Shepherd on old radios
I listened to a Jean Shepherd show from Tuesday June 1, 1965 via the Dustbin of History show by Max Schmid on WBAI, June 1, 2022 (starts at about 1:09:30).
https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=31532
If you are a ham and have never listened to Shepherd (who was K2ORS) this is an interesting show. He was a master storyteller on the radio. His remarks all seemed completely spontaneous but always managed to conclude exactly with the last bars of Ban Frei, his theme music played at the start and end of the show.
On this show a listener has left a radio for Jean: a Clear-o-dyne built in Cincinnati. Jean calls the circuit a Neutrodyne: a cross between a TRF and a Super Regen ? Jean is trying to think of the term: variometer. There are 4 x 201a tubes in the radio.
From his description it was probably this radio:
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| source: https://www.technogallerie.com/wp-content/uploads/Cleartone-Clear-O-Dyne-70.jpg |
Model 70 => $75 in 1925 or $1267 in 2022 !
Jean mentions the Mcmurdo Silver vs EH Scott (both radio brands as well as people) debate between Jean's Dad and Uncle.
EH scott was in Chicago, not to be confused with HH Scott.
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| An EH Scott radio (Source: Max's post on Face) |
The old man read: White's Radio Log and used it to listen to DX stations on his EH Scott radio.
Their next door neighbor, Mr. Brunner, bought a Midwest Radio with 49 tubes ? It was advertised in Popular Mechanics. Possibly a slight exaggeration by Jean :) Per this page:
http://www.midwestradiomuseum.com/royale.htm
the largest radio sold by Midwest was the Royale from 1936 with "only" 24 tubes.
Jean mentions the advertising slogan: "no squat no stoop no squint" => Philco slogan from 1938
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| source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-Philco-No-Squat-No-Stoop-No-Squint-Vintage-Print-Ad-/274493942846 |
A lot of times I play old time radio mp3 shows on a cell phone after getting into bed and they usually put me to sleep PDQ. But I found this show interesting and stayed up an extra hour or so to hear it :) And then I listened to it again the next day to try to find any pictures of the sets he discussed.
Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm