If you were a radio dealer 75 years ago, you were gearing up for the summer sales season. And for the radio dealer, that meant portables. As this ad points out, vacationers and week-enders would need entertainment during their outdoor activities, and this Arvin model 446P portable radio would fit the bill. It weighed in at only 4 pounds, and the superheterodyne circuit and improved PM speaker would pull in the stations and provide excellent tone.

But while listening to the radio outdoors, your customers would need someplace to sit, and for that, the Arvin model PR-200 folding chair would serve their needs well. Interestingly, Arvin did indeed make chairs, in addition to radios.  You could sell the radio and chair as a package deal for only $22.50, and still make a good profit.

The ad appeared in the May 1951 issue of Radio-TV Retailing.

Seventy-five years ago this month, the May 1951 issue of the British Practical Mechanics carried this important warning about using compressed gasses. Always check and make sure you have the right one!

George Albert Wentworth. Wikipedia image.

For about ten years, I have owned the domain MathDoctor.net.  When I first acquired it, I slapped some content there, planning to update it when I got a Round Tuit.  That time has finally come, and I’ve started putting some useful content there.  In particular, I now have a full course in Algebra 1, which I think is suitable for homeschoolers, or perhaps just parents wanting to brush up on basic principles in order to help their kids with homework.

The course is based upon the text written in the late 19th century by George A. Wentworth, pictured at the left.  You can view the original text at the Internet Archive at this link.  For most of the first half of the 20th century, most kids used this text to learn algebra.  And those kids are the ones who got us to the moon, so Ol’ Wentworth must have been doing something right.

The language has been updated somewhat.  And when Wentworth’s word problems talked about bushels of oats, we’ve done our best to make them more relevant.

The site is still under construction, and I hope I can update it faster than the last update took.  But the Algebra course is now ready to go, although I intend to add more exercises (and answers) for all of the chapters.  I will also add additional complete courses.  You can go directly to the Algebra course at this link.

If you know a parent who’s grappling with helping Junior with their algebra, please share the link.

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Sixty years ago, this cartoon looked pretty far fetched–someone walking around with a personal stereo system, oblivious to the outside world. But it was only 13 years later that the Sony Walkman took the world by storm.  And even before that, in the 1970’s, more clunky headphone radios (usually not stereo, but often AM-FM), that looked a lot like the ones here, hit the market.

OF course today, it’s basically taken for granted that if you want to listen to music wherever you are, the device to provide it is in your pocket.

The cartoon appeared sixty years ago in the February-March 1966 issue of Radio-TV Experimenter.

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.