Pre-War FM Radios
 

What was the last radio ever bulit with the Old FM Band?

I have a rather tatty Zenith that has BOTH FM bands-Figure it was made 1946-47.

Both FM Bands

Can I find any on ebay?

Here is one of the last, a 1948 (47?) model (7H820):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-ZENITH-...item3ce4da0550
A really ratty 8H023 (also from about 1948):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Zeni...item27e26e4da9
not affiliated,
jr

Zenith made quite a few postwar sets with both bands.

Don't know which was the last here, but I have a web page of these FM sets
http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/fm45.html

Wasn't there a bunch of barmy BS floated after the war that FM would work better at "Higher" frequencies, but the REAL reason was that they wanted/needed the "Old" FM band for TV ? That, & Sarnoff wanted to completely & utterly discredit Armstrong, with whom he was in a big Pissin' War/lawsuit ?

^^Sounds like the same shit today, with how they forced analog TV off the air and replaced it with digital so the FCC could sell off the UHF and VHF bands to the cell phone companies.:rant::nono:

Anyways I have 2 or 3 Zeniths with both FM bands.


Hay Mario, does my Avatar look familiar....

No way of knowing, and their egos were probably too big, but if Armstrong mentioned that FM would make a great soundtrack for Sarnoff's television, thus making TV a "killer app", maybe they wouldn't have gotten into this contest? :scratch2: I've always hated pissin contests myself...

Stromberg-Carlson also had a few models with both bands, such as the 1200 series, and the 1135 "monster chassis" (my opinion). Maybe a couple of others.
Kevin

Other things to note! The old pre-WW II FM band and Old and New FM band sets were much more common in Northeastern states, due to FM being more commonplace there. Probably more of these sets from there than from other areas of the USA, though out West there likely are a lot of them in and around California. FM in Eastern Tennessee didn't begin catching on commercially until 1967. Before that, we had less than one dozen FM stations from Upper East Tennessee to Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1966 in Knoxville, we had 91.9 WUOT-FM, we had WBIR FM 103.5, we had WSEV 102.1 in Sevierville, and one other station I remember. In late 1966, WIVK-FM 107.7 signed on which was the first Knoxville station not dependent on subcarrier background music revenue.

Don't forget WEZK-FM, 97.5, Kent. They played "Beautiful Music", which often was remakes of almost current top-40 tunes, that had the harder edges buffed off, to make them more palatable to an older audience.

I used to have this 1948 Stromberg-Carlson console that had both.

Sandy G,

WEZK didn't sign on until 1967. And first signed on with a predecessor call sign. 1967 in the Knoxville area was a major year for new FM station builds. Several new ones built that year. WEZK was built and signed on by South Central Communications, the Muzak Franchisee. For many years, the SCA generated most of the revenue for this station.

One of the 1200 series sets. Nice pic! Thanks.
kevin

You're likely right. Don't remember my mom & dad listening to the radio in the car much til after we got the Mercury Colony Park station wagon, which was a '67.WEZK came in pretty well up here in Greater Bugtussle, seemed like a LOT better than it does now. But now, too, the band is CROWDED-Back in antebellum '67, it sure wasn't.

Me, too! The 1210.

I grew up in Sevier county, and whenever it snowed we tuned in to WSEV to hear if school was closed. WSEV 102.1 FM played elevator music, and 930 AM played country and had a lot of local talk programming. Even though we were only about 20 miles away from their tower, I remember the FM broadcast was harder to pick up than the AM was.

I have a S-C like this, identical dials. Model 1210PLM, 1947 IIRC

Pardon the off subject, but what record changer did either of yours have? Mine's gone.

I found a pic of the changer.

I never knew that they made radios with both versions of FM. It wasn't till my purchase of a beautiful Philco 42-350 table set that knew that there was an 'old' FM as well as what we know today. To beat all my Philco has AM, Shortwave, and the old FM which is marked 21-99 with no reference to frequency multipliers such as Kilo and Mega. I think it simply says Station call signs.

So, part of the reason I bought it was the novelty of having an old set with FM. I have others, but they are normal. I find that I still like the radio which is far from low end with the pre-set fake marble push-buttons and finely finished wood. It goes well in a now separated section of wooden radios that I have divided off from the Bakelite sets. I just wish they had thought of doing both bands as there really isn't anything on the rather low frequencies that this set pulls in.

But there *is* a frequency reference... channels 21 to 99 equals 42.1 to 49.9 MHz as i understand it.

jr

Here's a list of stations that used to broadcast in the old 45MHz FM band:

K45LA Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles 44.5
K49LA Hughes Tool Co, Los Angeles, 44.9
KALW Board of Education, San Francisco United School District San Francisco, 42.1
WTIC-FM Travelers B/c Service Corp. (WTIC), (45.3), Hartford W53H
WDRC-FM WDRC Inc. (WDRC), (46.5), Hartford W65H
WINX-FM WINX B/c Co. (WINX), (43.2), Washington DC
WTOP-FM/WHUR Jansky & Bailey, Washington DC 43.2
WOWO-FM Westinghouse Radio Stations (WOWO), (44.9 mc), Ft. Wayne
WABW Associated Broadcasters (WBBW), (47.3 mc), Indianapolis
W45V Evansville On the Air, Inc, Evansville IN, 44.5
W79C Oak Park Realty & Amusement, Chicago 47.9
WBEZ Board of Education, City of Chicago, Chicago, IL 42.5
WWZR/WEFM/WUSN Zenith Chicago W51C 45.1
WIUC University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 42.9
WBKY University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 42.9
WBZ-FM Westinghouse Radio Stations (WBZ), (46.7 mc), Boston W67B
WMNE Yankee Network (43.9 mc), Boston
WGTR Yankee Network (WNAC), (44.3 mc), Boston W43B
WMTW-FM Yankee Network, Boston W39B
WBZA-FM Westinghouse Radio Stations (WBZA), (48.1 mc), Springfield
WENA Evening News Assn. (WWJ), (44.5 mc), Detroit
W77XL WJIM Inc, Lansing, 47.7
W81SP Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc, Springfield MO, 48.1
KMBC-FM Midland B/c Co. (KMBC), (46.5 mc), Kansas City
WFMN Edwin H. Armstrong (44.1 mc), Alpine, NJ
WNBF-FM Wylie B. Jones Adv. Agency (WNBF), (44.9 mc), Binghamton
WQXQ Interstate B/c Co. (WQXR), (45.9 mc), New York
WABF Metropolitan Television Inc. (47.5 mc), New York
WEAF-FM/WNBC-FM National Broadcasting Co, New York 42.6
WABC W67NY Columbia Broadcasting System Inc, NY, 46.7
W99NY Frequency Broadcasting Corp, NY, 49.9
WHNF W63NY Marcus Loew Booking Agency, NY, 46.3
W55NY William G. H. Finch, NY, 45.5
WNYC-FM City of New York, Municipal Broadcasting Co, 43.9
WOR-FM Bamberger Broadcasting Service, New York 43.4, 47.1
WGYN W47NY Muzak Corp, New York, 44.7
WHFM Stromberg-Carlson Co. (WHAM), (45.1 mc), Rochester W51R
WHEF WHEC Inc. (WHEC), (44.7 mc), Rochester W43R
WTAG-FM Telegram Publishing Co, Worcester ???
WGFM General Electric Co. (WGY), (48.5 mc), Schenectady
WBCA Capitol B/c Co. (44.7 mc), Schenectady
WMIT Gordon Gray (WSJS), (44.1 mc), Winston-Salem, NC
WELD RadiOhio Inc. (WBNS), (44.5 mc), Columbus W45CM
WBOE Cleveland City Board of Education, Cleveland, OH 42.5
KYW-FM Westinghouse Radio Stations (KYW), (45.7 mc), Philadelphia
KDKA-FM Westinghouse Radio Stations (KDKA), (47.5 mc), Pittsburgh
W81PH Seaboard Radio Broadcasting Corp, Philadelphia 48.1
WSM-FM National Life & Accident Insurance Co. Nasvhille 44.7
K47SL Radio Service Corp. of Utah, Salt Lake City 44.7
WTMJ-FM Journal Co. (WTMJ), (45.5 mc), Milwaukee W55M
WEBC-FM Head of the Lakes Broadcasting Co, Superior, Wi 43

I have a Stromberg chassis like that console pic, two bands on top and a longer one across the bottom. Might be a 1210 or something in the 1100 series. Only the chassis though. I think it belonged to a tabletop set though, not a console. Big ugly rectangular box with a built-in speaker. Just asking for feedback on that thing!

The console pic in post #21 and #13? Looks like a 1210 to me. I'll bring a copy of the Sam's with me on Saturday for you.