In this day’s issue of Broadcast magazine 75 years ago, the Broadcasting industry was alerted to something that hams would soon figure out as they got back on the air in the following years: There was going to be a lot of surplus equipment hitting the market soon. There were already rumors of a warehouse full of transmitters, and some 250 watt transmitters were already hitting the market.

A broadcast engineer with time on his hands could probably even track down most of the parts necessary for a 50 kW transmitter. With the war still going on in the Pacific, there was already an estimated $30 million in surplus available. And when hostilities ended, this was estimated to hit $5 billion.

In June 1941, the U.S. had not yet entered the war, but 50 million Ken-Rad tubes had already enlisted. This ad appeared in the June 1941 issue of Service magazine.

Shown here are just a few examples of how fun in the summer of 1940 could be augmented with this handy portable receiver, as described in the June 1940 issue of Popular Mechanics. The set ran off a commercially available (at least until the war came along) combination A/B battery which would allow the set to be run on trains, boats, camps, summer homes, or the lawn for up to 200 hours. Provision was made for an external antenna, but the set’s internal loop antenna would pull in signals from up to 100 miles away, and 1500 miles at night.

Parts for the four-tube superhet were said to cost about $7.50, not including the battery and case.

Seventy-five years ago this month, there was a clear sense that the war would soon be over, and business as usual would return to Main Street. The June 1945 issue of Radio Retailing offered on its cover this example of Radio Sales Corp., 327 Milburn Ave., Milburn, N.J. The owner, Milton Marks, declared that the dealer with the best sales argument and best-equipped organization would get the business in the competitive postwar market. He further stated that “catch as catch can” merchandising would be catastrophic.

Marks was getting ready to throw his merchandising of radios and appliances into high gear. He kept a priority book of customers who really intended to buy and genuinely needed new appliances, and those customers would get the first shipments in the order received.

His store focused on providing excellent service and honest dealing. He reported spending about $750 per year on newspaper advertising, and an additional $100 on scholastic advertising, which he noted was a builder of goodwill.

As seen in the Google streetview below, the block is still clearly recognizable. In fact, the old Radio Sales Corporation location is currently vacant. Perhaps a modern electronics retailer wants to move in and take advantage of some of that old goodwill.

This wartime circuit from the May 1945 issue of Radio Craft is about as simple as it gets. It was sent in to the magazine by Jim Brophy of Chicago, who reported that it gave good volume on all of the local stations.

What’s somewhat remarkable–in addition to the low part count–is the fact that the set used two flashlight batteries for the filaments, and only three penlight cells for the “B” battery. The low voltage requirement was due to the space-charge principle. The grid closest to the cathode in the tetrode tube (in this case, a type 49) was kept at a positive voltage. The magazine’s editors noted that this was one of the oldest effects in tetrode tubes, but had dropped into obscurity. But with wartime shortages of B batteries, the magazine noted that it was worth some experimentation.

The name of the person who submitted the idea, Brophy, rang a bell.  It doesn’t sound like a very common name, but also in 1945, one Loretta Brophy was working at WABD-TV in New York.