Original 1922 Montgomery Ward Radio Catalog...

[KilowattKat]

Nope. Found it on the radiomuseum.org website, which is a great way to spend a couple of hours of spare time looking at things like this.

That's the one!

 

[KilowattKat]

I had one of the multi-project science kit boards they sold in the late 1980s. The crystal receiver was the first project I wanted to do.


Was this one yours? What year is it from?

My favorite was the 150 in 1 electronic kit. It had the AM transmitter. When built, I turned my bedroom into a radio station. Complete with a turntable to play records, cut out news articles and ads from the Arizona Republic to read on the air. My sister would join me as occasional co-host. 😁

 

[Bongwater]

WLS Chicago was founded by Sears. Not only did they sell radios, they also sold WLS-branded tubes.

Did you know WGY once ran a chain of grocery stores in the Capitol area of New York? They even had their own house branded coffee and canned vegetables.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Memory flogger for Kat:
View attachment 10524

I bought one of these in the early 1980s just to see how much it could pick up. It received all the local stations where I was living at the time, plus at night a few 50kw outlets several hundred miles away. Key to decent results was a very long antenna. It still have it but it’s been a while since I last used it.

This was a very simple “crystal” radio. While many might think of such circuits as something you would construct with an oatmeal carton, the reality is that there were many quite elaborate crystal designs in the early days of radio, including receivers with quite beautiful layout and construction that provided surprisingly good reception.

 

[yeoldeschool]

My favorite was the 150 in 1 electronic kit. It had the AM transmitter. When built, I turned my bedroom into a radio station. Complete with a turntable to play records, cut out news articles and ads from the Arizona Republic to read on the air. My sister would join me as occasional co-host. 😁

Look what the Internet Archive has for you!

https://archive.org/download/scienc...ence Fair 150-in-1 Electronic Project Kit.pdf

the reality is that there were many quite elaborate crystal designs in the early days of radio, including receivers with quite beautiful layout and construction that provided surprisingly good reception

I wonder if there are any kits being sold today that perform that well. Even a pre-manufactured crystal radio, though sucking all the fun out of building it yourself, would still be fun to experiment with.

 

[ILOVERADIO]

What always fascinated me was the advertising of the radio stations themselves. How they saw their place in the media landscape of their day

I love the photo of the family watching their radio like a tv set. Such great photos.

 

[KilowattKat]

I love the photo of the family watching their radio like a tv set. Such great photos.

And so well dressed for the occasion, like attending a special event. Lol