Seventy years ago, remote control for your television was starting to become a thing, as demonstrated by this cartoon in the February 1956 issue of Radio Electronics.

Seventy-five years ago, this New York physician was undoubtedly one of the first in the nation to carry a radio pager, described in the January 1951 issue of Popular Science. But it wasn’t quite as automatic as later models. It was simply a receiver for 43.58 MHz, and he had to remember to periodically turn it on and listen to a list of three-digit numbers. If his number was called, he would call his office to find out the emergency.

The number would be broadcast for an hour, and the list of numbers was recorded on 16 mm film. The service was provided by Telanserphone, Inc., and subscribers paid $12 per month. The service was said to have a service radius of 25 miles, and would work almost anywhere, other than the subway. The magazine gives the call sign of the transmitter, KEA627. Interestingly, according to the FCC record, that license was still active up through 2000 on the same frequency, most recently licensed by Metrocall USA, Inc.

A hundred years ago, if you were in need of radio parts in San Antonio, then you couldn’t go wrong by heading to the Radio Department of Grant’s Department Store, 305-311 East Houston Street, where you could find tubes, B batteries, or even tuning condensers for just a dollar a piece. This ad appeared in the San Antonio (TX) Sun, January 8, 1926.

Eighty years ago, with the War in the rear view mirror, this woman needed a radio, or perhaps a home appliance, and she was calling her friendly local radio dealer, who had the foresight to make sure that she had his number handy.

She is shown on the cover of Radio Retailing, January 1946. The magazine reminds dealers that soon there would be a flood of products onto their sales floors: “Let’s forget the past. Forget the days of famine and the days of “in-the-bag” sales. Let us remember what happened in other fields. -There are plenty of cigarettes now; there are beefsteaks, metal razors, face tissues and nylons.” And soon, there would be plenty of radios.

If you were in the market for a radio in Seattle a hundred years ago today, your timing was perfect.

The radio department of the Grote-Rankin Company, Fifth Avenue and Pike Street was getting ready for the Christmas season, and the decision was to concentrate on a small number of models.  That meant that they had to make space for them, and they were offering these attractive closeout prices on many of the models they had in stock.

The lowest priced option was the Crosley Model 52, for $16.50.  It was a three-tube TRF featuring a regenerative detectors.  While it had no speaker and required headphones, that set would have been sensitive enough to pull in just about any signal.  The high-end buyer might be interested in the Radiola 160, originally $560, now on sale for only $315.  That was a top-of-the-line set featured a six-tube superheterodyne receiver, and an acoustic phonograph.  The set shared the horn between the radio and phonograph, and undoubtedly had room-filling audio.

The ad appeared in the Seattle Star, November 6, 1925.

Eighty-five years ago this month, the November 1940 issue of Popular Science showed these ideas for homemade clamps for soldering small pieces. Both use a clothespin, one with two wood screws, filed flat, and the other uses two bent nails. Either one will hold the work in place while being soldered.

Shown here is Robert Monroe, the author of the NBC drama “Rocky Gordon.” He is at the New York Central Yards at Weehawken NJ, recording the sound of locomotives and railroad yards for the sound effects to be aired.

The photo appeared 85 years ago this month on the cover of the November 1940 issue of Radio Craft.  Interestingly, one of the few references to the radio program is on the CIA website,  undoubtedly in relation to Monroe’s involvement with the  the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security command.

Seventy-five years ago, the cover of Radio and Television Retailing, October 1950, reminded retailers that there were sales opportunities in every room of the house. In addition to radio and television, many dealers carried a wide range of other electrical appliances.

Shown here on the cover of Radio Mirror, October 1945, is eleven-year-old radio actress Lorna Lynn. When this photo was published, she had already had an eight year career in radio, and was on the air five days a week. She appeared on the CBS show Danny O’Neil, and had previously been on The March of Time, Salute to Youth, We the People, Arthur
Hopkins Presents, Big Sister, American School of the Air, Here’s to Romance, and Appointment with Life.  She later appeared on the Lux Video Theatre, The Billy Rose Show, and Crime Photographer.   She passed away in Florida in 2011.