This graph provides an interesting glimpse of the state of American broadcasting 90 years ago. It appeared in the March 1926 issue of Radio Broadcast, and shows the number of stations, and their powers and frequencies, as of November 1, 1925. It shows a total of 536 stations then on the air.

The vertical axis shows the number of stations, and the horizontal axis is the frequency. The top of the broadcast band (1500 kHz) is at the left, and the bottom (550 kHz) is at the right. The most occupied channel was 1090 kHz, with 26 stations. Fourteen channels had one station of 5000 watts or more, those frequencies being 570, 580, 610, 620, 710, 720, 780, 790, 870, 920, 930, 970, 1090, and 1380 kHz.

Interestingly, the top of the dial, 1180-1480 kHz had considerably more stations. I assume that this was because the bottom of the dial was largely populated with legacy stations. 910 kHz was vacant. This frequency is the second harmonic of the most common intermediate frequency employed in most modern receivers, 455 kHz. Since there were few superhets in use at that time, I assume that 455 was later picked because 910 was vacant, rather than 910 being left vacant because of the IF’s.

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We’ve previously mentioned prolific radio author Tom Kneitel, best known by his 1960’s era call sign, K2AES.  Starting 50 years ago this month with the March 1966 issue of Electronics Illustrated, Kneitel wrote the regular column Uncle Tom’s Corner, which he continued until the magazine’s demise in 1972.

His first column carried a sidebar with a biography, calling him an “irascible misanthrope, a rabble rouser and the dirty old man of electronics.” It noted that he was the leading writer on the subject of SWL’ing who later “gave the Citizens Band its name and was instrumental in making it into the world’s most dynamic radio service.”

According to the biography, Kneitel was born in Brooklyn in 1933 and got his start in electronics as a disc jockey. He later spent six years with United Artists, “selling 16mm films in–of all places–Greenland and Liberia.” In 1966, he had lived in New York, Florida, California, and Oklahoma. It noted that he drove a Jaguar and had a bloodhound named Zelda.

Kneitel had earlier held the calls K3FLL and WB2AAI. Prior to his death in 2008, he was W4XAA.

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In an earlier post, we covered WMBB radio, which broadcast from the Trianon Ballroom, the “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom” from 1925 to 1928. Shown here is more of the station’s on air talent, Lola Schofield. This picture appeared in the March 13, 1926, issue of Radio Digest, which noted that she helped make the station’s programs pleasant with her dramatic soprano voice. The station concluded its broadcasts with the cast singing, “W-M-B-B Chi-ca-go,” an early example of a station jingle.

Shown below is more of the station’s talent, “Dell Lampe’s Syncopators,” which, according to the caption, could always be depended upon to provide lively dance music.

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The 1941 issue of the Radio Handbook carried this ad for the Meissner Model 9-1081 2-1/2 Meter Transceiver.

This portable transceiver covered the 2-1/2 meter band, 110-120 MHz, and was reportedly built to withstand the abuse of portable service. It contained a compartment for microphone, headphone, and log book, and ad a built-in telescoping antenna.

The set measured twelve inches high, eleven inches wide, and 6-1/4 inches deep. It weighed 13 pounds without batteries.

Few details were given in the ad, and I haven’t been able to find any reference to a surviving example of this early portable. I suspect that the set was similar to the 5 meter transceiver I wrote about earlier, in that it probably used the same tube as both a superregenerative receiver and transmitter.

A later ad shows the price as $34.50.

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This advertisement from the March 1936 issue of Radio Today shows a Zenith car radio.

The ad touts Zenith as producing “America’s safest auto radio,” and details some of the safety features. The tuning and volume controls are mounted on the steering column to keep the driver from having to fumble with the actual radio, which would be mounted somewhere else under the dash.

The dial pointer on the large “safety dial” was illuminated, but only when the dial was actually being turned. The dial was viewable at any angle, with never any glare to blind the driver.

The ad in this trade publication was directed at dealers, and reminded them that this radio sold fast!

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Shown here is one of the tools of the trade of the radio serviceman 80 years ago, as shown in the March 1936 issue of Service magazine.

From the Precision Apparatus Corporation, this is the Electonometer Model 500 tube tester.

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Ninety years ago, the March 1926 issue of Popular Mechanics carried the plans for this simple crystal set. The unique twist about this set was how it was tuned. Two metal plates (made from the lids of tin cans) were positioned such that the coil could be slid in and out. To tune the set, you simply slid it to the correct position.

The article noted that the set had selectivity sufficient to tune out a strong station a few miles away.  The total cost for the parts was fifty cents.

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