Eighty years ago, if you wanted to play the radio outside, the June 1942 issue of Popular Mechanics showed you this convenient method of doing so.
A small holder was installed under the outdoor table, and the table radio could be placed there for easy tuning. An extension cord through a convenient window completed the installation.
A hundred years ago, if you were a kid in South Bend, Indiana, and you wanted to get in on the excitement of radio, then this deal was for you.
All you had to do was sell twelve new subscriptions to the South Bend News-Times (just 20 cents a week for a minimum of 13 weeks), and you would earn yourself a radio receiving machine, absolutely free. This ad ran in the paper’s June 1, 1922, edition.
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, which took place on May 30, 1922, the traditional date of Memorial Day, or, as it was called then, Decoration Day.
Shown above are Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft, President Warren G. Harding, and Robert Todd Lincoln, the late president’s son. The Chief Justice formally presented the new monument to the President, who accepted it on behalf of the American people.
The ceremony was broadcast live on stations NOF and NAA.
Shown here 101 years ago are the vaudeville duo the Duncan Sisters, Rosetta and Vivian. They are shown in the May 1921 issue of Science & Invention at the home of Robert F. Gowen, chief engineer of the DeForest Radio Telephone & Telegraph Company. From the transmitter at his home, the broadcast was heard in Connecticut, Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.
Perhaps their broadcast performance included “The Baby Sister Blues,” which you can hear on this 1923 recording:
Shown here is the Camden, NJ, location of Almo Radio Company. The company, founded by Morris Green and Al Margolis, was based in Philadelphia, and had expanded to a chain of six stores, plus warehouse. It served as a parts jobber for radio dealers on the East Coast. To make sure dealers could be quickly served with their needed parts, each branch store had an inventory of $75,000 at all times, with the warehouse stock valued at $600,000. It employed 12 salesman, each covering an average of 200 accounts.
The photo appeared 70 years ago on the cover of the May 1952 issue of Radio News. According to the magazine, the company was one of 1500 parts distributors nationwide. According to this 1956 ad, the company was located at 1133 Haddon Ave.
Seventy-five years ago tonight in Washington, here were your choices for radio entertainment. Prime-time offerings included Lum ‘n Abner and the Lone Ranger, as well as news commentary from Elmer Davis. And Benny Goodman appeared on the Victor Borge show.
For those wanting to dig deeper into current events, you could tune in at 8:05 to Senator John L. McClellan and Martin Popper of the National Lawyers Guild discussing whether the communist party should be outlawed. If that was no good, at 8:15, you could tune the dial to Rep. Gerald W. Landis talking about pending labor legislation.
The listings appeared in the Washington Evening Star, May 26, 1947.
Seventy-five years ago, the travelling businessman who wanted to keep in touch on the road couldn’t go wrong with this handsome 4-tube broadcast receiver described in the May 1947 issue of Popular Science.
As shown above, an average-size briefcase held the radio, with plenty of room left over for books, papers, and other articles. The chassis was an L-shaped piece of sheet metal, with a leather-covered jewelry box serving as cabinet. There was plenty of room inside to place the power cord and 25-foot antenna while travelling. It was then a simple matter to plug in the set and toss the antenna out the window or onto the floor.
The TRF circuit wasn’t as selective as a superheterodyne, but it would adequately separate the stations in most areas. For the budget conscious, a wooden box from a craft store could be used, or even a cigar box, although the end result would be considerably less handsome.
Since the AC-DC circuit had a “hot chassis,” the construction article warned that an external ground could not be used. And, of course, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to try tuning the set from the hotel bathtub.
Shown here, in the May 1972 issue of Popular Electronics is the console of one of NOAA’s weather radio stations. The operator could record a series of messages, which would repeat in a continuous loop. Another rack was at the transmitter location, and the two units were linked by telephone line.
The Weather Service had started broadcasting on VHF-FM in the early 1950s, when the first transmitter was installed in Chicago. By 1972, sixty stations, listed at right (click image for
full-size version), were in operation throughout the United States. In the fifty ensuing years, the network has expanded even further, with hundreds of transmitters blanketing virtually the entire country. Starting in 1976, Environment Canada started a similar network, Weatheradio Canada, which now transmits from 230 sites across Canada. Mexico also has a similar service, SARMEX, operating on the same frequencies. The system broadcasts continuous weather forecasts, and alerts for watches and warnings.
A full coverage map is available on the NOAA website, but in most cases, it’s best to simply turn on the radio and see which station comes in strongest in your locality.
In 1972, the magazine noted that three types of receivers were available. Inexpensive receivers sold for $17 or less. One very popular entry in this category was the Radio Shack Weatheradio cube shown at left. The volume and analog tuning dials were on the bottom, so to hear the weather, you would simply push the bar on the top. More sensitive receivers started at about $70, and tone-alert models ranged from $150 to $300. Then, as now, weather watches and warnings were preceded by a 1050 Hz tone. A tone-alert receiver would be left on standby, and when an alert came through, an alarm would sound and/or the radio would turn itself on. The magazine noted that the expensive tone-alert receivers were in use by entities such as police departments and schools. But the price is now so low that there’s really no reason why Americans should not own one to receive alerts about weather and other emergencies.
NOAA now precedes warnings with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), which is a digital squelch which turns on the receiver for specific types of warnings for specific areas. If the weather radio station covers a large geographic area, this allows the user to set the receiver for, for example, only warnings affecting a certain county or counties.
In 1972, the inexpensive $17 receivers were invariably not very sensitive. They would typically work well close to the transmitter location, but didn’t have sufficient range for outlying areas. Typically, they had analog tuning, using circuitry similar to a normal FM radio. The more expensive units (starting at $70) were typically crystal-controlled, with a switch to select the receive channel. They were typically much more sensitive and could be used in fringe areas.
Today, even the most inexpensive receivers usually have digital tuning, and have very good sensitivity. Almost everyone in the United States can now receive a weather station with even an inexpensive receiver.
Many of the inexpensive radios can be kept silent monitoring for a tone alert. Receivers with SAME technology, which can be programmed for a specific area, are also now surprisingly inexpensive.
Most importantly, it never needs a battery. It contains a rechargeable battery, which I normally keep charged by connecting it to a normal cell phone charger after serveral days of use. But if I ever forget, it includes a hand crank and solar panel, meaning that it can be used indefinitely without any power source. It can also be used to charge a phone or other USB device.
Other inexpensive options, some with the alert feature, are shown below:
If you’re looking at an inexpensive set, note that some of them have analog tuning. They’ll work fine in a metropolitan area where you are close to the transmitter, but for use in a fringe area, you’ll need one with digital tuning. And if you buy one that uses batteries, don’t forget to buy an extra set of batteries to store with the radio.
If you are looking for a weather radio to use 24/7 to monitor for alerts, then I recommend one similar to these:
These have a very sensitive receiver, and will work almost anywhere in the United States. More importantly, they operate off AC power, so you don’t need to worry about changing batteries, as you’ll leave it turned on standby 24/7. But they have battery backup, and switches to batteries automatically if the power goes out, which can often happen during weather emergencies. Both of these have SAME technology, which allows you to program it to sound the alarm only for certain counties. The one at left also includes an AM/FM radio and alarm clock.
For activities such as camping, where a set of walkie-talkies might come in handy, you should consider a set such as the ones below. They also include a weather receiver with SAME alerts.
One hint for those who are outdoorsmen or travel for any reason, it’s always a good idea to know what county you are in. Watches and warnings are usually given by county, and without this information, you might miss an important warning. This website will tell you what county you are in, but it’s a good idea to find this information before an emergency, in case your internet becomes unavailable.
Some might say that a weather radio is less important than it was 50 years ago. After all, you have a cell phone that provides instant weather information. However, that cell phone is dependent upon your local cellular network and/or WiFi. A power outage in your area could mean that you are suddenly without any means of notification for severe weather. A weather radio is a cheap investment to make sure you have constant access to emergency information.
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As a public service, we present the image above. You can print it, and when your car is parked, you can display it, facing out, on the passenger side of your car. The idea is not ours. In fact, it originally appeared 80 years ago this month in the May 1942 issue of Radio Retailing.
Many radio men had written to the magazine lamenting the fact that even though theirs was a vital profession, they didn’t have any special priorities when it came to tires or gasoline. So when they went on a service call, their car parked out on the street was a sitting duck for thieves who could steal the spare tire. In some cases, the thieves were brazen enough as to jack up the car and steal the tires, wheels and all.
Several Western salesmen had come up with the idea of the sign shown here. It would alert passers by that the owner was absent, and anyone tampering with it was unauthorized. According to the magazine, the mere presence of such a sign would in many cases scare off the thieves from making an attempt. The magazine didn’t say so, but, of course, we doubt that any thief would dare target a car after learning that the owner was a radio man. We have no doubt that it would have the same effect today.
Eighty-five years ago, this rural family is able to enjoy the radio at home, in the field, or on a picnic, thanks to this receiver described in the May 1937 issue of Popular Mechanics.
The set ran off a single six-volt storage battery. The low-current filaments ran directly from the battery, and a vibrator power pack supplied the 150 volt B+.
The superheterodyne circuit was said to be an excellent performer. The magazine did caution that on a set of this type, it was important not to skimp on cheap parts. The completed set could be built in to either a tabletop cabinet or a console.
