{"id":12438,"date":"2015-03-01T20:55:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T00:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=12438"},"modified":"2015-03-01T21:04:40","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T01:04:40","slug":"a-photo-tour-of-the-national-capital-radio-and-television-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/a-photo-tour-of-the-national-capital-radio-and-television-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"A Photo Tour of the National Capital Radio and Television Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday afternoon, I made a pilgrimage the to the National Capital Radio and Television Museum<\/a> in Bowie, Maryland, USA. \u00a0The museum is located in a modest and beautiful historic house on the corner of Mt. Oak and Mitchellville Roads in Bowie.<\/p>\n

\"RadioMeseumExterior\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RadioMuseum-Exterior-FrontDoor\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Museum\u00a0Curator and volunteer,\u00a0Brian Belanger, kindly gave me a private\u00a0tour of the museum collections (the museum is closed on Tuesdays).\u00a0\"Brian\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to Brian for taking time out of his day for the tour, and for allowing me to take some photos for the SWLing Post!<\/em><\/p>\n

The museum has a number of display rooms with radios broadly grouped by style and decade. The first room offers examples of some of the earliest radios produced–including the venerable crystal radio (below).<\/p>\n

[Click photos to enlarge.]<\/p>\n

\"Miracle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Radio4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Like Brian, numerous volunteers work to keep the collections in working order. This isn’t a place where vintage radios come to die; they actually come to life here.<\/p>\n

\"Volton-Battery\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1920sRadio\"<\/a>Even examples of some of their earliest radios are on the air and can be tuned to local and international stations. \u00a0\"Radio5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RCA-Radiola-60\"<\/a> \"RCA-Radiola-60Dial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This RCA “portable” (below), housed two batteries on either side of the center faceplate. Note the ad on the wall above–a couple enjoy the RCA as they recline on\u00a0a beach.<\/p>\n

\"RCA-Portable\"<\/a> \"RCA-Portable-Dial\"<\/a> \"Radiola-X-RCA\"<\/a> \"Radio10\"<\/a> \"Atwater-Kent-Black\"<\/a> \"Atwater-Kent-Black-Interior\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speakers of the day were pretty amazing, too–check out this hand-painted 1927 Air Chrome Double Cone Speaker, below.<\/p>\n

\"Air-Chrome-Double-Cone-Speaker\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The museum also has an extensive collection of studio and off-air recordings that can be played over an AM carrier throughout the\u00a0building.<\/p>\n

\"Atwater-Kent-Dial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By the late 1920s and early 1930s, radio manufactures built gorgeous console radios,\u00a0features in the living rooms and parlors of many lucky homes.<\/p>\n

\"Atwater-Kent\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Crosley-Dial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Scott-ConsoleRadio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This E.H. Scott All-Wave 23 console (above and below) sported not only twenty-threee\u00a0vacuum tubes,\u00a0but\u00a0a large, robust internal speaker. Radio collectors consider the All-Wave 23 to be one of the finest performing radios of the vacuum-tube era.\u00a0\"Scott-Console-Radio-Dial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Zenith-Shuttle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The museum also features\u00a0the Zenith 12-S-232 tabletop radio with working shuttle dial–a futuristic band-switching mechanical wonder with a\u00a0stunning\u00a0dial.<\/p>\n

\"Zenith-Shuttle-Dial\"<\/a> \"ClintonModel-445X\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0number of tabletop and portable radios that span\u00a0the decades have found their homes in this museum. \u00a0No doubt many SWLing Post<\/em> readers cut their teeth on these classics!<\/p>\n

\"Zenith-Trans-Oceanic-6500\"<\/a> \"Zenith-Portable\"<\/a> \"American-Radio-Associates\"<\/a>\"Realistic-Model-12-173\"<\/a> \"Garod-Model-582\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love the design of the Garod Model 5A2–wow! And I’m sure many kids of the fifties wished they had an official Hopalong Cassidy AM radio (below).\"HopAlongCassidy-Radio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The museum, of course, also houses a large number of classic televisions.<\/p>\n

\"Pilot-Model-TV\"<\/a>\"Hallicrafters-TV\"<\/a> \"Philco-TV\"<\/a> \"Philco-TV-Controls\"<\/a>Radio stations and benefactors have also donated many items used in the industry,\u00a0both in broadcast and retail.<\/p>\n

\"NBC-Chimes\"<\/a> \"PhilcoSign\"<\/a> \"Midwest-Magazine\"<\/a> \"SylvaniaSigns\"<\/a> \"980KC-Mic\"<\/a>Brian was also kind enough to take me to the building, next door, where they repair radios and store others for eventual rotation into the collection.<\/p>\n

\"Workshop\"<\/a> \"Repair4\"<\/a> \"Repair2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Museum volunteers also\u00a0teach radio repair and restoration classes.\"Repair1\"<\/a> \"Repair3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"GE-Radio\"<\/a>The number of classic ham radios, home brew receivers and transmitters was simply amazing. Indeed, I felt like a kid in a candy shop!<\/p>\n

\"Radio1\"<\/a> \"National-NC-46\"<\/a> \"HalliDial\"<\/a> \"Hallicrafters-SX100\"<\/a> \"Hallicrafters-SX62A\"<\/a> \"Hallicrafters-SuperSkyrider\"<\/a> \"Hallicrafters-Super-Skyrider\"<\/a> \"CollinsTransmitter\"<\/a>By the end of the tour, I had decided to become a member of the National Capital Radio and Television Museum. Even though I live a few states away, I like knowing that my membership funds not only help preserve vintage radios and televisions, but also provide me\u00a0members-only access to many of their scanned archives. Click to\u00a0view a full list of benefits for a modest $25 membership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Again, many thanks to\u00a0Brian Belanger for the amazing tour of this wonderful museum! \u00a0Brian, I’ll be back next year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday afternoon, I made a pilgrimage the to the National Capital Radio and Television Museum in Bowie, Maryland, USA. \u00a0The museum is located in a modest and beautiful historic house on the corner of Mt. Oak and Mitchellville Roads in Bowie. Museum\u00a0Curator and volunteer,\u00a0Brian Belanger, kindly gave me a private\u00a0tour of the museum collections […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,8,1271,545,3,305,1936,288,26,43],"tags":[3658,464,3655,3661,3657,1146,3652,3665,2898,3659,3662,3663,3666,1255,3668,3667,3653,3651,2087,1827,3660,3656,681,3654,3664,3134],"class_list":["post-12438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-articles","category-boat-anchors-2","category-ham-radio","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-photos","category-radio-history","category-radios","category-shortwave-radio","tag-air-chrome-double-cone-speaker","tag-antique-radio","tag-atwater-kent","tag-atwater-kent-consol","tag-atwater-kent-model-47","tag-boat-anchors","tag-brian-belanger","tag-clinton-model-445x","tag-collins","tag-console-radios","tag-crosley","tag-e-h-scott-all-wave-23","tag-garod-model-5a2","tag-hallicrafters","tag-hallicrafters-super-skyrider","tag-hopalong-cassidy-am-radio","tag-miracle-crystal-radio","tag-national-capital-radio-and-television-museum","tag-philco","tag-rca","tag-rca-console","tag-rca-radiola-60","tag-vintage-radio","tag-volton-battery","tag-zenith-12-s-232","tag-zenith-transoceanic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3eC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9629,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/dayton-hamvention-flea-market-a-few-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":0},"title":"Dayton Hamvention flea market: a few photos","author":"Thomas","date":"May 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a little over one hour to check out the Dayton Hamvention flea market yesterday morning before manning our inside exhibitor's table for Ears To Our World. Here are a few radios that caught my attention: I actually purchased the Hallicrafters SX-24 in this photo (above) for $60. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Boat Anchors"","block_context":{"text":"Boat Anchors","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/boat-anchors-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CollinsRadios","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/CollinsRadios.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/CollinsRadios.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/CollinsRadios.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27209,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/mike-spots-the-rca-ar-88-in-series-prime-suspect-tennison\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":1},"title":"Mike spots the RCA AR-88 in series “Prime Suspect: Tennison”","author":"Thomas","date":"July 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), who adds the following to\u00a0our growing archive of radios in film. Mike writes: Near the end of the current episode of \"Prime Suspect: Tennison\" [the radio operator mentions] he was listening on \"the RCA 88\". \"Tennison\" is set around the early '70's. Great catch,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aviation"","block_context":{"text":"Aviation","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/aviation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/RCA88_Prime_Suspect_Tennison-1024x435.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/RCA88_Prime_Suspect_Tennison-1024x435.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/RCA88_Prime_Suspect_Tennison-1024x435.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18029,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/the-crosley-radio-corporations-1936-wlw-model-super-power-radio-receiver\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":2},"title":"The Crosley Radio Corporation\u2019s 1936 \u201cWLW Model Super-Power Radio Receiver\u201d","author":"Thomas","date":"April 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Nuts and Volts) In 1935, the Zenith Radio Corporation produced a stunning radio receiver called the Stratosphere model 1000Z. The set used 25 tubes and three loudspeakers \u2014 more than any other radio to date. An amazing (for the time) 50 watts drove its three speakers \u2014 one 6\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Manufacturers"","block_context":{"text":"Manufacturers","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/manufacturers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Crosley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Crosley.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Crosley.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Crosley.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38362,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/can-you-identify-this-hallicrafters-model-onboard-the-columbine-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":3},"title":"Can you identify this Hallicrafters model onboard the Columbine III?","author":"Thomas","date":"June 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Yowell, who writes: I was visiting the US Air Force Museum [Friday] and walked through \u201cColumbine III\u201d which was the Lockheed Constellation used as Air Force One by President Eisenhower from 1954 until he left office. In the back of the cabin was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aviation"","block_context":{"text":"Aviation","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/aviation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/160426-F-IO108-013.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/160426-F-IO108-013.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/160426-F-IO108-013.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/160426-F-IO108-013.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16644,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/avengers-age-of-ultron-scene-is-that-a-hallicrafters-receiver\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":4},"title":"Avengers ‘Age of Ultron’ scene: is that a Hallicrafters receiver?","author":"Thomas","date":"January 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"With the recent posts about shortwave radio in films (Star Wars and Star Trek),\u00a0I remembered a scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron where I thought I spotted a vintage Hallicrafters receiver. In the scene, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is using an \"old school spy method\" to find the whereabouts of Black\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Avengers-Ultron-Hallicrafters-Radios-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Avengers-Ultron-Hallicrafters-Radios-1-1024x432.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Avengers-Ultron-Hallicrafters-Radios-1-1024x432.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Avengers-Ultron-Hallicrafters-Radios-1-1024x432.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62537,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/harry-trumans-hallicrafters\/","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":5},"title":"Harry Truman\u2019s Hallicrafters","author":"Thomas","date":"April 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Robert, who shares the following: Hi Thomas - I visited the President Truman Library today and noticed an interesting item in their Oval Office recreation. 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