LEARN MORE

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

ON BEING CONNECTED -- 1930s


 

P.S. If you are near a radio, tune in on the Columbia network Saturday p.m., 7 o’clock and hear Byrd talk . . .
Ina Dobson to her son Vance, January 1934

Ina donned her green celluloid visor, turned the back of her old table radio to the light, and assessed the problem. She could see that some wires were loose, and undoubtedly if she soldered these, reception would be restored. She went to the back closet and retrieved the liquid solder from the shelf.

Radio reception in this remote corner of the world was anything but perfect, and this old secondhand set left much to be desired. Still, Ina was grateful to have come by it. Jack had no interest in fooling with it, but someone had to, so with son Earle’s help, Ina had learned the basics of how a radio works and was able to solder wires and perform basic diagnostics.

Ina was grateful when her efforts met with success and the radio was repaired. Sometimes a tube burned out, and then they would likely do without the radio for a time until cash showed up. Once during such a spell, Shirley had let slip to Ethel that the radio wasn’t working, and Ethel had organized a campaign amongst her siblings to raise the money. Soon Ina received dollar bills from Earle, Myrtle, and Ethel, and Vance actually sent a “fiver,” thereby enabling her to buy the needful.    

Ina was not one to express enthusiasm openly, but to herself she admitted that being connected to the world through the radio was lovely. The radio opened her lonely life  at Gilbert to the world of ideas. Turn it on, tune it in -- and it was more than she could wish for -- the news of the day, interviews with interesting people, political speeches, good music, comedy and drama. She found it expansive and intellectually stimulating in a way she had never experienced before.

Of course, you could also depend on the radio to deliver “drivel.” You could find it if you wanted it -- plenty of it. No, radio programming would never replace her love of reading, Ina mused. She would never trade literature for drivel. But, she watched for worthwhile programming -- kept up with the radio schedule as much as she could and made note of certain programs when they were announced, such as this talk by the great polar explorer, Richard E. Byrd.

It was nearly 7:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, January 1934. The little family – Jack, Ina, and daughter Shirley—had supped early, quickly finished the dishes, bathed, and were now settled at the radio to hear Byrd talk. Jack watched as Ina deftly searched the airwaves for the Columbia station out of Portland. It seemed to him that Ina barely turned the dial, but soon she had coaxed that Portland station from jumbled cacophony so that they could listen to Byrd talk about his exploration of the Antarctic, one of their favorite topics. KW

[The advertising is from the December 1936 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.]

7 comments:

  1. Get ready for this. The $375.00 Philco floor model radio would be $6,194 in today's money. Even the $59.95 radio at the bottom of the Crossley ad would be $990.23 today. This helps explain why Ina & Jack had a little table top radio. Who could afford $6,000+ or even $990 for a radio in the 1930's? In small print on one ad "slightly higher in Rocky Mountain States and West." Ouch!

    I remember that we had a little table radio & my father was always tinkering with it. No wonder. Buying a new one was surely out of the question.

    I'm curious about the elevation of the farm. Is it higher than the surrounding land or lower? That would effect radio reception.

    That was a time when repairing a small appliance or radio didn't cost more than buying a new one. Today, repairs on some items are often not worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, another Ina post and I love it! So strange to think about how important a radio was in those days. I really never thought about it before. When I was little, we had a radio (before TV), but until Orofino got its own radio station we didn't have very good reception. I'm sure the canyon walls around the town had something to do with that...

    So, did Ina really learn to do her own repairs? Cool!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes! Ina did make her own radio repairs. Here's what she said about it:

    The radio is up and going, but we must look after the connections as we’re getting poor results. I feel quite proud that I could set it up without trouble and we got different batteries too and different tubes. 12-19-35

    The radio is doing good work in its new set up and would do better if I’d get busy and do some soldering on connections. 1-12-36

    I just fictionalized the history. Leah, the farm is at 3,000 feet, and so yes, they were sitting above the towers at Lewiston. It could be they got stations out of Spokane.

    And of course, Chris, my memories of radio are much like yours. My siblings listened to the radio as they helped with supper and did the dishes. And I remember listening to "Mr. Record Man and the Story Lady." It must have been '58 or '59 when Orofino's KLER was established as a daytime only station. We were so happy to have it, even though it was already the television age.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I forgot they didn't have electricity and would need a battery operated radio. Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love listening to talk radio on road trips. It passes the time faster for me than just listening to music. It engages my mind without distracting me from the road.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My maternal grandfather, C.O. Portfors, owned the Ford dealership in Orofino, and he had a Philco cabinet radio, a beautiful piece of furniture. Apparently Ford owned Philco. He also had a table radio in the breakfast nook.

    Because the radio ran off a battery, I suppose the Dobsons were conservative in using it. During WWII, batteries were not available. Daddy advised Ina to get one immediately if she still could.

    I like talk radio and old-time radio programs -- and silence.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Silence! I like that, too. Just last night I had to say "Can we please turn the TV off? I'm just feeling sensitive to noise right now." Sometimes the noise just feels like stress.

    ReplyDelete