Category Archives: Radio history

Radio/PA For Cyclists, 1937

1937SepRadioCraftEighty years ago this month, the September 1937 issue of Radio Craft shows this idea to combine a public address amplifier and radio to “produce a useful adjunct to itinerant groups.” The tour guide, who may either be the driver of the lead vehicle or in the side car, can augment “the pleasures of a jaunt through the countryside” by serving as a “guide well acquainted with the route.”  Judging from the cover photo, it appears that having the tour guide in the side car would be a better idea, so that the driver could keep his eyes on the road.

Between pointing out points of interest, he could flip a simple two-way switch to play the radio. The same idea could be used for groups of motorcyclists, but this would require “a power amplifier with somewhat higher output in order to overcome the increased noise level.”

According to the magazine, “it seems rather odd that no one has thought to put this idea into practice.”



KSTP, St. Paul, MN, 1937

1937Sep1BC

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.



Radio Constructor, 1947-1981

1947AugRadioConstructorSeventy years ago this month, August 1947, the first issue of the British magazine Radio Constructor rolled off the presses, with the matshead bearing the names of editors Arthur C. Gee, G2UK, and W. Norman Stevens, G3AKA, and business manager C.W.C. Overland, G2ATV. According to the introductory editorial, postwar Britain was seeing a boom in short wave listening almost as big as the boom in broadcast listening after the first war.

1947AugRadioConstructor1The first of many receiver plans to be published by the magazine was a four tube (or three tubes, plus selenium rectifier) AC-DC broadcast set shown here. The first issue also carried a few theoretical articles, as well as the plans for one transmitter.

The magazine continued until September 1981, when the final issue was published.



The Elusive 16 RPM Record

1957AugPESixty years ago, the August 1957 issue of Popular Electronics carried an article about the forgotten stepchild of audio recording: The 16 RPM record. More precisely, the records played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute, and most moderately priced phonographs in the 1960’s would play the speed, along with the more common 33, 45, and 78 RPM speeds.

The 1957 article predicted, erroneously it turns out, that “the growing catalog of recorded material and new playback equipment in all price ranges proclaim that the tide may yet turn to 16 rpm and roll into the arena with quite a splash.”

A few musical recordings were issued on 16 RPM. Most notably, some records were produced for the benefit of Chrysler’s Hiway Hi-Fi experiment, which included a record player for the car. But the article noted that the speed, while longer playing, had inherently lower fidelity than higher speeds. At the time, the maximum frequency response went only to about 9000 Hz. The format was used mostly for “talking books.” The best seller was probably the Bible, which was recorded in the early 1950’s at the lower speed. If you search eBay today for 16 RPM records, the most common search result is this talking Bible.

As a kid, my record player had the setting for 16 RPM. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me, and I checked out a 16 RPM talking book from the library, just so that I could play it at home.

1957AugPE2The article does include an interesting adapter, shown here. While the mechanical details are not explained, it allows a 16 RPM record to be played on a 33 RPM turntable. Presumably, it is powered by the spinning 33 RPM platter, and gears this down to 16 RPM for the record placed on top.



1927 Book and Piano Radios

1927AugPM2

Apparently, the big fad in radio 90 years ago was radios that didn’t look like radios. These examples come from the August 1927 issue of Popular Mechanics. The first, shown above, looks like a book, but it’s actually a crystal set. According to the magazine, the set had recently come on the market and was nicely constructed. It had enough space inside to accommodate the headphones, antenna, and ground lead. It was said to pull in stations within a radius of 20-30 miles.

1927AugPM1The second example was a homemade six-tube set built in to a miniature baby grand piano. The speaker cone was mounted at the rear on the sounding board.



1942: Last of the Prewar Radios

1942Aug27ChiTrib75 years ago, many consumer products, such as radios, stoves, and vacuum cleaners were no longer rolling off the assembly lines now devoted to war production. Civilian radio production, for example, ended on April 22, 1942.  But these items remained available, as retailers sold the last of the remaining stock.

This ad appeared in the August 27, 1942 issue of the Chicago Tribune and shows some of the last prewar versions of these items.

The model number of the Silvertone radio-phono is not shown, but according to the ad, the set was an $89.95 value selling for only $68.88.  It featured an automatic record changer which could accommodate up to ten 12″ records or twelve 10″ records.  The six-tube radio tuned both standard broadcast and shortwave.



1947 Crosley Spectator

1947Crosley

Seventy years ago, television was finally becoming a reality. The war was over, stations were coming on the air, and the enlightened radio dealer was getting ready to move into television. Crosley, the pioneer in radio manufacturing and broadcasting, had also made the move to television.  The Crosley Spectator is shown here, from the August 1947 issue of Radio & Appliance Journal.

The set boasted an image size of 6-3/8″ by 8-1/2″, had 27 tubes and three rectifiers, and tuned all 13 channels, 44-216 MHz, including the elusive channel 1, which was never put to use.

Those 27 tubes consumed 380 watts, and the set weighed in at 85 pounds.

The ad assured the dealer that the Spectator in the shop window as its own salesman, and each set sold would become the talk of the neighborhood and draw in even more business.

You can see a nicely restored example of this set in operation at this video:



Metal Tubes Go To War

1942AugRadioRetailing

Now that the excitement of the eclipse has passed, we will resume our normal programming, focusing mostly of the history of radio. We offer this advertisement from 75 years ago this month, showing the vacuum tube having gone off to war. But it’s not just any tube, it’s a Ken-Rad metal radio tube, made by the Ken-Rad Tube & Lamp Corporation of Owensboro, Kentucky, which assured that as soon as the war was over, metal tubes would be back for civilian customers.

Ken-Rad was founded in 1899 as the Kentucky Electrical Lamp Company. It was sold in 1918 and used to create the Kentucky Radio Corporation, later known as Ken-Rad. The company started making radio tubes in 1922, and also continued to make light bulbs. The company’s light bulbs were used to light the first Major League Baseball game played at night in 1935.

The lamp division was sold to Westinghouse in 1943. The tube division was sold to General Electric in 1945. The company’s building was torn down in 2007 and is now an Owensboro city park.

The ad appeared in the August 1942 issue of Radio Retailing.



The Dark Side of Sunspot Cycle 19

1967AugRadioElecSixty years ago, solar activity was at an all-time high, and the sun was plastered with sunspots. This was good news for hams, who depend on this solar activity for ideal radio communications on the high frequency bands. But in addition to being literal dark spots, this was, figuratively a dark time for the hapless TV repairman in fringe areas, because it fell upon him to explain to his customers that their interference woes weren’t his fault, but were instead caused by blotches on the sun.

Fortunately, the TV repairman got some sympathetic advice from this article in the August 1957 issue of Radio Electronics.

It starts by noting that Sunspot Cycle 19 was about to reach a peak, which was good news for hams and shortwave listeners, for whom shortwave propagation would be better than at any other time in history.

But the average TV owner “probably does not care about receiving Havana, Cuba, or some other distant TV station over his favorite local channel,” which was a distinct possibility in fringe areas. The article noted that this would be particularly an issue for channels 2, 3, and 4.

The article counseled the serviceman on how to deal with these calls. And unfortunately, there was little that could be done, other than to “explain to the owner what is happeninng and that the condition will probably pass in a short while. Ask him to call the next day if the trouble is still there.”

The article suggested that a good way to educate the customer would be to draw a sketch of the earth and ionosphere as shown above. While reorienting the antenna might help in some cases, the best advice was to hope that the owner understood what was happening. If the customer understood, it would make him “less likely to call a service technician and thereby leave the technician more time to devote to true television troubles.”

 



1942 Mallory Wood Condensers

1942AugServiceWith wartime material shortages, replacement radio parts were hard to come by. And even when parts were available, the manufacturers had to adapt to wartime conditions.

This is illustrated by this ad from the August 1942 issue of Service magazine, showing the Mallory “Wood Neck” condenser (what we would call a capacitor these days).  Instead of an aluminum case and base, the capacitor had an impregnated paper case and a threaded wooden base.  The ad noted that “they are designed for the emergency but we predict they will be popular long afterwards.”