Radios

I don't know anything about radios. I've heard about and actually met some collector's who's 'object of passion' is the radio and they go about collecting antique radios. That's not me. I didn't even have a car radio in my first car, as my sister is keen to point out. But I do love old radio shows from the 1940's and take pride in my membership on RUSC.com. And I definitely know about sentiment and attaching value to physical objects.


This is my 1940's floor radio. I got it for free. Lorie had been looking for something like this for me for my new comic sanctuary. So she jumped at the chance when it popped up on a freecycler's Yahoo group. In my jaded opinion, it's the only good thing that's come from freecycler's.


The radio is a Firestone Air Chief, model # S-7404-1, and was most likely produced in 1940. You can check out more about the radio at this wonderful website. (http://airchiefradios.com/year.cfm?year=1940) And I'm positive, without a doubt, that somebody at some point sat on the floor in front of this thing listening to old radio shows.





It does power on, but doesn't bring in any radio stations. That's just fine with me, as I have ZERO desire to hear modern radio out of this thing.


This is my Grandmother's radio. She passed away in May of 2011. I spoke at her funeral and it wasn't the easiest of things for me to do. I didn't really realize how close I felt to her until she was gone. Recently, I helped move my Grandfather into an assisted living facility and part of the job was to figure out what to do with an apartment full of stuff. Including my Grandmother's room, which had gone largely untouched since her passing. There were piles for Goodwill and piles of things that couldn't possibly go to Goodwill. I asked my Cool Aunt Melodee if she wouldn't mind if I took the radio.


It's a Sony Bass Reflex system, model # ICF-9580W, and was most likely produced sometime in the early seventies. The minimum research I've done leads me to believe that at the time it was sold, it was a top-of-the-line radio. I believe it, because it's a very solid and heavy piece. You can see more details about it here. (http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_icf_9580w.html)


Last night as I was setting the radio up in the new comic sanctuary, I plugged it in, flipped it on, and tuned in a radio station. My son Ashton was shocked. "I can't believe this thing still works!" he exclaimed. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that this thing would work. My Grandmother would not have kept it if it didn't work.

That's the thing about my Grandmother. She and I seemed like polar opposites. She would look at this and think "it's just an old radio, why keep it". She would even see me as silly and wasteful for indulging in the sentiment. But... the fact that I can look at it and glean so much of her from it makes it useful for me. The fact that it was top of the line and she chose it. The fact that it still works and I knew that before even turning it on. And the fact that she would think it was silly that I wanted it. It's like she's there with me teasing me about it at that moment. The Phantom Grandmother on my shoulder.

Last in the line of radios for me to drone on about is this:


It's mine. It's the clock/alarm radio I got for Christmas in 1981 when we lived in Montgomery, Alabama. This is the radio that woke me up every morning from 1981 all the way to 2004 when it started to act up and not be so reliable. This thing collects dust like nothing I've ever owned. All those little tiny circles in the top may have looked cool at production time, but there's dust in there that I haven't been able to get out since early 1982; when I distinctly remember listening to Pac-Man Fever and Freeze Frame on this radio.


It's one of those rare belongings I had from my childhood. This being unique in that it's practical use is the reason it's still with me. Unlike my Superman bean bag chair, which saw the end of it's practical use in 1977.


Each of these radios will be displayed in my new comic sanctuary when the whole thing is set up. So come over! Check it out. Sip coffee from our kuerig machine, sit on my couch in the reading nook flanked by old time radio while listening to 1940's music from my iPod and reading old comics on the iPad. Comic book hipster.

Thanks,
DCD