Category Archives: Radio history

Modernizing the Radio Store: 1944

1944DecRadioServiceDealerCoverNo, this is not the scene from a horror movie of giants attacking a radio store. These women are working out a modern store layout, shown on the cover of the December 1944 issue of Radio Service Dealer. With the war still going, radios and appliances were not available. But the end was in sight, and the magazine admonished dealers that it was time to think about how best to display those items when they became available. These women are working out the best display thanks to a demonstration scale model of an average radio-appliance store, commissioned by the Admiral Corporation, 444 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, and realized by George Locks, a “Chicago specialist in miniatures.”

The four by ten foot scale model store represented a store measuring 35 by 90 feet. It came complete with scale models of radios, appliances, fixtures, and furniture.

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Pearl Harbor

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USS Shaw at Pearl Harbor. Defense Department Photo.

Today marks the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Here are links to some of our earlier posts marking that event:



1939 Photocell Burglar Alarm

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1939DecPM2The young person shown here is about 80 years old, and was probably never kidnapped, thanks the the alarm shown in the December 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The child’s safety was the result of the photocell operated burglar alarm, manufactured by the National Company (yes, the same company that made radio equipment) of Malden, Mass. The light source, photocell, and amplifier were located in a single unit, and made a beam reflected off a mirror. The beam could be up to 30 feet long, and any break operated a relay which could activate a chime, bell, or light.



Young-McCombs Department Store, 1919

1919Dec05RockIslandOne hundred years ago today, the Young McCombs department store in Rock Island, Illinois, ran this ad in the Rock Island Argus, December 5, 1919.

The store’s radio department appears to be very well equipped, although it’s billed as being part of the toy department.  Receivers were in operation, and the store pulled in time signals and press dispatches on a daily basis, and “the large transAtlantic stations are received at all hours.

At night, the store fired up its radiotelephone transmitter with phonograph music, and the station had been heard as far away as Clinton, Iowa (about 40 miles away).  The store was licensed as 9BY with a transmitter power of 500 watts.

According to the ad, the station was headed up by one Mr. Williams, formerly of the U.S. Navy, although I did not find anyone named Williams licensed in Rock Island.  Another main personality in the store was Robert Karlowa, 9XR, who was also a principal in the Tri-City Radio Laboratory, which was also affiliated with Frank and Don Bailey, 9RD in Clinton, Iowa, presumably the station that picked up the wireless music from Rock Island.  The store sold both transmitters and receivers with the Kilbourne-Clark name.



1939 GE Radios

1939Dec4LifeEighty years ago today, Santa was getting ready to deliver a lot of GE radios, as shown by this ad in the December 4, 1939, issue of Life magazine.

Mother deserved the best, which of course meant that she was getting the Model H-87 console, which meant that she would be able to pull in the short waves in style, with this 8-tube 3-band receiver. The set covered the broadcast band and 2.3-22 MHz and featured a 14 inch speaker and drift-proof station presets for her favorite broadcast stations.

The boy off at college would love the Model H-531  tombstone with its stylish maroon genuine imitation leather finish. And the girl would be thrilled to get the Model H-502 table model with deluxe plastic cabinet.

All of the kids could have music with the model H-708 radio-phono console with an automatic record changer that played both 10 and 12 inch records automatically.



Crosley B-439A Portable Radio-Phono, 1939

1939DecRadioTodayWhen one thinks of a crank phonograph, one normally associates that with a mechanical reproducer and no electronics. But there’s no reason why a particular phonograph can’t be a hybrid. It could have an electric motor but a mechanical reproducer. Here is the opposite, namely, an electronic phonograph with a wind-up mechanical motor, in this Crosley Model B-5549A portable radio-phonograph, as shown in the December 1939 issue of Radio Today.

The reason why this particular unit is a hybrid is because it can operate on either batteries or household current. With an electric motor, the turntable would rapidly run down the batteries, and there would be no convenient way to have a motor than ran on different voltages. So the easiest solution to the problem was to add a hand crank.

The radio in this unit was the same as the Crosley model 549, a five-tube superhet. It employed a 1A7GT oscillator, 1N5GT IF amplifier, 1H5GT detector and first audio stage, and 1A5GT audio output. A 117Z6GT rectifier rounded out the tube complement. The set included a relay which automatically disconnected the batteries when hooked up to AC power. Since the rectifier was a dual tube, one half was used to power the filaments, with the other half providing the B+.

Up to eight records could be stowed inside, and with the unit weighing only 24 pounds, it could be toted anywhere to provide either radio or recorded music.



1944 Tuning Dial Helpful Hint

1944DecPM1It looks like Grandma came up with this helpful radio hint from the December 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics. It was hard finding the stations on the dial of the midget set, so she made an alternative tuning dial. As the rest of the family helps, she cuts out the station listing from the local newspaper. There’s a bottle of glue on the table next to her, and Junior is bringing the set. They’re going to glue the station listing to the dial, and then draw lines pointing to each station’s spot on the dial.



Christmas Shopping, 1939

1939NovRadioRetailingOn this day 80 years ago, the Christmas shopping season was in full swing. The shopper shown here, on the cover of Radio Retailing, November 1939, bypassed the neckties and instead headed to the radio department to find the perfect gift. The radio she was carrying probably wasn’t a replacement for the family’s main set. Instead, it was an “extra” set to go in another room. The magazine reminded retailers that they shouldn’t miss out on these sales, just because they’re concentrating on sales of replacements for the main set. This retailer obviously got the message.



1949 Skillet Radio

1949NovPSThe gentleman shown here didn’t bother battling Black Friday crowds to get the perfect gift for his wife.  He went down to the workshop and made something not available in any store–a radio concealed in a skillet.  As the article in the November 1949 issue of Popular Science points out, the kitchen was the wife’s workshop, and the radio brightened up hanging among the other pots and pans as a decorative addition.  As the article notes, it would allow her to listen to music, news, and soap operas, “and sometimes remind her that it’s later than she thinks.”

Before constructing the set, the builder had to give some thought to where it would be hung. The circuit shown in the magazine included a loop antenna, but the magazine cautioned that if it were hung on a metal cabinet, the shielding would mean that the loop wouldn’t work very well. In that case, an antenna coil and external antenna could be used.

The set was an “All American Five” five-tube superhet, and the magazine cautioned that one had to be careful making it so that it wouldn’t prove a shock hazard around the water pipes in the kitchen. Since one side of the line cord could be “hot,” there could be no direct connection from the set’s ground to the pan. Any necessary connections needed to be through a capacitor or high-value resistor.

The example shown here was for a ten inch skillet. The first step was to plot out the position of components in the skillet that was used. Virtually any skillet of any material, old or new, could be used.

In fact, the editors add the following P.S. at the end of the article: “P.S. How about giving your wife a new pan and using her old one for this project?”

I bet his wife was overjoyed.



Women’s Division, Royal Canadian Air Force

1944NovManitobaCallingShown above, in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building, are three members of the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force. They are Airwomen Elsie Flynn of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Ricky Swedesky of Vancouver, and Dorothy Kidd of Winnipeg. They were all stationed at the No. 8 Repair Depot, Stevenson Field, Manitoba.

Elsie served as a cook in the sergeants’ mess. Ricky was a fabric worker, and repaired the skin covering the airframe of training aircraft. She also packed parachutes. Dorothy was en equipment assistant.

1944NovManitobaCalling2The photo appeared on the cover of the November 1944 issue of Manitoba Calling, the program guide for CKY Winnipeg, pointed out that the Women’s Division slogan was, “they serve that men may fly.” The appearance of women in the air force meant that men were freed up from various ground duties and moved to air training. The magazine pointed out that the Women’s Division included not only girls from every corner of Canada, but also from the United States, Newfoundland, and the West Indies.

Shown at left are Airwomen Olive Carlson of Nanaimo, B.C., Joyce Urie of Windsor, Ont., and “Petie” Houston of Hamilton, Ont. They are at the controls of radiotelephone equipment and tasked with maintaining contact between the ground and Canadian aircraft aloft.