Seventy-five years ago this month, the March 1950 issue of Radio News went into details of what went on behind the scenes to put a television program on the air. The cover image is a color shot of the scene.
The program they were airing was Howdy Doody, on New York station WNBT.
Seventy-five years ago this month, the cover of the March 1950 issue of Radio Retailing cheerfully predicted that television sales would be the atomic bomb of the year! TV sales were set to outpace refrigerators, washers, and even automobiles.
Shown here is Popular Science author Robert Gorman upgrading his 10-inch television to a “big screen” 16-inch set. He owned a 10-inch RCA 630-type circuit (which he had built from a kit). That circuit was widely distributed, both by RCA and other well-known brands. It had enough power to run the larger picture tube, and an article in the March 1950 issue of Popular Science showed how to make the conversion.
The new tube had the same pin configuration, and only a few small changes to the circuit were required. The larger tube required adding some wiring to the socket, and the article warned of the importance of using wire insulated for the high voltages involved.
The larger tube required a new cabinet. An accompanying article showed how to make one. The cost of the cabinet was a significant portion of a TV’s cost, so even if you were buying a new TV, you might save money by just buying the chassis and putting it into a cabinet of your own making.
This idea to promote television appeared in Radio Retailing 80 years ago this month, March 1945. Anticipating a television boom after the war, the magazine suggested that the idea might promote interest in television. Dealers who were equipped with sets could invite neighbors and customers who might be interested but had no set.
The address on this invitation is residential, and undoubtedly the home of O.H. Caldwell and Mildred B. Caldwell. The location is about 30 miles from the Empire State Building, so would pull in a good signal with a suitable antenna.
Caldwell, one of the original commissioners of the Federal Radio Commission, is described as an editor of the magazine. His home was said to be a home of the future, with many modern electronic devices, including, apparently, the television.
Seventy five years ago, the January 1950 issue of Radio Electronics had a listing of all television stations on the air at that time. What makes this one unique is the fact that it includes a test pattern or identification slide for each of those stations. It was of service to TV DXers back in the day, but it is also a treasure trove of what those TV stations might have looked like back in the day.
We recently had the privilege of visiting the Harry S Truman Library and Museum in Independence, MO., which included this recreation of the White House Oval Office as it appeared during President Truman’s time in office. Most of the objects in the room, such as the artwork, were the originals.
If you’re reading this as it’s posted, you’re probably aware that the Kansas City area is completely snowed in by a blizzard, which was preceded by freezing rain. The museum closed early in anticipation, and will remain closed through Monday, January 6. We were aware the storm was coming, but were confident that we would be out of the area in time, and we were indeed. We hit the Iowa state line about an hour before the museum closed. We had severe clear conditions all the way home, and the only sign of winter was the cold. But about the same time, Interstate 35 was closed near Kansas City because of a crash caused by the ice. Had we waited a few more hours to leave, we would still be there.
Of course, for most readers of this site, upon seeing the photo at the top, your eyes were immediately drawn to the object directly behind the desk. And, of course, it’s the first thing we noticed. It is a Hallicrafters SX-28 “Super Skyrider”. The 15-tube set covered 550 kHz through 44 MHz, and was a top-of-the line receiver, as would be expected from a set in such a place of honor.
If I were the Leader of the Free World, I would also want to have a shortwave receiver at my desk. And when Truman met at the White House with former President Herbert Hoover, we have little doubt that Hoover approved of the inclusion of this useful device. But I’ve been unable to find much reference to it. I would like to know how often Truman had it turned on, his thought process in getting it, and how exactly he used it. Unfortunately, because of the weather, I didn’t have time to ask the library staff.
The library website shows that there is a file pertaining to Hallicrafters in Truman’s personal files. If I had more time, I would have gone over to the reading room to look at this file, but it classification indicates that the receiver was Truman’s personal property, as opposed to government property. The next time I’m in Kansas City, I’ll probably make an appointment to view that file. In the meantime, if any of our readers would be interested in inspecting that file, please let us know.
I did find this thread at QRZ.com where W6OGC had written to the museum asking about the receiver. This is the reply he received:
Recently you asked about the short wave radio that is displayed behind President Truman’s desk in the Library’s replica of the Oval Office.
This is a Hallicrafters SX-28 “Super Skyrider” short wave radio receiver, along with its speaker, a Hallicrafters model PM-23. These units are not the actual short wave sets used in the Oval Office, but they are units the Truman Library purchased in 1995 to closely duplicate those that were in the Oval Office when President Truman occupied it.
Photographic evidence of President Truman’s Oval Office as it appeared in the summer of 1950 indicates that there was a Hallicrafters receiver behind his desk, the left side of which resembled a Hallicrafters SX-28 and the right half of which resembled a Hallicrafters SX-32 (a later model). According to Mr. Chuck Dachis of The Hallicrafters Collector of Austin, Texas, the model that was actually in President Truman’s office was probably made during a transition period (1940-1943) between the production of the models SX-28 and SX-32. This seems to suggest that the receiver may have been first acquired during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and simply remained in the White House during the Truman years.
We do not know, with any degree of certainty, just how the receiver was utilized during the Truman Presidency, although it is entirely possible that Truman used it at the end of the Second World War to listen to war broadcasts from various locations.
I hope this information will be of assistance to you. Thank you for your inquiry and for your interest in the Harry S. Truman Library.
Clay Bauske
Museum Curator
Harry S. Truman Library
If the Hallicrafters wasn’t the first thing you saw in the photo, the only other explanation is that your eyes were fixed on the television set. Truman was the first president to have a television in the office, and this one appears to be a DuMont model RA-108 from 1949. Of course, it stands to reason that Truman was the first president to have a TV in the White House. The first station to come on the air in Washington, W3XWT, later WTTG, came on the air in May, 1945, a month after Truman took office. According to the Winter 1949 issue of White’s Radio Log, there were four stations on the air in Washington when this set rolled off the assembly line.
While we were at the Library, we took the opportunity to sign the condolence book for President Jimmy Carter, shown here in this earlier Library photo. The book will be sent to the Carter Library in Atlanta.
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One hundred years ago this month, the December 1924 issue of Radio Age showed Claiborne Foster, and in the inset below Allan Dinehart. They were both appearing in the play Applesauce, which was then playing in Chicago, where it was broadcast live from the stage by KYW.
Actress Claiborne Foster was prolific on Broadway, and Dinehart was most famous as a director. His son by the same name also went on to fame in Hollywood as a television writer and producer. His credits included the Fllintstones and Gilligan’s Island.
Shown here from fifty years ago, in the November 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics, is an ad for an industry that probably had about ten more years of life. These ads were surprisingly common. They offered re-built (or brand new) tuners from Televisions. If the old tuner went bad, rather than the local serviceman fix it, they could send it in for a replacement, and the one they sent would be re-built. It simplified the repair, and put it in the hands of someone who specialized in that task.
Almost every magazine had one of these ads once a month, so it must have been a profitable industry. But in a few years, solid-state sets, especially with digital tuners, would put an end to the industry.
Seventy-five years ago, this was one of the lowest prices on a console (or, to be fair, a “consolette”) teleivision. The Air King model A-2012 featured a 12-1/2 inch screen, and more importantly, a retail price of only $239.95 (or ten dollars more if you wanted mahogany).
You would undoubtedly be the first on your block to have a television, but even this budget model was expensive, since the price tag translates to over $3000 in today’s money.
But things were booming, and you could always cash in a war bond or two. This ad appeared in the November 1949 issue of Radio Retailing.
Seventy-five years ago, if you wanted to see the most exciting radio and TV show, all you had to do was go to your nearby Motorola dealer. This ad appeared in Life magazine 75 years ago today, October 17, 1949.
