I'm looking forward to it... Wednesday was the most likely day since flights with Saturday dates saved us a substantial amount. And we get a weekend in Sonoma (the town)... when we get there. Flight was just delayed by 2 hours by SFO ATC. Not surprised.
Yep, I made it there Wednesday of last week. One of the part-time employees who had been an archival intern, Violet, showed us around. On the first floor toward the front, there are many, many radios of various vintages. There are some unique finds there. For example, a coin-operated radio made in Oakland, intended for use in hotels and motels...25 cents for an hour of listening time:
Farther back are the station memorabilia, with posters from many stations past and present. Along one wall there seemed to be a bit of a theme, with posters for KFOG, KSAN (the original version), and KSFX grouped together:
There were many, many more station promotional items, too numerous to show here, though I will point out the radio for KNAI, the NBC-owned News and Information Service station during the short life of that network (I believe this was a portable radio in the box but I couldn't tell for sure):
In the back, there's a functioning studio. I was pleasantly surprised to see a working Gates board from, I think, the 1960s. This was the same kind of board with which I started out my radio career in Warrenton, Missouri at KWRE in 1976....though the museum has better cart machines than KWRE had!
The repair shop nearby was busy. In fact, much of the museum was quite busy with quite a few volunteers working.
We also went downstairs. There was an exhibit of analog TVs, a very nice display of an SDR tuned to KQED-FM, showing how the FM baseband looks with an HD signal, and an extensive research library. There's a lot in that old telephone building.
Speaking of which, the restoration of the building is beautiful. The exterior had been eisenhowered for decades; the museum stripped all that away and its appearance is now very close to what it was originally. Across the street in Alameda, there are three beautifully maintained Victorians; the museum building is from a slightly later time, but fits right in.
I think the closest we came to meeting a radio celebrity was when Sam Van Zandt came over at one point and introduced himself. I have to admit that I didn't know who he was (much of his later career was in San Jose)...but he was friendly and enthusiastic, as was just about everyone else at the museum.
It was a great way to spend some time in the middle of the day. In some ways, even with the rich assortment of materials already on display, the museum is a work in progress; I'll have to come back in future years to see how they've built on the progress they've already made.
www.theaudiodb.com
