Category Archives: Phonograph History

1963 GE Clock Radios and Phono

If you were in the market for a radio or phonograph 60 years ago, you could pick up one of these at the local drug store, although the ad admonished you not to call it that.

Shown here are the GE Model 1530 stereo phonograph, and models C465 and C467, and models C433 and C434 clock radios. The radios are typical “All American Five” circuits. Come to think of it, my first ever radio of my very own was a similar model (but without the clock) also purchased from a local drug store.

The ad appeared in the Washington Evening Star, February 27, 1963.

1938 Phonograph & Mead Glider Ki-Yak Kit

If you were in the market for a portable source of music 85 years ago, you couldn’t go wrong with this portable electric phonograph, shown in the February 1938 issue of Popular Science.

It weighed in at only 18 pounds, and measured a mere 7.5 x 11 x 18 inches. It featured a crystal pickup and six-inch speaker driven by a three-tube amplifier, and it could play either 10 or 12 inch records.

The magazine didn’t mention the name of the manufacturer, and the price is likewise not given. There was a Depression going on, and coming up with the purchase price might have been an issue for some readers. But the same issue of the magazine solved that problem, thanks to the ad below. You could assemble kayaks (dubbed Ki-Yak by the manufacturer, Mead Gliders, 15 S. Market St., Chicago)

The price is not shown here, but the kit apparently retailed for $15.75. One could assemble it at home in a few nights, and undoubtedly sell it for a tidy profit.

If you’re in the market for a similar phonograph today, they are indeed available, and the modern ones aren’t limited to 78 RPM. And if you want a kayak, they’re relatively inexpensive as well, all put together. As with everything, you can get them on Amazon:

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1948 Magnetic Recording

The drama student shown above appeared on the cover of the February 1948 issue of Radio News. The young thespian was an early adopter of magnetic recording technology, one of the many civilian technological advances that came from wartime industry. She used a wire recorder from Webster-Chicago Corp. to practice her diction and delivery.

Of course, home sound recording had been possible for some time, thanks to disc records such as the Recordio. But magnetic recording media had the great advantage of being reusable.

The magazine contained a number of features, and it does contain a very complete look at the state of the art in 1948. The two competing formats were wire and tape. Wire held a slight lead in fidelity, but tape was easier to work with, especially when it came to editing and splicing. Interestingly, the magnetic recording tape of the time was actually paper tape with a thin magnetic coating. Typical speed was 8 inches per second.

Among the features of the issue was a construction article for the tape recorder shown here. The project was said to be “well within the capabilities of anyone who has a working knowledge of electronic circuits and who has ordinary mechanical ability.” The mechanical ability was important, because all of the parts had to be made. A metalworking lathe was required, although the article noted that those without one could have the parts custom made at a local shop at low cost. As one of the mechanical diagrams shown at right shows, the construction did require some mechanical skill. Apparently, 75 years ago, that level of skill was ordinary.

The recording/playback and erase heads also had to be homemade, and consisted of a coil wound on a laminated core and placed in a shielded enclosure with just a small opening for the tape. The choice of material for the core was critical, and had to be permalloy. The type of material normally used for transformer cores would not work. The best solution was to buy a particular type of audio transformer, disassemble it, and use the lamination material for winding the heads.

X-Ray Film for Record Blanks

Eighty years ago, this couple owned a home recorder, visible in the background, for cutting their own 78 RPM records. It was probably a Wilcox-Gay Recordio like the one we previously featured.

The problem, however, was that you had to pay for the blank discs, and you could only use them once. The least expensive blanks were six for 75 cents for the 6-1/2 inch size, up to six for $2.25 for ten-inch discs. If you wanted to do some experimenting, it could prove expensive. And there was a war going on, so it wasn’t very patriotic just to make excessive use of resources.

This couple figured out that they could make their own blank discs by using used x-ray film. You could get this by asking your friendly family doctor, and in the days before HIPAA, he would gladly give you a bunch, since they would otherwise go in the trash.

Using an old blank disc as a guide, a wooden template was made for the spindle hole as well as a locking hole that held the disc in place while being cut. These were drilled out with a hand drill. Then, a divider was used to mark the edge, and scissor and a razor blade were used to cut the form. Since these were thinner than the standard blanks, you would put them on top of a standard blank while cutting. The magazine noted that the film records could be recorded on both sides.

According to the January 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics., these homemade blanks were ideal for practicing sound effects and making practice recordings before making the final cut on commercial blanks.

Soviet bone records. Wikipedia imagge.

I’ve never seen any other American use of this idea, but it did catch on in the Soviet Union, where “jazz on bones” (Джаз на костях) became a popular black-market method of producing records. For a ruble or two, and probably a bottle of vodka, the local physician could be talked into giving you old x-rays, which would have wound up in the trash anyway. These were used to produce bootleg copies of otherwise banned music.

1922 Librola Library Table-Phonograph

A hundred years ago, if you were in the market for both a fine piece of furniture and a deluxe phonograph, you couldn’t go wrong with the Librola, a combination “library table” and phonograph. It is shown here in an ad from Talking Machine World, December 1922. The set was made by the Seaburg Mfg. Co. of Jamestown, N.Y.

If you now have your heart set on owning your own Librola, this one is available on Facebook Marketplace. You’ll need to repair the phonograph, but we’re confident that most of our readers are able to tackle that job.

Lonely Wife: 1942

Eighty years ago today, the December 21, 1942, issue of Life Magazine featured on its cover this portrait of a lonely wife whose husband had gone to war. The cover actually depicts a model, namely actress Joan Thorsen, playing the role of the lonely wife. But the accompanying feature details the plight of a number of real ones, along with advice from author Ethel Gorham, who had written a handbook for them, So Your Husband’s Gone to War.

The magazine noted that no two situations were the same, but it showed the example of one lonely wife who put many of the couple’s goods in storage and moved to a smaller apartment. But author Gorman stressed the importance of keeping the overall living style similar to that enjoyed before the war, since the husband will undoubtedly be home on furlough.

The book also provided pointers on finding a job. The woman shown in the Life article took a job in a record store, shown here. According to the magazine, work which involved meeting and talking to people was advisable for women living alone. She also had a civilian defense job answering the telephone in a New York precinct station house report center.

1952 Record Player

Seventy years ago, these youngsters were listening to some favorite records, thanks to a new record player that Santa had just delivered. But little do the kids know that Santa had some help–Dad actually built the set, courtesy of plans found in the December 1952 issue of Popular Mechanics.

When not in use, the tone arm is placed on its holder, which actuates a switch mounted inside the cabinet, turning it off automatically. The only control for the kids to mess with was the volume control.

The amplifier used a single 3V4 tube, whose fast warmup meant that the player was ready for action the moment the tone arm was picked up. One interesting feature of the circuit is the source of the 3 volts for the filament. The set has no transformer, but the power supply for the B+ uses a selenium rectifier. The filament voltage seems to take advantage of the rectifier’s voltage drop, as it seems to be wired across the rectifier (and in series with the phono motor and two resistors).

1962 Westinghouse Saranade Part 15 Doll

Sixty years ago, the editors of Popular Mechanics did some testing of the latest toy offerings to see how they would hold up to rough use. The results appeared in the November 1962 issue.

One of the most intriguing toys they tested was the $40 Saranade doll from Westinghouse, shown above. But Saranade was much more than a doll. She was what one site called a “creepy Part 15 doll.” She came complete with her own record player (which played all speeds, 78 through 16 RPM). But it wasn’t just any record player. The player had a “DOLL – PHONO” switch. In the phono position, it played just like any other record player. But in the doll position, the speaker cut out, and the sound came out of a speaker strategically placed in the doll’s stomach.

The player had a one-tube amplifier inside, and when the switch was flipped, it became a transmitter on 180 kHz, in the Part 15 Lowfer band. In fact, it’s the only commercial product that I can think of that took advantage of this band. The doll contained a receiver, apparently transistorized, tuned to this signal. The doll contained neither tuning nor volume control. Fine tuning was accomplished with a control on the record player.

As with other toys reviewed, both the doll and record player survived drop tests, and were pronounced by the editors to be suitable for rough service at the hands of kids. Other items reviewed were the megaphone and perfume kit shown below, as well as the General Electric model EF 150 5 transistor shortwave receiver kit, which retailed for $29.95.

Green Record Shop, Chambersburg, PA, 1947

Shown here is Judy Rohrer, sales clerk at Green Record Shop, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The November 1947 issue of Radio Retailing profiled the store. Despite the town having a population of 15,000, the store grossed sales of $75,000 per year, thanks to the marketing efforts of owner Raymond L. Green. The store had a marketing plan which included utilizing every inch of available wall space, taking advantage of the album covers, which were designed as attention getters. The store also got the name and address of each new customer and recorded their musical likes. When new records came in that might interest them, the store followed up with a handwritten postcard.

Radio ads were also important, and the store advertised over WCHA, a 1000 watt station with listeners as far away as Harrisburg. The shop assistants, Judy Rohrer shown here and Wilma Barnes, were billed as “Punch and Judy,” and new customers often asked for them by name. In other words, the store personnel were turned into well-known personalities.

Green had custom built the store’s fixtures for displaying albums, making the most of the store’s long, narrow layout. Record salesmen took note, and he had a sideline of building fixtures for other stores.

A neighboring town was the site of a “wealthy preparatory school,” and Green set up a table and album rack at a store in that town twice a week. This practice made him an institution among the record-hungry students.

In addition to records, the store also sold radios and radio-phono combos.

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Broadcasting for Servicemen Overseas: 1942

Eighty years ago today, the September 28, 1942, issue of Broadcasting carried this article on the subject of getting American broadcast programs to servicemen overseas. Elsewhere in the magazine, it was reported that the Office of War Information was purchasing time on broadcast stations in Alaska and Hawaii to get programs of interest to military personnel there. But overseas, the problem was more accute.

In Europe, the BBC, of course, carried programs in English. But other than the news, programs were generally regarded as quite dull to the American ear. Shortwave didn’t fill the gap entirely, because of propagation and the lack of receivers on base. One plan under consideration was a string of 50 watt stations near bases, all on the same frequency. Of course, thought had to be given to camouflaging them and shutting them down in case of air raids.

NEH Photo.

Morale kits were in heavy demand. The goal was to provide one kit for each 116 men. These included a radio for long, medium, and short waves, for either battery or plug-in use, one phonograph, 25 transcriptions of radio shows, and 48 records containing the latest hits. These were dubbed the “B Recreation Kit,” although I haven’t found any references using that terminology.

The soldiers shown at left are listening to a phonograph that was part of one such kit. Interestingly, due to shortages of shellac, the records supplied by Uncle Sam were actually vinyl 78 RPM discs, and were one of the first uses of vinyl for phonograph records.

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