Seventy-five years ago this month, the cover of the July 1944 issue of Radio & Television Retailing showed this scene of downtown Westfield, MA, specifically, Supreme Radio Service, 28 Main Street.  The store’s owner was Joseph R. Davich, who had gotten his start in radio at the age of fourteen, when he built sets “using a piece of coal or potato for a detector.” He reportedly also had a spark transmitter with a range of about six miles. He had been in the radio business since 1932, and had expanded into both large and small appliances in 1935.

With wartime consumer manufacturing shut down, Davich had sold his last radio in the fall of 1943. Washers and ranges were soon also out of stock for the duration. The service business continued, but all of his regular technicians had departed, four to the armed forces, one to teaching, and one to a war plant. “Not a man of prejudices, but concerned solely with getting the work done, Davich is willing to train women, if they are interested and willing to learn.” His most recent protege was a 17 year old gird who had just graduated from high school.

The store’s record department was holding its own during the war under the management of a young woman. The magazine noted that records were paying the rent, with service completing the volume. Davich also had a government subcontract to produce plastic radio parts for submarine detector radar equipment. This contract employed five to eight men.

If the New England church steeple looks slightly out of place in the picture, well, that’s because it is.  A modern view of the shop from Google street view.  The 1944 radio shop is in the spot where the Rovithis Realty sign is, and the building next door is very distinctive.  But there’s no church steeple in the modern view.  But this isn’t because the church isn’t there.  It’s actually located a half block away.  It’s actually the steeple of the First Congregational Church, as shown in the modern image at the right.  Apparently, the magazine editors took a bit of artistic license and “photoshopped” in the nearby steeple.

In drydock after salvage. Wikipedia photo.

This picture above appeared 80 years ago today in the June 16, 1939, issue of Radio Guide. Shown is a Washington, D.C., family gathered around the radio, obviously clinging to every word of the news announcer. They are the family of William Isaacs, who was aboard the Navy submarine U.S.S. Squalus when it sank off the coast of New Hampshire on May 23, 1939, killing 26 crew members. The remaining 33 aboard (32 crew and one civilian) were rescued. The ship was initially in contact with a companion ship by telephone line to a buoy, and the men were rescued from 243 feet of water thanks to the McCann Rescue Chamber.

Wikipedia photo.

The ship was eventually salvaged, and went on to serve in the Pacific during World War II as the USS Sailfish.  The ship was scrapped after the War, but the conning tower, shown here, was preserved after the war as a memorial at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The family shown here eventually received good news, as Isaacs was one of the men successfully rescued from the sunken ship.

Wartime parts shortages often meant that radio servicemen had to be creative, and that often meant tube substitution. If the replacement tube was not available, it was often possible to substitute one that was. The substitute often had similar or even identical electrical characteristics, but had a different size plug or pin configuration.

The June 1944 issue of Radio Craft, like many other radio magazines of the era, carried some pointers. The illustration shows common adapters. The base was made of a burnt out tube (perhaps the one being replaced), and the top was a new socket for the new tube. When tubes became available, the adapter could be removed and the original inserted in the socket.