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Radios on M*A*S*H?

B

Bud50

As with many folks, the TV series M*A*S*H was, and still is, one of my favorite shows. Every now and then, I catch a glimpse of a radio in the background in a tent or on a shelf somewhere; some appear to be old 1950's vintage AM table radios and I think I even saw one early Zenith TransOceanic portable.

I wish I could tape the shows that I know will have radios on them (especially when they air the one about baseball), so I could freeze-frame the tape and get a gander at what radios they're using as props.

Does anyone else have this same fascination? BTW, I collect old radios of all types, since AM BCB DXing was my first love- and still is, even though I'm an Extra Class Amateur radio operator...there's still something about listening to music on AM....

Bud
 
Do not hold me to it but I think it is a Zenith. There is an episode where they are short on supplies and all the men are in one tent and Hawkeye is shown turning on a radio.
 
Thanks, Trapper! There were several others, as well, all different, but my eye isn't quick enough to pick 'em out. Zenith was a popular brand....

I wish I could get a GOOD gander at the radio/telephone/PA system at Radar's/Klinger's desk...doesn't look "too military" to me, IMO....

Keep watching!

Bud
 
And also the Zenith Trans-Oceanic radios did have Military Versions in that period. So an authentic touch. They were used as morale radios.
 
I believe it was the "Peddler In Korea" episode where that Zenith TransOceanic was plainly shown, when Hawkeye and Trapper John were kidding back & forth and Hawkeye squawked like a chicken. Another was where Hawkeye was writing to his father and they tricked a patient into thinking he got the "wrong color blood"- there was a radio with a HUGE lighted dial. And another one where the picture was on Col. Henry Blake and there was a radio behind his right shoulder on the shelf/table.

So far, I only recognized the Zenith...

Bud
 
OK, more have popped up- three in the same tent (Col. Potter's!). It was the episode where Col. Potter and Maj. Chas. Emerson Winchester both had the mumps. There was a nice wooden radio with a clock behind Potter's head in the headboard of his bed. On the same side, more toward the door was another. And still another on the opposite wall behind the Major!

Tonight (6/26/12 on MeTV), in the episode where Hawkeye Pierce was Officer of the Day ("OD"), he entered Potter's office to see two Korean kids trying to take a field telephone. The aforementioned wooden radio with the clock was on the shelf behind the desk!

Boy, those radios sure get around!

Bud
 
Hmmmm...interesting question...maybe we can get a better look at it.

Tonight's episode (6/27/12) on MeTV, where Klinger gets married to his high school sweetheart LaVerne via radio- Col. Henry Blake doing the relay with some made-up Ham radio callsigns- the same radio that appeared in the aforementioned Col. Potter episodes turned up in Blake's office, behind him as he did the radio relay ceremony.

At least they're consistantly using one or two of the same radios! Now, on to that tape recorder!

(I'd LOVE to have an old microphone like they had on their radio/PA system for my Ham station!)

Bud
 
rnigma said:
There are a few episodes where Charles had a tape recorder. I wonder what kind it was - perhaps a Wollensak?
Click to expand...

I believe it was a Webcor. I have one similar to it.
 
...or how 'bout those AN/PRC-6 walkie-talkies on the episode where several of the characters were stuck in the middle of nowhere on the hospital bus? And a North Korean character got it started for them the next morning...ol' ferret-face Frank Burns (Larry Linville, God rest his soul) used it continually, to the irritation of the others, to try to contact a jet flying overhead and other friendlies...

...I remember getting catalogs with those w-t's in them and wanting a pair to play with when I was a kid, but the batteries were unavailable and, being before my Ham days, I had little idea about how to hook up battery packs for them.... but some Hams persevered and used them to make 6-meter tranceivers. I'll bet those tube'd eat some batteries! Wonder if any of them are even available any more? Have to check....

Bud
 
Neat topic and one that also got me thinking about another show (sorry if I drag this off topic)

What was the radio used on nearly every episode of Gilligan's Island? It wasn't anything special, but it was consistent.
 
This made me think about an episode of The Andy Griffith Show that was on during one of the marathons on TV Land lately. It was the episode where three women who had escaped prison were hiding in a cabin and held Barney and Floyd hostage. In the first few minutes Andy is listening to a news bulletin about the women on a radio in his office that looked like it had a Motorola logo on it. Any ideas on what model that was? Thanks! :)
 
anotherguy, I've not watched much Andy Griffith, but I'll pay attention the next time I tune in! By the way, the radio behind them on the desk along the wall had what I remember to be a Hallicrafters CB radio set. I'll have to double-check that, though....Bud
 
OK, on the episode where Hotlips announces her engagement, she has to fight Frank off in her tent; there was a white radio on her night stand...looked conspicuously like a late 60's/early 70's transistorized radio.

And on the episode where Hawkeye was blinded, there was a radio in the mess tent with a ball game blaring. Very nondescript brown radio, couldn't see a logo or i.d. on it.

And ending another episode, in the closing scene, Hawkeye & B.J. were sitting listening to music on a radio in the dark with only a large dial lit up...couldn't see it, either....rats....

Bud
 
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