I conclude that the catalog dates to early 1941.
Included here are the first twelve pages of the 168 page catalog. In the coming weeks, we’ll add more pages until it’s completely available. You can click on any of the images below to see a larger version.
Today, we present the index (pages 1-3), some of the specials to be found in the Bargain Basement (pages 4-7), electrical appliances (pages 8-10), car radios (page 11), and power supplies and inverters (page 12).
Millions of Americans were able to witness the Great American Eclipse of 2017 or will be able to see the eclipse of April 8, 2024. The 2017 eclipse crossed the United States from northwest to southeast, and the 2024 eclipse will run from southwest to northeast. The Soviet Union had a similar pair of eclipses on 25 February 1952 and 30 June 1954. The intersection of the two American eclipses is near Carbondale, Illinois. The paths of the two Soviet eclipses had their intersection at a point in northern Iran, just south of the Caspian Sea.
The illustrations shown here are from a Soviet booklet published in 1950. In addition to discussing solar and lunar eclipses generally, it contains information about the two Soviet eclipses of the 1950’s, including the map shown above. It also contains a table showing all total solar eclipses worldwide through 1999.
The booklet, Солнечные и лунные затмения (Solar and Lunar Eclipses) by Prof. A.A. Mikhailov, part of the series Научно-популярная библиотека (Popular science library), reveals that the path of the 1954 eclipse came very close to a number of Soviet cities, including Kaliningrad, Vilnius, Minsk, Kiev, Rostov, and Baku. The 1954 eclipse had also been visible in the United States, starting at sunrise in Nebraska, and passing over South Dakota and Minnesota (including Minneapolis and St. Paul). It then passed over Canada, Greenland, a tiny portion of Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, before entering the Soviet Union near Kaliningrad.
The 1952 eclipse, after passing over Africa, went over a less populated area of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Asiatic Russia.
This video shows the 1954 eclipse from Minneapolis:
This page contains a reminiscence and photo of the same eclipse from Kiev. The Google translate function does an admirable job of making it readable in English.
One of the scientific observations made during the 1954 eclipse was the measurement of radio emissions by the sun on various frequencies, documented in this 1955 article in the journal Astrophisica Norvegica, vol. 5, p. 131. The graph below shows the signal as received in Vesterøya, Norway, on 200 MHz. As would be expected, the solar noise reaches a minimum value at the time of total eclipse.
The young man shown here, David Hamilton, then two years old, of 18309 Riegel Road, Homewood, Illinois, got his picture in the Chicago Tribune on August 26, 1942, courtesy of an early snowstorm that covered much of the Midwest, starting 75 years ago today on August 24.
While there was enough snow to keep young Mr. Hamilton amused in the Land of Lincoln, the heaviest snow of the storm was in Minnesota. Numerous overhead wire systems were damaged by the wet snow, with the damage estimated at $25,000 in the state. The heaviest snows were reported in Bird Island, with 8 inches, and Sauk Centre with 9. New records for September snowfall were set throughout the southern half of the state, with a few such records also being set in northern Minnesota.
Since the snow was accompanied by cold temperatures, there was crop damage throughout the state. Many Friday night football games were cancelled, and phone service was out between Minneapolis and Rochester.
Snow was reported from in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana during the three day storm.
If you don’t like earthquakes, then Minnesota is about the best place on earth, since earthquakes are extremely rare. However, they’re not unheard of, and today marks the 100th anniversary of one of the largest, the Staples Earthquake of September 3, 1917.
The earthquake was described by geology Professor C.J. Posey of the University of Minnesota in an article in the November, 1917 issue of Monthly Weather Review. According to Prof. Posey, the earthquake, the exact causes of which were obscure, hit at about 3:30 PM and was felt in central Minnesota. While there were no written accounts of earlier earthquakes, after the quake, pioneers came forward with reports of smaller earthquakes in 1860 and 1870.
The 1917 quake was felt in places approximately 110 miles apart, over an area of about 10,000 square miles. The duration was about 10 seconds, and observers reported a rumbling noise similar to an incoming train. Dishes and pans were rattled in Alexandria, and bricks fell from a chimney in Brainerd. In Staples, where the earthquake was strongest, walls were cracked and a cement floor cracked. Despite earlier press reports, no windows were broken by the quake.
The quake is estimated to have measured 4.3 on the modern Richter scale.
Eighty years ago today, the September 1, 1937, issue of Broadcasting magazine carried this ad for KSTP, St. Paul, Minnesota. The station was boasting its then 25,000 watt signal, and noted that it had received fan mail from 42 states and 8 foreign countries. While the station acknowledged that it did not suggest that it could deliver sales messages to Shanghai, China, it did have a loyal following in the nation’s 7th largest retail market.
This photo of a flooded KROC, Rochester, MN, appeared in Broadcasting magazine 75 years ago today, June 15, 1942.
The picture was apparently taken on June 4, 1942, during a localized flash flood along the Cascade creek which caused one death. Between June 3-5, the Rochester airport had recorded 3.26″ of rain, with 2.33″ of that falling within a single day. The creek basin had apparently received even higher rainfall.
The magazine noted that the station staff had to ignore the biggest news story of the year as it literally flooded right into the station’s doors. Due to wartime restrictions on weather reports, the announcer on duty had to ignore the waters rising around him, despite his strong desire to tell listeners about it as the water slowly climbed to waist depth.
“Just as the tubes began to sizzle,” they cut power and waited calmly for three hours until being rescued. While they waited, they were said to amuse themselves by warding off the rabbits, field mice, gophers, frogs, and pheasants that had sought sanctuary on the tiny island.
Damage was estimated at $1500, and the station was back on the air in less than 12 hours.
Wartime parts shortages in 1943 meant that radio repairmen had to improvise to make do with what was available, and magazines were full of tips to allow substitutions.
