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About 4 years ago I picked up an old tube radio I found at an antique mall that caught my eye. The radio was a 1947 AM/FM set. Before finding it, I had no ide

About 4 years ago I picked up an old tube radio I found at an antique mall that caught my eye. The radio was a 1947 AM/FM set. Before finding it, I had no idea that FM radio was even around in 1947, but it was. It was a relatively new technology at the time, so this would have probably been a high-end set when it was introduced. Buying that radio led me down the path of learning how to restore old tube radios, and I eventually got it all fixed up and working - it's currently sitting on a bookshelf behind me. It's very strange to hear modern music coming through it what with it's old art-deco styling. Sometimes I think about who the original owner must have been and what they probably listened to on it. Old jazz and rock and roll songs maybe? News updates on the Korean War? Who knows. But it's interesting to think about...

handrous 5y ago
1947? Probably a lot of radio dramas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama#1930–1960s:_Widespread_popularity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama#1930–1960s:_Widesp... My dad, who grew up in the 40s and 50s, has mentioned before that they treated the radio just like the "family TV" of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
- wahern 5y ago
  NPR affiliate WAMU airs The Big Broadcast every Sunday evening, with 4 hours of programming from the golden age of radio: https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ I've always loved listening while cooking dinner. Though, living on the west coast I only get to listen to the tail end of the show.
K7PJP 5y ago
FM was in development in the 1930's, but was reallocated a couple of times. The current allocation of 88-108MHz was put into place in 1945. It took a long time for FM to catch on. It wasn't until the late 1970's that a majority of the listening public had an FM radio, especially youth. The pivot of youth listening from AM Top 40 to FM happened within a decade.
tkgally 5y ago
The Internet Archive has a lot of old radio programs [1] and newer ones as well [2, 3]. When I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, I sometimes listen to the 1949 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers [4]. I thought I was immune to nostalgia for obsolete technology, but those photos of old radios brought a lump to my throat. Radio may have been the closest thing we had to the Internet before we had the Internet. [1] https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio [2] https://archive.org/details/radio https://archive.org/details/radio [3] https://archive.org/details/radioprograms https://archive.org/details/radioprograms [4] https://archive.org/details/classicmlbbaseballradio https://archive.org/details/classicmlbbaseballradio
- jhallenworld 5y ago
  CBS Radio Mystery Theater is from the 70s, but was made to be nostalgic to the 30s.. I remember listening to this on AM 880 CBS from NYC.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkiql1PhV4&list=PLdoGrEj2tNSTAsolvKWRuwEVqpRZb9q_m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkiql1PhV4&list=PLdoGrEj2tN... A good show is Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: "the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account – America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDdcaRHcoM&list=PLneoVXdPCzrclkJOi5wC7teo0hX6jHADM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDdcaRHcoM&list=PLneoVXdPCz...
marcodiego 5y ago
> It's very strange to hear modern music coming through it what with it's old art-deco styling. Sometimes I think about who the original owner must have been and what they probably listened to on it. Old jazz and rock and roll songs maybe? News updates on the Korean War? Who knows. But it's interesting to think about... Another reason why open standards and are so important. If you have a recording, I'd say the same about the reason we should not be so lax with DRM. I remember a friend of mine telling me how he lost a bunch of animations he had done on Corel MOVE! Corel simply didn't support their own format after version 5 from 1996. He gave up waiting, couldn't find older Corel versions and deleted the files. In 2012 an open source parser appeared: http://cmvparser.sourceforge.net/ http://cmvparser.sourceforge.net/
mstade 5y ago
> It's very strange to hear modern music coming through it what with it's old art-deco styling. You don't happen to have a picture? I'd love to see it!
- Jeema101 5y ago
  It's a Truetone D2819, made by Western Auto Supply Company. Here's a page with some photos (not of my radio, but of one just like it): https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/western_au_d2819_truetone_ch_26a82_7.html https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/western_au_d2819_truetone_ch_2... The whole history of Western Auto is kind of an interesting story. They started in 1909, diversified into things other than auto parts (like radios), and then through a series of acquisitions over the years, ended up finally being bought by Advance Auto Parts in the 90s, who now owns the IP AFAIK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Auto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Auto
jhoechtl 5y ago
In due time this will - sadly - come to an end. DAB+ is taking over FM (at least in Europe) and brick many beautifully working old radio sets.
- madengr 5y ago
  I doubt it in the USA. Digital radio has been around for a while, but has never taken off. I hope it stays that way. One could hack together a DAB to FM converter that gangs onto the radio dial for tuning.

handrous 5y ago

1947? Probably a lot of radio dramas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama#1930–1960s:_Widespread_popularity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama#1930–1960s:_Widesp... My dad, who grew up in the 40s and 50s, has mentioned before that they treated the radio just like the "family TV" of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

wahern 5y ago
NPR affiliate WAMU airs The Big Broadcast every Sunday evening, with 4 hours of programming from the golden age of radio: https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ I've always loved listening while cooking dinner. Though, living on the west coast I only get to listen to the tail end of the show.

K7PJP 5y ago

FM was in development in the 1930's, but was reallocated a couple of times. The current allocation of 88-108MHz was put into place in 1945. It took a long time for FM to catch on. It wasn't until the late 1970's that a majority of the listening public had an FM radio, especially youth. The pivot of youth listening from AM Top 40 to FM happened within a decade.

tkgally 5y ago

The Internet Archive has a lot of old radio programs [1] and newer ones as well [2, 3]. When I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, I sometimes listen to the 1949 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers [4]. I thought I was immune to nostalgia for obsolete technology, but those photos of old radios brought a lump to my throat. Radio may have been the closest thing we had to the Internet before we had the Internet. [1] https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio [2] https://archive.org/details/radio https://archive.org/details/radio [3] https://archive.org/details/radioprograms https://archive.org/details/radioprograms [4] https://archive.org/details/classicmlbbaseballradio https://archive.org/details/classicmlbbaseballradio

jhallenworld 5y ago
CBS Radio Mystery Theater is from the 70s, but was made to be nostalgic to the 30s.. I remember listening to this on AM 880 CBS from NYC.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkiql1PhV4&list=PLdoGrEj2tNSTAsolvKWRuwEVqpRZb9q_m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkiql1PhV4&list=PLdoGrEj2tN... A good show is Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: "the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account – America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDdcaRHcoM&list=PLneoVXdPCzrclkJOi5wC7teo0hX6jHADM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDdcaRHcoM&list=PLneoVXdPCz...

marcodiego 5y ago

> It's very strange to hear modern music coming through it what with it's old art-deco styling. Sometimes I think about who the original owner must have been and what they probably listened to on it. Old jazz and rock and roll songs maybe? News updates on the Korean War? Who knows. But it's interesting to think about... Another reason why open standards and are so important. If you have a recording, I'd say the same about the reason we should not be so lax with DRM. I remember a friend of mine telling me how he lost a bunch of animations he had done on Corel MOVE! Corel simply didn't support their own format after version 5 from 1996. He gave up waiting, couldn't find older Corel versions and deleted the files. In 2012 an open source parser appeared: http://cmvparser.sourceforge.net/ http://cmvparser.sourceforge.net/

mstade 5y ago

> It's very strange to hear modern music coming through it what with it's old art-deco styling. You don't happen to have a picture? I'd love to see it!

Jeema101 5y ago
It's a Truetone D2819, made by Western Auto Supply Company. Here's a page with some photos (not of my radio, but of one just like it): https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/western_au_d2819_truetone_ch_26a82_7.html https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/western_au_d2819_truetone_ch_2... The whole history of Western Auto is kind of an interesting story. They started in 1909, diversified into things other than auto parts (like radios), and then through a series of acquisitions over the years, ended up finally being bought by Advance Auto Parts in the 90s, who now owns the IP AFAIK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Auto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Auto

jhoechtl 5y ago

In due time this will - sadly - come to an end. DAB+ is taking over FM (at least in Europe) and brick many beautifully working old radio sets.

madengr 5y ago
I doubt it in the USA. Digital radio has been around for a while, but has never taken off. I hope it stays that way. One could hack together a DAB to FM converter that gangs onto the radio dial for tuning.