NL 4-6

The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society

Vol 4 #6

January 5, 1995

News Letter

Our regular club meeting was held on December 11. Our next meeting will be January 8, at 3:00PM at 2412 C Street, Meridian. The date for our 4th Annual Spring Show & Sale is firm March 18. That leaves only 3 meetings between now and the show to get everything planned, arranged and in place.
Many suggestions regarding the upcoming show are already on the table:
Three "themes" have been suggested:
1) Radio at War; since this is the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.
2) Voices out of the air; since this is the 80th anniversary of the first practical radiotelephone service started by Bell Labs.
3) Supreme Instrument Co.; Mississippi's contribution to the radio industry.
Also under discussion: how much (or little) equipment to display in the mini-museum this year; what & how much in the snack bar; and other pertinent stuff. Be sure and make as many meetings as you can to help us make this show as big a success as possible!
As noted above, this year is the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. Radio's impact on the war will probably never be totally known. Much of it has only recently been declassified. My own interest has been peaked by the recent release of WWII documents regarding the cryptographic efforts during the war by several un-sung heroes. The Polish seem to have made HUGE contributions towards breaking the German's codes. Hints of this have surfaced in the past, but apparently these newly released documents shown that much of the success the allies had, particularly the relief of Bastogne and during the Battle of the Bulge were due to the fact that the Polish could decode virtually all of the Hitler's command traffic to his field generals. We'll get deeper into this in a future article.

Radio Collecting Today

Radio collecting is a very dynamic hobby. The passage of time is the greatest influence on the hobby. Collecting is often divided into five general periods:

Primitive: 1875 - 1920
Early Battery sets: 1920 - 1924
Battery Sets: 1925 - 1930
AC sets : 1927 - 1930
The Golden Era: 1930 - 1950
The TV Age: 1950 - on.
Early Transistors: 1956-1960
Later Transistors: 1960 - on

These Periods will never change, the radios that belong to them remain for all time.
There is, however, another way to "sub-divide" the hobby as well. Doing so reveals the dynamic part of the hobby and time's impact:

Scarce -- and everyone is looking for them (prices high).
Hard to find -- but the price isn't too bad.
Common -- Yard Sale fodder.
Abundant -- nobody is collecting them - yet!

The radios that belong to each of these groups changes over time. Over the years, group membership changed to look something like this:

	Scarce - $$$	Hard to find - $$	Common - $	Abundant - not hotly collected
1970's	Primitive	early Battery	Battery AC Sets	Golden Era TV age Early Transistors Later Transistors Novelties
1980's	Primitive Early Battery	Battery Sets AC Sets	Golden Era Early Transistors	TV Age Later TransistorsNovelties
Early 1990's	Primitive Early Battery Battery Sets	AC Sets Golden Era Early Transistors	TV Age Later Transistors	Novelties
1995 (today)	Primitive Early Battery Battery Sets AC Sets Early Trans.	Golden Era TV Age	Later Transistors Early Novelties	Recent Novelties

The reason is because over time, fewer and fewer "collectable" radios are found "in the public's hands". As radios become scarce, collectors look to new areas such as transistors and novelties. Today, the chance of finding an AK breadboard in a yard sale is pretty slim. More than likely, if you want one, you'll have to buy it from a collector - and not at a yard-sale price! So the radios that fit into an "availability" category change over time. It is obvious, then, that eventually all of the radios that we collect today will wind up in the Scarce category. Two questions emerge: 1) What will be the new devices that will be the "hot" collectable of tomorrow; and 2) what changes will the hobby see over the near future to deal with the collapsing supply of radios? The second question is easier to guess at than the first - so we'll take it on first. Technology is bringing changes to the hobby in ways that are sure to make a permanent impact. Until recently, there had been very little interest in Radio collecting on the "Information SuperHighway". That seems to be changing. Along with at least one new "radio collecting" electronic bulletin board; the Info super highway is now offering "instant" buying, selling, trading, etc. How this is going to effect the hobby in general and "old media" standards like the "Antique Radio Classified" is unclear - but it is very certain that it will have a strong impact. Even the ARC is looking into "high-tech" publishing - from BBS's & boards like CompuServe to CD-ROMs and similar "new media" distribution. Imagine having a year of ARC (and maybe Electric Radio) on a CD-ROM and being able to have your computer search for every instance of Philco and chassis in the same ad--- Such a search could take days by hand - but a few seconds on my Mac...
There is a sinister side to this as well- people with lots of money to spend will have much greater access to what is available - at least time is something of an equalizer - we all get our ARC's about the same time. People with money to burn will be able to "camp" on the info highway, ready to pick-off any plum that chances by.
Whether the invasion of "high-tech" into the hobby will be good or bad depends on those of us in the hobby. If we stay on top of developments, put our two cents in... most likely everyone will benefit. As to the first question - what will be the next hot collectable (radio related)--- I know a guy who has 6 different cellular phones.... none of which work - thrown up on a shelf....

© 1995, The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society.

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