Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), who shares the following “Modern Marvels” documentary on the history of radio:
Video: History of radio documentary
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Category Archives: Radio History
Video: The Story of Radio Broadcasting (Westinghouse 1944)
KDKA Transmitter
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who shares the following 1944 film via YouTube:
Blueprints, maps, and test equipment: RCI Sackville items for sale
I snapped this photo inside the RCI Sackville transmitter site in 2012, a few months prior to its closure.
Earlier this year, we posted a note by Marc Goldstein who is in the process of dismantling the Radio Canada International Sackville, New Brunswick, transmitter building.
Marc is tasked with selling some of the equipment that used to make this site hum. The First Nations group who now own the site are using the revenue from sales to help fund site cleanup and renovation. Mark recently passed along the following note:
We are trying to determine the value of the large quantity of 1940 era engineering blue prints of the station. I hoping your readers will be able to establish their worth.
While rummaging through an old file cabinet in maintenance building (RCI Sackville, New Brunswick), we located about a 100 or so more engineering blue prints (1938-1945), about a dozen black and white photos (RCI reporters interviewing what appears to be world celebrities), and annual engineering reports (1938-1980). Would any of these items be of interest to your readers?
Post readers: If you are interested in any of these items, Marc can be contacted via the following email address: [email protected]. He is open to offers and happy to ship these items internationally.
Rams: a teaser trailer
(Source: Vimeo via David Korchin)
A short teaser for the documentary RAMS, about legendary German designer Dieter Rams. A film by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized), with original music by Brian Eno.
For over fifty years, Dieter Rams has left an indelible mark on the field of product design and the world at large with his iconic work at Braun and Vitsoe. The objects Dieter has designed have touched the lives of millions of people––so many of us have had a Braun coffeemaker, shaver, stereo, calculator, speakers, or alarm clock. Or an Oral-B toothbrush. Or a Vitsoe 606 shelving system. Or any of the hundreds of other products Dieter has designed or overseen the design of. His work has influenced the way most of today’s consumer products look and function.
But one of the most interesting parts of Dieter’s story is that he now looks back on his career with some regret. “If I had to do it over again, I would not want to be a designer,” he has said. “There are too many unnecessary products in this world.” He has long been an advocate for the ideas of environmental consciousness and long-lasting products. RAMS is a design documentary, but it’s also a rumination on consumerism, materialism, and sustainability. Dieter’s philosophy is about more than just design, it’s a about a way to live. It’s about getting rid of distractions and visual clutter, and just living with what you need.
The film is currently in production as will be released later in 2018.
This “sharp-eyed boy” is one of us
Al Capone’s Cell (Photo By Thesab via Wikimedia Commons)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who shared the following story from CBS News:
Recreated Al Capone cell inaccurate — and teen notices
PHILADELPHIA — A sharp-eyed boy who noticed that the vintage radio inside gangster Al Capone’s recreated Philadelphia prison cell wasn’t historically accurate has delivered a replacement.
Thirteen-year-old Joey Warchal — who collects antique radios — took a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary and noticed that the radio in Capone’s cell was wrong.
The Prohibition-era mobster spent time at Eastern State in 1929 and 1930. The radio was made in 1942.
The seventh-grader found a Philco Lowboy 64 from 1929 online for $300.
CBS Philadelphia reports the radios were swapped. The teen was given the 1940s radio as a token of appreciation by Eastern State. The replacement is pictured below, in the video.[…]
Click here to watch the video and read the full story at CBS News online.
Aaron noted, “One of us. One of us.”
Indeed, he is one of us! Thanks for the tip, Aaron!
Treasure hunt: Seeking Somali radio recordings from 2010
Okay SWLing Post readers: I need you to dig through your off-air recordings for something pretty obscure…
Over at the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, I frequently receive inquiries from educators, researchers, historians, and enthusiasts looking for very specific off-air recordings, often for some worthy project or other. It’s quite a thrill when I can lay hands on just what’s being sought in our rather deep recordings archive.
I recently received just such an inquiry from producer Meghan Keane at NPR, and though we were not able to provide immediate help, I’m quite intrigued by the subject and thus not quite ready to give up the search. Meghan writes:
My name is Meghan Keane and I’m a producer for NPR’s Invisibilia. I’m working on a story about Somalia and music, and am currently looking for some archival sound.
Around 2010, many radio stations in Somalia broadcasted animal noises and gun shot noises to protest Al-Shabab. I am hoping to find audio of that to use in my story. Please let me know if you have any leads!
Fascinating stuff. I do recall a news story about Somali radio broadcasts including animal and gun shot noises back in the day, but I never actually heard a broadcast on shortwave or mediumwave.
Post readers: Can you help Meghan track down such a recording? If you can, please comment and/or contact me!
“Empire of the Air” – a history of radio broadcasting
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen, who notes that Ken Burns’ film, Empire of the Air is now streaming on YouTube. This impressive documentary was originally broadcast in 1992. The following is a summary taken from the Empire of the Air website:
For 50 years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Against the backdrop of radio’s “Golden Age,” Empire of the Air relates the history of radio through archival photographs, newsreels of the period and interviews with such well-known radio personalities as Garrison Keillor, the late sports commentator Red Barber, radio dramatist Norman Corwin and the late broadcast historian Erik Barnouw.
As with many videos on YouTube, this film could be removed at any time without warning. I suggest watching this soon: