Radio Related Links |
 |
 |
 |
from OTR.net |
The theatre pipe organ played a vital role in the production of programs during Radio's "Golden Age." For a listing of all known pipe organs and organists in North American, UK and Australian radio stations, click here....
My own broadcasting studio organ where we can recreate old radio broadcasts
"BACK IN THE OLD DAYS"
This is the school in New Orleans where I studied electronics. The photo was taken in the mid 1960's during the time I attended.
The radio above is a Farnsworth chairside radio model
GK267. When I was a very young child, my family had a radio exactly like this. Every night, in the days before television entered the home, we sat around the radio and listened to programs such as "Mr. Keene Tracer Of Lost Persons," "Life With Luigi" and "The Beulah Show." My first recollections of Radio, and indeed some of my fondest memories of times with my family, in the post WW-II years, were very much rooted in this radio. After searching for more than forty years, I was very fortunate to be able to acquire an identical radio, in excellent condition, some sixty years after those first memories were made.
A photo of my ham shack from about 1962 when I was a Junior in high school. Equipment included a Hallicrafters SX-140 receiver and a Knight-Kit T-60 phone/cw transmitter from Allied Radio in Chicago. Morse Code was copied using my 1935 Underwood "Noiseless" manual typewriter. I was able to work 20 countries, on 40 meter CW with this rig. Below, climbing my 60 foot Rohm antenna tower circa 1979. Below, my original QSL cards printed by World Radio Laboratories.
"AND HERE WE ARE ALMOST SOME 40 YEARS LATER"
This is my present day ham shack in the basement of my home in Virginia. I am running a Yaesu FT-757GX All Mode transceiver into a Cushcraft 160-10 Meter all band vertical antenna. The station is located approximately 90 miles inland from the Atlantic coast, and about 200 feet above sea level, so our RF propagation is excellent up and down the coast and over into West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
These photos are of my main display room where the bulk of my collection is housed.
Here are some individual detailed photos of the items in my WIRELESS EQUIPMENT COLLECTION.
Vintage Victor (Berliner) phonograph and trademark "Nipper" dog
Classic example of Atwater-Kent Model 84 "cathedral" radio from the height of the Great Depression.
An authentic DeForest Audion Tube. This is the "prize piece" of my collection.
Chanlyst was the standard of every well equipped radio service business
This Hallicrafters SX-42 receiver was top-of-the-line from the Hallicrafters Company of Chicago around the time I was a small child. My Uncle Bill had an SX-42 just like this one. When I would visit his house, we would listen to short-wave broadcasts in the evening, and in the morning we would listen to the WWL Dawnbusters Show which was a popular locally produced show in the New Orleans area.
Coca-Cola promotional radio from 1930's. Distributed by Point-Of-Sale Company
Model 440 Radio by the Colin B. Kennedy Company of St.Louis, MO.
Gonset 2 Meter "Communicator" transceiver used by Ham operators and by government agencies such as Civil Defense and the Civil Air Patrol, during the mid to late 1950's and 1960's. RF was controlled by a crystal oscillator using an 8 Mhz. crystal, the output of which was then doubled and tripled to produce an output in the 146-150 MHZ band. The 2E26 final amplifier produced 25 watts of power. Gonset also produced a 50 Mhz version of the same product.
1925 Crosley Tryrdyn receiver
And Now A Word From Our Sponsor
Cigarette companies sponsored many of Radio's network programs of old. The Camel Caravan, The Lucky Strike Hit Parade, The Philip Morris Playhouse and Chesterfield's Dragnet were only a few of the many shows that encouraged you to "light up" one of those mild and heavily advertised cancer sticks. Sloan's Liniment had a long association with "Gangbusters", and New Rinso with Solium presented the soaps like "When A Girl Marries" and "Ma Perkins"
Atwater Kent model 185
National Type G Communications Receiver
An early cradle phone by Western-Electric
Grebe MU-1 Syncro-phase receiver
Impedance bridge Model 650 by General Radio Corporation
RCA Cone type speaker
Western Electric audio amplifier
Westinghouse Aeriola receiver
Some of my telegraph keys and ceramic insulators from the "CW" era,
Freed-Eisemann NR5 Neutrodyne receiver with Magnovox horn
Atwater-Kent battery radio Model
My 1947 Hallicrafters TV. This set was almost identical to one that we had in our home back in the late 1940's. It was one of the first TVs sold in New Orleans. The entire family, as well as neighbors and friends, gathered around to watch the inagural broadcast of WDSU-TV which was broadcast from New Orleans Municipal Auditorium, and which starred Don McNeill, host of the nationally broadcast "Breakfast Club" program. Below is a sixty-year-old photo of my mother, sister and I gathered around the seven-inch Hallicrafters set, complete with the optional magnifier that was a popular accessory for these small sets. The radio on which the TV sat, is a Stromberg-Carlson radio-phono of that same era.
View of my vacuum tube collection which spans 1906 through 1960.
A classic example of early tube receiver, this Radiola III was built by RCA
An Atwater-Kent E-3 cone speaker from the early 1920's.
Horn speakers
Rotary spark gap and inductor were the heart of a pre-tube era CW transmitter
An early RCA cone speaker shown with 1918 crystal set.
Large transmitting tube from a commercial AM station
Early Kellogg "candle stick" phone shown with horn speaker
This Atwater-Kent Model 9C "breadboard" radiio dates to early 1920's Speaker is by Dicto-Grand.
Ornate "strung" antenna for early AM band radio
One of my early "phone" transmitters, the Johnson Viking Ranger
One of several Atwater Kent type" M" horn speakers in the collection
Echophone EC3 receiver. Echophone later evolved into the Hallicrafters Co.
Edison Amberol phonograph
Atwater-Kent Model 35 early battery receiver
Homebrew early battery set from around 1916
This Knight-Kit "Ocean
Hoppper" three-tube receiver from Allied Radio Corporation, Chicago 80, IL, was a gift
from my grandfathr on my twelfth birthday. My seventh-grade teacher at the time,
Sister Louise, had me complete the assembly of the kit as part of a week-long project
in science class. After the set was finished, I spent many satisfying hours listening
to the last embers of the big network radio show era. "The Amos n' Andy Music Hall",
"Yours Truly-Johnny Dollar," "Suspense," and broadcasts of Jan Garber's orchestra from the Blue
Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans were the evening's typical program lineup
in the late 1950's. My receiving antenna was a wire that I strung between my mother's
back yard clothes poles. It was on this set, that I
heard the final Amos n' Andy broadcast on CBS the night that Freeman
Gosden and Charles Correll officially retired from show business. .
Hallicrafters "Sky Buddy" was one of the first in a line of high end communications receivers made by the Hallicrafters Company of Chicago, IL.
National NC-2 communications receiver with speaker.
Hallicrafters S-38B receiver
The Globe Scout, by World Radio Laboratories, was a much sought after "phone" transmitter.
A portion of my vintage microphone collection
Meissner Deluxe Signal Shifter (VFO)
Philco Farm Radio
Hallicrafters Sky Champion all band receiver.
The Hallicrafters S-43B receiver was patterned after the high end SX-42, but with a substantially lower price tag.
Hallicrafters HT-110 marine radio-telephone
Stewart-Warner cathedral radio
Crosley 1931 "Playboy" Depression era cathedral receiver
Philco 38-60B 1938 receiver
An early Spark transmitter using a Tesla type induction transformer
Charlie McCarthy with vintage RCA mike and Majestic Charlie McCarthy novelty collector's radio
Bendix 1949 Catalin radio. This set was very popular in the post-war era.
1941 National NC-44 short wave communications receiver
Priess receiver with "ether collector" antenna
The ARC-5 receiver and transmitter were work horses in military adn aircraft service during WW-II. Boasting 125 watts output from a pair of 1625 output tubes, these sets became popular with budget conscious ham operators after the war. During my high school ham club years, many of the guys ran converted ARC-5 transmitters and receivers from the post-was surplus market.
1950's 20 watt Novice CW transmitter
National SW-3 early communications receiver
Miscellaneous crystal sets, WW-1 field comm set, and collector's items.
RCA BN-2A remote broadcast console
The National NC-300 was another top-of-the-line receiver in its day
Hammond "Como" synchronous clock made by Hammond Clock Company
Hammond clocks were made by a company owned by Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond Electric Organ, and were highly sought after in the 1930's because of their accuracy. My father obtained a clock identical to this one back in the 1930's by purchasing it with premium coupons that were placed on the back of Kool Cigarette packs. While they were once common in American households, Hammond clocks are now highly valued as collectors' items.
50,000 Watt RCA transmitter from WWL-AM Kenner transmitter site ca:1937
(My father was part of the LP&L crew that provided electrical service this transmitter)
(My father was part of the LP&L crew that provided electrical service this transmitter)
WSMB-AM New Orleans transmitter building on Behrman Highway, Algiers, LA.