America's history through the lens of 20th century broadcast media
Gallery - Equipment - Microphones
Pinbacks related to radio except for pinbacks not connected to a single program, station or performer
Knowles Radio Crystal, Quack medical device which supposedly created great calm and reduced depression by staring at the central portion which was filled with a sand-like substance and which would move about in response to motion. c. 1930
Kate Smith, the "songbird from the south," was a popular entertainer. The La Palina Cigar program was one of the Columbia Broadcasting System's early programs and was somewhat a "house account" since La Palina was owned by Columbia's president and founder, William Paley. Photo, c. 1929
Queen Titania's Radio Fairies (book), KHJ, Los Angeles CA, 1924. The author is given as "the Sandman" -- apparently a reference to the fact that these stories wre read over the radio as bedtime children's stories. The stories were reportedly the work of Oliver Garrison Pirie. Radio Ball game, late 1920s. The object
Day at a Glance allowed marking programs one wished to hear on the paper cards (one for each day) c. 1930. Pinback, purpose and date unknown.
Radio Log (celluloid), used for recording listening as opposed to scheduling.
Tie tack with RCA 44 microphone design.
Tie tack with RCA 44 microphone design. RCA 77 microphone tie tack with explanatory letter from woman whose husband had owned the item explaining its provenance.
RCA tie tack, c. 1940
Renwal console radio, dollhouse furniture, c. 1950. Robbins tape cleaner for reel-to-reel tape recorder, c. 1970.
Small viewer in the style of a television with San Francisco scenes visible through the "picture tube." c. 1960
Letter openers. Rockefeller Center, deco-style, mid-1930s. KOAC, Corvallis, OR, c.1950. KFMB, San Diego, early 1950s. KVI, Tacoma, WA, 1940s.
Connecticut Telephone Sodion DR-6 radio and original matching Connecticut Telephone headphones
Spiderweb coil used for antenna circuit tuning, 1920s. Pinback, date unknown.
Butler's table from the set of George Burns and Gracie Allen television program, c. 1953.
Fairchild 539G portable transcription recorder, c. 1947, used at KFOX, Long Beach CA
American DR-332 ribbon mic in case and upright. The DR-332 was popular in industrial, educational and professional settings, mid-1950s.
RCA Double button carbon microphone, c 1929. While used in some professional applications, it was principally used in public address and home applications.
Jenkins and Adair, a Chicago-based microphone manufacturer in the 1930s, made this condenser "head" for their microphone line
American EL double button carbon microphone mounted in a Universal Microphone table stand, c 1929
Remler was a highly regarded San Francisco-based manufacturer of condenser microphones in the early 1930s. In subsequent years Remler also manufactured table top radios (principally known in their "Scotty" line the logo for which was a Scottish terrier). Remler condenser microphones (and its associated preamp in the chromed cylinder) were more commonly used ceiling-suspended in radio studios. The brass/copper floor stand mounted version is far more rare. Like all condenser microphones of that period, it required an external power supply (shown in middle) which connected to the microphone with a multi-conductor rubber-jacketed cable. Far less frequently seen, the unit (to the right) functioned as a small mixer/amplifier capable to managing the audio output of several of Remler condenser microphones.
