St Regis radio?

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

I've had many working "curtain-burner" radios in my many years of collecting and you could literally lay the cord in a pile of dry paper shreds and nothing will happen. Even after long play time it only gets moderately warm. Pure urban legend that it will burn the house down.

That's been my experience with 'em also. The gripe is more on the cheezyness factor than any real hazard.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

That's been my experience with 'em also. The gripe is more on the cheezyness factor than any real hazard.

I agree. I like those sets with their original thick cloth cords. Right now I have about 5 that work excellent.

[init4fun]

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

That's been my experience with 'em also. The gripe is more on the cheezyness factor than any real hazard.

The real cheap and nasty four tube TRF's were referred to as "Depression radios". They all used the resistive cord droppers and many were sold for around $10 USD. Many of the ones I ran into the cord was damaged one way or another. Most of the time the resistance wire was pulled loose from the plug connection and the plug was replaced.
If the cord was in good condition in later years, many times the resistance wire was rusted open as the wire was some kind of an iron alloy for ballasting action, just like the ballast tubes had.