Tightening the pin grips made all the difference in the world. First I removed each tube and lightly polished the pins. Next I gently tightened the pin grips. After reinserting the tubes I could hear AM! Still, the radio buzzed too much. Next I snugged up each gripper while the tube pin was inserted. I did this for all the tube pins.

When I turned the radio on, the AM reception was crystal clear! To test the FM I had to reassemble the radio so that I could connect the FM antenna.

With the radio assembled and the FM antenna couple attached to the power cord, I am happy to announce that I now can recieve FM.

No static, no buzzing, just rich and clear music from the two speakers.

For the next 3 hours I listened to a live performance of the North Carolina Symphony on WCPE 87.9 out of Wake Forest, NC. (If you like classical music, Google WCPE and you can listen to this station online).

Thanks for all the tips and pointers everyone. And thanks to wa2ise for the tip that finally got my radio running 100%.