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Collecting and preserving these old radios is a fascinating hobby, if not an obsession with some. Radios played
an important role in the development of our society. They were instrumental in keeping people informed as to what
was happening in the world around them and, in some cases, influenced what they thought of the world itself. They
listened to the FDR 'Fire Side' chats. They heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on these radios. Those with short
wave receivers could listen to the rants of a certain Nazi madman. Radio for them was what T.V. is for us today. It was
their 'link' to the outside world. Radios played an extremely important role in shaping 'who we are today'.
To preserve these important items for posterity is a worthwhile activity.
I have always been interested in science and 'mechanical things'. At the age of ten years, I was taking
apart speedometers obtained from junked cars, to get the magnets from them. I was fortunate enough to get a 3 inch reflecting
telescope at the age of ten. I saw the wonders of the moon's craters and the moons of Jupiter. The Gilbert Chemistry set
I got at age 11 was excellent also. Then, at age 12, an aunt gave me a non-working Philco Portable radio. I never did
get it working, but spent hours wondering on it's construction. A short time later, a friend gave me a Airline AM/SW chassis
from an old console. I did get it working, and spent countless hours listening to radio from all over the world. Then,
a year later, I asked for, and got, an Electronics Kit. I could actually build, on the plug-in bread board, a A.M. receiver,
a code oscillator, and many other interesting 'wonders'. At that point, I was 'hooked' on electronics.
About the same time, 1960, I found a nearly complete NRI Radio Correspondence course that a neighbor had thrown
in the trash. I rescued it and actually completed the course lessons. This was valuable information for me. I ordered a Knight
Kit tube radio and enjoyed many hours of listening to broadcasts from around the world. I was listening to a HAM operator
in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1964 when the earthquake struck there. He said he was going on emergency power, and went off the
air for a few minutes. When he returned, he gave a good report on what had happened and then he began making emergency notifications.
I was one of the first to hear it! This, hours before anyone heard about from the T.V. networks.
It was because of these broadcasts that I learned at a very young age to not believe the 'news' as you hear it on
the T.V. I compared broadcasts from the BBC, Washington, Radio Moscow, Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Netherlands, and others.
Everyone gave a different story on the same event. This was an awakening for me. I believe that radio has shaped me in
more ways than I would have ever thought possible. Please e-mail me for comments or suggestions for this site. Sincerely, Gene
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