Old Radios Are Becoming Popular

Question: I collect old radios and would like to get in touch with other collectors in this area.--T.D.

Answer: About a year ago, we answered a collectible question that showcased the Southern California Antique Radio Society and its interesting journal. Recently, we received a letter from one of the group’s directors, Floyd Paul, who wrote that the club’s membership has climbed to approximately 800 members, mostly in this area, but that it also includes about 100 members nationally plus a handful abroad.

Paul says there is great interest in collecting antique radios. He writes:

“The club continues to meet quarterly in the Southern California area. New members seem to relate to the ‘40s and ‘50s. Collectibles include tape and wire recorders, TVs, solid-state radios, tube radios, horn speakers, battery radios and test equipment, among other items.

“The club invites new members who share an interest in preserving old radios and associated equipment.”

The club’s quarterly journal--the California Antique Radio Gazette--has been published for the past decade, said Paul, who is the editor. He says that the nonprofit organization currently is searching for a museum site to display some of its more notable collectible items.

“Most collectors,” he says, “enjoy wood/plastic radios of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, which may be worth $10 to $50 each.

“There are lots of old radios yet to come out of attics and garages, and the Gazette helps identify these and give history about them.”

Individuals interested in joining the society should write the membership secretary, Mary Ireland, 24100-E Avenida Rancheros, Diamond Bar, Calif. 91765.

The group’s next meeting, on May 19, will feature its annual auction, including radio sets, equipment, magazines and books. It’s a luncheon scheduled for the Velvet Turtle restaurant, 3210 W. Sepulveda Blvd., Torrance.

In the May issue of the Gazette is a piece on the history of the Zenith Trans-Oceanic radio, which generated a recent question from a collector who thought he had one of the earliest models.

A spokesman for the Glenview, Ill.-based firm, John Taylor, said collectors can tell the approximate year of manufacture by checking the radio’s model numbers.

“That was the workhorse,” he said, noting that of the “tens of thousands” that were manufactured over a four-decade period, a large number are still providing good service.

“I have an original sitting in my office and it still works,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s one of the most long-lived products in the consumer electronics industry.”

In 1982, its last year of manufacture, the Trans-Oceanic--by then produced in Taiwan--was battling foreign competitors, who were dramatically underpricing it. At the time, Taylor recalled, the model’s retail price was about $450.

According to the Gazette article, provided by Zenith, the idea for the Trans-Oceanic was hatched by the company’s late founder-president, Commander E. F. McDonald Jr., who, in 1939, found that standard broadcast reception at his Canadian fishing lodge was poor.

McDonald “asked the company’s engineering staff to develop an experimental shortwave battery-operated portable radio,” the article states. “With this set aboard his electric trolling boat, the commander was able to receive weather predictions by shortwave from Lorain, Ohio, and, out of curiosity, even programs from London.”

Thus, the Trans-Oceanic was born. Succeeding sets had broader bands for easier tuning. After more than two years of research, which included a test in the remote Arctic, the set went into mass production before the Zenith factory had to convert to war production.