RECOMMENDED LINKS
ARRL Website
 
Atwater Kent Website
 

 


The Crosley Radio Gallery

Identify that old radio in your attic with Radio Attic Archives

 

GALLERY NAVIGATION

ANTIQUE PHONOGRAPHS

TELEGRAPH HISTORY

TELEPHONE HISTORY

EARLY RADIO

DEPRESSION - POST WAR

RADIO'S COMPONENTS

HAM AND SHORT WAVE

MILITARY, CB, RECORDING & PA

SERVICE AND REPAIR

LIBRARY, SPONSORS AND BROADCASTING

SAFETY RULES FOR
RESTORERS

OTHER WEB SITES BY THIS AUTHOR

History of
Gentilly Terrace School
in New Orleans

History of New Orleans'
West End

Pontchartrain Beach
Amuseument Park

New Orleans Churches

Churches Of Virginia

Scenes from
New Orleans City Park

THE MUSEUM OF YESTERDAY

 

While the Museum Of Yesterdy website provides a way for museum founder John DeMajo to display his vast antique communications collection with the intrested public, it should be noted that the site serves as an educational and informational resource in that it visualizes the entire development of electrical and electronics communications in America.

At its initial founding, America was made up of many cultures and nationalities, all of whom had claimed their own geographic areas of the country. For example, a coal miner living in Pennsylvania may have never experienced the same culture as a New Yorker who had ready access to Wall Street, Broadway, and lavish restaurants and lounges. Similarly, the farmer in "Middle America" probably had little knowledge of the lifestyle of the people in other areas of the country. While the railroad brought people together from all over the nation through travel, it was Radio that allowed the sharing of culture and ideas among all Americans. It can be said that the "American Way Of Life" is a direct result of Radio. The Museum Of Yesterday is a documentary showing, through the presentation of varuios radios and their histories, how communications tied the nation together.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

Shortcuts to all galleries: A B C D E F G H I J K L

ABOUT OUR FOUNDER

A sample QSL card from our founder's "Ham" radio station, K5HTZ.

While the Museum Of Yesterday's collection contains many general interest items from the 19th and 20th Centuries, the real focus of our collection is communications. The extensive collection of communications devices represents a lifetime of collecting by our founder, engineer and historian John DeMajo. Mr. DeMajo was introduced to, and became interested in electricity and electronics as a young child. His father was an electrical engineer who was instrumental in the development of aids to navigation for the U.S. Coast Guard, and who operated a research lab on the property of the family home in New Orleans. At the young age of 13, he obtained his first FCC radio operator's license, and he also followed a career path as an engineer and contractor. . For over 65 years, his interests have driven him to build a notable collection of items that tell the entire story of radio and communications history. This web site is his way of sharing the collection with interested persons, including engineers, ham operators, teachers, and students of history.

The QSL card, shown above, is a sample of cards that are sent through the mail to confirm that listeners or operators of other stations have actually established radio contact with a subject station. While these cards are highly collectible and still used by many stations, today's technology now permits QSLs to be transmitted through the use of computer programs such as Log Book Of The World, or QRZ.com. To see the latest Log Book Of The World contacts logged by station K5HTZ, click the icon below.

To see a brief video of the museum collection,
.
MEMBER
MEMBER
MEMBER.
 
WE ARE ON THE AIR AND STREAMING ON THE INTERNET .

The Museum Of Yesterday's WOLD radio station, and the Radio Theater Network, bring you continuous 24/7 presentations of radio programs from the 1930s through the end of network entertainment radio.
Click the microphone below to listen.

.
This 1930s RCA Art Deco "On Air" sign, signals when a live broadcast is originating in the museum's WOLD radio studio.
 

A WORD TO EDUCATORS AND HISTORIANS:

PLEASE NOTE THAT PHOTOS AND INFORMATION PRESENTED ON THIS SITE ARE VERIFIED AS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION IS EITHER INCLUDED, OR IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. IN ADDITION TO PRESENTING THE MUSEUM TO VIRTUAL VISITORS AND COLLECTORS OF ANTIQUE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT, THE SITE IS DESIGNED TO BE USED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LEVEL COMMUNICATIONS COURSES. THE MUSEUM STAFF WELCOMES QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN SUCH CARRICULA.


THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEATRE ORGANS AND RADIO PROGRAMS

Left: A 1930s photo of staff organist Glen Shelly at the console of the KGW (Portland Oregon) studio Wurlitzer. At Right: The WOLD studio Wurlitzer in a photo that is reminiscent of the 90 year old KGW Shelly photo.
For more information on the WOLD studio Wurlitzer, click on the photo above.

In 1929, Broadcast "entertainment" radio was coming of age at the same time that talking pictures were replacing silent movies in theaters around the country. Thousands of theatre pipe organs had been built and installed in movie theatres through the 1920s, and theater owners were now left with these unneeded obsolete instruments in their venues. Originally, the theatre organ was designed as a one-man orchestra, and was used extensively to save money by eliminating the need for live house orchestras to accompany silent films. Radio, on the other hand, was using orchestras and phonograph transcriptions for background and accompaniment of early radio shows.

It was realized, by enterprising broadcasters, that surplus organs could now be moved to radio studios, and the same concept of a one-man orchestra could be applied to radio productions. Soon hundreds of former theatre organs, and their organists, were finding their way to radio studios across the country.

A comprehensive listing of all known pipe organs and organists associated with radio stations is available.

You are invited to check out these MP3 samples of radio themes that were created on the WOLD organ shown above. The announcer at the beginning and end of each sample is authentic from transcriptions of the original shows as indicated, but the organ music on the tracks was performed by our chairman and founder, John DeMajo, and dubbed into the original old recordings.

ONE MAN'S FAMILY from NBC Radio 1945

WLW's Moon River broadcast from 1949

 
VIEW A TIMELINE OF THE
DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO

   

FOR EXAMPLES AND INFORMATION OF
"GOLDEN AGE" RADIO PROGRAMS

 
"BACK IN THE DAY"
Life in New Orleans
The story of engineer and collector John DeMajo and the founding of the Museum Of Yesterday
A mid-1960's view of the electronics laboratory at the college where our founder and chairman received his electrical and electronics engineering training.
 
Farnsworth Model GK-267 "chair side" radio-phonograph

"A LIFETIME FASCINATION WITH RADIO"

Those who were alive in the early years following World War II, were fortunate to have experienced one of the greatest periods of wealth, social and technological development in the history of our country. From 1945 through the beginning of the Korean conflict, America experienced an unleashing of technology that had developed as a result of war efforts. Early in that period, television had not yet entered the average home in America, but everyone knew that this wonderful new medium of "radio with pictures" was coming fast. Prior to the 1950s, the average American family still huddled around their radios for entertainment in the home, and prime-time on the major networks was still well invested in live radio productions.

Back in post World War II New Orleans, the family of our museum founder, John DeMajo, was typical of that early "baby boom" era. Evenings at home in the DeMajo household usually involved gathering around the family's Farnsworth GK267 "chairside" radio-phonograph as the evening's prime time shows, such as "The Adventures of Beulah," "Mr. Keene Tracer Of Lost Persons," "Doctor Christian's Office," and "Life With Luigi" entertained audiences. The quality and variety of program content was excellent as radio writers and producers knew that they would soon be facing stiff competition from Television. During that era, some of the most creative shows were produced and broadcast, and many shows that were successful, were later modified for presentation on television.

Just ten years later in late 1959, entertainment network radio broadcasting vanished, having been replaced by the unprecedented growth of Television as the new home entertainment medium. Thanksgiving week of 1959 saw the end of entertainment network shows produced by CBS, and both Mutual and NBC phased out their radio lineups in that same time period.

Our founder fondly remembers the prosperous years that followed the end of World War II, and his interactions as a young child with his family gathered around the Radio. It is that appreciation for the medium of Radio, often referred to as "The Theatre Of The Mind," that inspired Mr. DeMajo to assemble one of the world's premier collections of communications equipment, documents and memorabilia which has now become the "Golden Age Of Radio" Collection of the Museum Of Yesterday

 
Above-left: A Christmas Eve 1947 photo, taken by my father, of the family room of our childhood home in New Orleans. Our Farnsworth chairside radio-phonograph can be seen in the lower left corner where it sat next to my father's favorite easy chair. That radio was our family's "entertainment center" in the post WW-II years prior to television becoming available in New Orleans.

To the right is a much later (1962) view of the K5HTZ ham shack at the same residence. T
his was my station during the years that I was in high school. With this meager installation, comprised of a Knight T-60 transmitter, Hallicrafters SX-140 receiver, and a Johnson VFO, all assembled from kits, I was able to work twenty foreign countries as well as most of the United States and Canada. My antenna at the time was a 40 meter center fed dipole. Sadly, the home was demolished as a result of flooding that accompanied Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
BELOW: A 1970 era photo of the 60 foot Rohn transmitting tower of Station K5HTZ in New Orleans. I have to say that with age, I became a bit more careful about tower climbing safety. Atop the tower was a tri-band Yagi for 20, 15 and 10 meters. That tower stood until the year 2005 when it was finally brought down by Hurricane Katrina's winds which well exceeded it's rating..
 
2005 -Hurricane Katrina and
The Birth of the Museum Of Yesterday

In late August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. Massive levee failures resulted in New Orleans receiving as much as 15 feet of toxic standing flood water; which destroyed homes, businesses. and institutions. Included in one of the city's most heavily damaged areas, were the home and business holdings of the author of this site and founder of the Museum Of Yesterday.
 

"Central Control" for radio station K5HTZ and the Museum Of Yesterday's communications center.

Following the Hurricane Katrina destruction of the founder's family's home and business holdings in New Orleans, he, along with his remaining family members, made the decision to relocate well outside of the flood prone Gulf Coast of Louisiana. It was during that transition that the concept of "The Museum Of Yesterday" was born. While a substantial portion of the original collection was lost, fortunately, some items were were in safe storage, and thereby escaped damage.

Once the family was settled on the East Coast, he began the task of seeking replacements for lost items. It was then that the idea of establishing a place to display the extensive collection, gave rise to the plan for a privately operated museum. In addition to the new museum being a place for guests to see the collection, our founder insisted that the new facility serve a place where communications students could learn about the history of radio. And being a licensed amateur radio operator who had witnessed what ham radio could do in time of one of the worst weather disasters in history, he decided to establish an emergency communications center as an integral part of the museum displays. As such, the radio station facilities stand ready to assist Virginia Emergency Services , in the event that any future disaster were to result in a total loss of communications, as experienced in Katrina.

Shown above is the new K5HTZ "ham shack" and control center located in the basement of the Museum. The station has a maximum transmitting power of 1200 watts, utilizing both modern solid-state, and restored vintage EMP resistant gear. In addition to emergency communications and amateur radio, the museum operates a full-time low power and Internet streaming radio station, WOLD, for the purpose of broadcasting and streaming nostalgic radio programs of the 1930s through the early 1960s.

Geographically, the station is located 80 miles inland from the Atlantic coast, and our antenna towers reach over 300 feet above sea level, so our RF propagation is excellent both up and down the East coast and over into Europe and to the south-west. Recent contacts have been reliably established with stations as far away as Nova-Scotia to the north, Japan to the west, Kuwait and Qatar to the east, and Ecuador to the south.

Supporting the station's physical plant are a fixed 16KW combination natural gas and propane fired emergency generator, a dedicated Mitsubichi air conditioning system, and multiple Internet connections, all capable of keeping the station operating in even the worst emergency. Having weathered the heart breaking effects of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, our founder made a commitment to spare no cost or effort in the creation of a communications center and radio museum that not only serves as a public service resource but also as a teaching facility to promote amateur radio and the study and preservation of the history of American radio broadcasting.

Recently, another member of the founder's family has joined the museum project. We are proud to announce that University Of New Orleans graduate Anthropologist and Museum Specialist Kathleen DeMajo Adams (KN4UMD), daughter of our founder, has obtained her FCC radio license and is now actively involved in the management of the museum and communications collection.

 

 
Here are some previews of the radio galleries in the museum
On the pages that follow, you will find indivudual detailed photos and descriptions of the items in our collection, along with manuals, schematics and historical information on the equipment and the manufacturers.
OUR FEATURED RADIO
As you enter the radio gallery, visitors will find our featured radio, this fully restored RADIOLA AR-812, with matching RCA horn speaker. This set represents the era of transition from early battery powered radios, to radios which could be operated from commercial power. In the background, a commissioned oil painting by native Louisiana artist Mary Honoree', depicting Southern Railway's steam locomotive #4501 as it racess along the eastern shore of Lake Ponthartrain in route to Hattiesburg, Mississippi ca: 1970.
 

The "OLD IRON" gallery contains classic examples of broadcast and short wave receivers, transmitters and accessories dating from the 1920s through the 1960s.

 
The "Early Years" gallery contains our telephone history collection, including a working telephone exchange switchboard, along with our 1910 spark era marine transmitter and crystal receiver. Also located in this gallery is a portion of our extensive collection of equipment made by the Hallicrafters Corporation.
Your tour begins with a display of early telegraph equipment dating from the mid-1800 and the time of Samuel Morse. Display cases contain early telegraph items, crystal radios of the pre-vacuum tube era, and and early tube radios and accessories. In the foreground are three iconic commercial broadcast microphones, the RCA Model 44, the RCA 77DX and an early condenser mike used in the 1920s. Our colleciton also features several examples of early phonographs including Edison Cylinder players and recorders, and Berliner disk gramophones by Columbia, Victor and other manufacturers.
.
In this late 1940s photo of comedian Groucho Marx, with a contestant from his "You Bet Your Life" quiz show series that aired on both NBC Radio and Television at the time, both the RCA 44 and 77 microphones can be seen together in actual use. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the audio portion of the program aired on NBC Radio on Wednesday evenings, with the same program broadcast on television the following night as part of the Thursday evening prime-time lineup.
 
For those visitors who wish to experience what ham radio was like in the pre-WW-II years, we offer a working 1940 vintage Ham Shack exhibit that is comprised of the equipment and layout depicted on the cover illustration of the 1940 Radio Shack Company catalog.
 

The museum's restoration shop not only allows us to restore and maintain our commercially made antique acquisitions to museum quality, but it also provides a laboratory for the construction and testing of DIY equipment projects that have appeared in radio publications over the years, such as articles that appeared in the ARRL Handbook and QST magazine. By having the ability to reproduce early 20th Century technology from the ground up, we can demonstrate the challenges that early radio hobbyists faced in the days when most hams still designed and built their own station equipment.

Modern RF amplifiers are designed for low duty cycle service in order to make them economical. While this works well with SSB and CW transmissions, which generally utilizes under 30% of the amplifier's full duty rating, AM transmissions require a continuous carrier at full power, which would damage most modern commercially made amplifiers. The circuits in those modern devices are also vulnerable to EMP damage, which could render them useless in EMP type disasters.

The super duty amplifier, shown above, was designed and built by the museum staff, and utilizes actual vintage parts from the 1940s and 50s. It has been fully tested and proven to reliably deliver 100% power output, on a continuous basis, at one-thousand watts. It would be next to impossible to find such a device, in good operating condition today. By having this amplifier available, our communications center has the capability of transmitting on AM for extended periods, thus utilizing the many EMP resistant tube based transmitters and drivers from the collection. Note: Ssome of the components used in the construction, such as the 1KW RCA Broadcast transmitter panel meters, were recovered and recycled from devices that were previously destined for scrap status,

 
Closeuo of display cases containing some of our early telegraph equipment, rare crystal sets and early audion receivers.
Radios from the 1920s through 1940s including those by Tuska, Atwater-Kent, Freshman, Priess, Meisner, DayFan, Silvertone, Howard, Wurlitzer, Fada, Freed-Eisseman, Grebe, Philco, Crosley, Stewart-Warner, Hallicrafters and many more.
 
ICONIC BROADCAST MICROPHONES
The museum exhibit contains several generations of iconic broadcast studio microphones from the era of network radio.
 
MORE ABOUT RADIO STATION WOLD

To facilitate demonstrations of the museum's huge collection of historic recordings of "golden era" radio programs and vintage audio recordings, and also to encourage theatre group recreations of historic broadcasts, the museum operates a streaming and low power AM radio station with the call letters WOLD. Below is a photo of a typical late 1920s radio studio, followed by a current photo of the main studio of WOLD. Note that the layout and contents of our studio is quite similar to that shown in the historic depiction.

 
Views of WOLD Studio "A," the museum's fully functioning reproduction 1930s radio studio. It serves as the production center for broadcasts from station WOLD, the museum's streaming "Golden age of Radio" broadcasting facility. Like many radio studios of the 1930s and 40s, it houses an authentic and restored 1926 Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ that previously thrilled audiences in a 1920s movie "Palace." The organ's 800 wood and metal pipes, along with sound effects, relay and blower, are housed in a specially designed sound chamber located above the studio.
 
In this photo, "Studio A" is set up for the recording of a recreated vintage broadcast as performed by a local actors' group. To aid in these productions, the museum's library holds hundreds of vintage scripts from the "Golden Age" network radio era.
 

The device above is an early version of the NBC chimes. It was used in productions originating from an NBC affiliate station in Tennessee, believed to be the originating station for the Grand Ole Opry. These Deagan dinner chime units were used throughout the NBC Network until the late 1930s when they were replaced by an electronically generated signature produced at one of the network's headquarter stations. There were several versions of the NBC tone over the years including a five and four note version. By the 1930s, the familiar three note tone became the standard. While the NBC tones became a signature of the network, their original purpose was to notify the engineers, at telephone company switching stations, that a network program was about to go onto the line.

Hear what is believed to be the NBC chime unit above as it signaled the end of a 1931 "Grand Ole Opry" show.

Hear the signature NBC tone from later years, which was electronically generated.

 
 
Meet Professor Heindrick Von Kilowatt. He will be your guide to a better understanding of the history and science that you will be seeing in the museum's extensive collection.
 
We now begin our journey through the history of Radio
Note: All items represented on this web site as being part of the museum's permanent collection, are actual items owned by owner of this site, and housed in our headquarters. Our communications collection is recognized as one of the largest assemblages of antique and vintage communications equipment, documents, and associated material, currently in private ownership. The museum's primary mission is to make today's generations aware of the miraculous developments by American engineers and scientists of the 20th Century, that have ushered us to the doorway of today's high-tech world. The contents comprise a private collection, and we receive no funding, generate no revenue, and do not solicit for donations. All costs of acquiring, maintaining and displaying the collection are born by the owner. .
 
Copyright 2023, The Museum Of Yesterday