[NJARC] Hands-on Radio History Jan. 17

[Alex Magoun]

Please post the release below on the NJARC website and distribute to all and
sundry.  I'll be back on Jan. 5th.
    Happy Holidays, everyone,
Alex

    The David Sarnoff Library reminds you to save Saturday, January 17, for the
return of Hands-on Radio History!  The program is free and open to the public
for a day of electronic entertainment and education from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.  It will
take place at Sarnoff Corporation's Auditorium and the David Sarnoff Library,
201 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ.  Co-sponsored by the New Jersey Antique
Radio Club, the event promises something for all ages and all kinds of
radio-curious visitors.
    On the one hand, the Radio Club offers a free clinic for radio repair and
informal appraisal of the old RCA Victor, Philco, Zenith, or mystery treasures
from your attic, basement, or garage.  Call (609) 734-2636 to make an
appointment on the hour for one-on-one attention.  Many radios can be fixed in
less than 60 minutes, and the Club�s experts will do it for free!
     On the other hand, informal presentations and hands-on learning will unfold
throughout the day, with no need to sign up.  Attend Al Klase�s talk and
demonstrations of �Radio from A-Z� at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m., and find out why people
couldn�t send photos over cell phones a hundred years or even five years ago.
Al's collection of hands-on exhibits will available throughout the day, offering
children safe and exciting opportunities to recreate the electrical and
electronic eureka moments of scientists and inventors over the last 200 years.
   Other ongoing demos and exhibits include Scott Marshall, one of the world�s
finest thereminists, who will explain and play the very first electronic music
synthesizer.  Rob Flory will turn into the "Human Modem" via an RCA Victor radio
built in Camden for the U.S. Navy during World War II.
    For those who harbor a warm spot in their hearts for 45 records and players,
the world�s leading authority, Phil Vourtsis, will play the music you want, when
you want it, and show why RCA switched from records made of slate powder and
insect goo to discs made of pure Vinylite!
    Visitors are encouraged to remember where and how they used their first
radio as they look at the
world�s first transistor radio, invented at the adjacent David Sarnoff Research
Center in 1952.
    In 2000, it was the Internet�in the 1920s it was broadcast radio!  A craze
of equally irrational exuberance, back then there was a cornucopia of books,
magazines, toys and puzzles to match the programming.  Gerry and Marsha Simkin
will open their  normous collection of radio realia to document the era and
allow visitors to handle some of the treasured artifacts from the past.
    Hey, where�s the remote?  Early television, with lots of knobs, three
channels, and small screens made it harder to be a couch potato in 1950.  Alex
Magoun promises that visitors will be able to see themselves in living black and
white through a 1951 TV camera on RCA�s best-selling, �million-proofed� 1948
set, and watch Mary Martin fly through the air in the classic color �Peter Pan�
musical of 1959 on a rare working model of RCA�s first color set, the CT100,
which celebrates its golden anniversary in 2004.
    For details and/or directions call 609-734-2636, or check the website at
http://www.sarnoff.com/contact/directions.asp.