[ARC5] WW2 Sw Listening - ARC5 Digest, Vol 82, Issue 6

[Glen Zook]

Speaking of old radio programs.  I have a fairly large collection of receivers from the 1920s, 1930s, and into the 1940s.  The late Metz Shatley, WA5KKJ, used to occasionally find radios for me, especially in the rural areas of north Texas.

One evening Metz and a friend were in town and stopped by my house.  I had just finished restoring an Atwater-Kent Model 44 AC operated receiver and although I had turned it off it was still connected to the AC mains and a random length antenna.  I turned on the unit and as it warmed up the friend remarked that old radios should be able to receive old radio programs.  Just then the receiver came to life and, low and behold, there was a radio program from the late 1920s playing!

Both Metz and his friend wanted to know where I had the Part 15 AM broadcaster with tape recorder located.  I assured them that I definitely did not even own such a unit let alone using it at the time.

The program continued for several minutes while we pondered the situation.  Then, the station identified.  Unknown to me, a local Dallas station was playing old radio programs for an hour every evening.  I had tuned to the station before the broadcast began to check out the performance and had not changed the frequency before turning off the radio.  Therefore, when I turned the radio back on the old radio program was on the air!

We all had a good laugh.  But, for a few minutes, it did seem like we were in "The Twilight Zone"!

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com