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Antique Replica Radios & CD Players |
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1930's Antique Replica Cathedral Radio with CD PlayerThe Cathedral radio, introduced in 1932, is one of the most widely recognized designs of all antique radios. It has quite simply been dubbed the “Cathedral” or is sometimes referred to as the “Gothic.” This remarkably rich replica is outfitted with an arched veneered top and applied solid wood moldings are hand rubbed to perfection using Crosley’s same unflinching standards. Its smooth round edges, woven grill cloth, detailed fretwork and antiqued bronze face plate lend a true air of authenticity to this time honored Crosley. The Crosley Cathedral CD features a programmable, front-loading CD player with LED display. It is so much like the original, but with all the bells and whistles of present-day technology.
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1950's Antique Replica Corsair Clock RadioWhen it comes to our most cherished electronic item, lets face it, our alarm clock probably doesn't rank right up there at the top of the list. Who really enjoys that annoying reminder to get out of bed each morning anyway? Well cry "SLEEP" no more! Crosley's alarm clock radio with CD Player is not only functional but fabulous. Styled out like a 1950's automobile, this beauty features enough color and chrome to get your engines revved up and rolling each morning. This vintage icon has clean streamlined sophistication coupled with all the functionality one could ever hope for. Modern day conveniences incorporate an AM/FM radio, programmable CD player with 20-track memory, dual alarms that can be set and used independently and as if that weren't enough you can opt to wake to CD, radio or buzzer alarm. Combine these features with dynamic stereo speakers and you have no reason not to get out of bed each morning. Click Here to see it in Black. Click Here to see it in Pink. Click Here to see it in Blue. Click Here to see it in Purple.
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Thunderbird Replica Neon Clock Radio with CD PlayerWake to radio CD or alarm with this nostalgic neon clock radio / CD player. This nostalgic clock radio features 50th anniversary Ford Thunderbird styling, chrome trim, a stereo radio and CD player with a real neon light which circles the face. Gentle wake.
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Crosley Explorer Satellite RadioThe successful launch of Explorer I by NASA on February 1, 1958, marked the USA’s official entry in the space race, a water shed moment of pride for all Americans. In it’s early days, the satellite was strictly a government property; today they contribute to the public sector in all areas of communications-including radio. Our new partnership with satellite radio leader XM® Satellite Radio has yielded Crosley Radio’s own 'first' - the Explorer 1 tabletop sound system. This little box has it all. Start with our exclusive AroundSound™ system in stereo supported by THREE speakers and ported bass for incredible "Out of the box" sound. With all that power, what should you listen to? Talk radio and NPR are there for the asking through our digital AM/FM tuner. Need more choices? Add XM*, and enjoy over 150 digital radio channels of commercial - free music and premier news, sports, talk, traffic and weather. Ready to fire up your favorite download? Use our Portable Audio Ready feature, hook up your MP3 and let the good times roll! All this packed into a handcrafted wooden cabinet with beveled aluminum accents. *XM $12.95 monthly service subscription and required antenna sold separately. XM service only available in the 48 contiguous United States. ©2006 XM Satellite Radio Inc. All rights reserved.
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Crosley Solo Radio With AroundSound™Say hello to the Solo, Crosley's first offering in its new Audiophile line of high-end audio products. The Solo is a little different than anything that you have ever seen, or heard before. Start with the clean, "new-stalgic" look. Taking design cues from modern art, the corners are gently rounded to create the Solo effect. This "today" look is nicely complemented by the airplane tuning dial. The true magic of this little wonder lies in its ability to produce the cleanest, most consistent sound of any radio on the market. Crosley accomplishes this with AroundSound™, a proprietary design philosophy that eliminates "hot spots" in sound reproduction. Regardless of its placement in a room, the Solo delivers a measurable difference in acoustic consistency - more than three times as its nearest competitor. To the consumer, this means a more pleasurable listening experience, creating an enveloping effect that wraps the listener in a comfortable cocoon of pleasant, warm tone. Enjoy the precise AM/FM tuner, or check out your "portable" tunes with our portable Audio Ready feature. Just connect any portable audio device with included hardware and prepare yourself for a unique listening experience.
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1930's Antique Replica Nomad RadioGoing places never sounded better. Inspired by vintage luggage and based on a 1930s design, the Nomad Portable is a small wonder. Lightweight, stylish and capable, with a dedicated Aux Input for your iPod/MP3 player, laptop or turntable! Richly detailed sound reproduction from a full-range speaker with SRS resonance enhancement and a sturdy wood cabinet dressed in classic tweed vinyl. The included power adapter allows you to conveniently select between wall power and batteries. Note: Includes iPod/MP3 cord. iPod device not included.
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The theoretical basis of the propagation of electromagnetic waves was first described in 1873 by James Clerk Maxwell in his paper to the Royal Society A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field, which followed his work between 1861 and 1865.
In 1878 David E. Hughes was the first to transmit and receive radio waves when he noticed that his induction balance caused noise in the receiver of his homemade telephone. He demonstrated his discovery to the Royal Society in 1880 but was told it was merely induction.
It was Heinrich Rudolf Hertz who, between 1886 and 1888, first validated Maxwell's theory through experiment, demonstrating that radio radiation had all the properties of waves (now called Hertzian waves), and discovering that the electromagnetic equations could be reformulated into a partial differential equation called the wave equation.
The identity of the original inventor of radio, at the time called wireless telegraphy, is contentious. Claims have been made that Nathan Stubblefield invented radio before either Nikola Tesla or Guglielmo Marconi, but his device seems to have worked by induction transmission rather than radio transmission.
In 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio communication. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of radio communication. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube. He initially used magnetic receivers, unlike the coherers used by Marconi and other early experimenters.
In 1894 British physicist Sir Oliver Lodge demonstrated the possibility of signaling using radio waves using a detecting device called a coherer, a tube filled with iron filings which had been invented by Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti at Fermo in Italy in 1884. Edouard Branly of France and Alexander Popov of Russia later produced improved versions of the coherer. Popov, who was the first to develop a practical communication system based on the coherer, is usually considered by his own countrymen to have been the inventor of radio. The Indian physicist, Jagdish Chandra Bose, demonstrated publicly the use of radio waves in November of 1894 in Calcutta, but he was not interested in patenting his work.
In 1895, Guglielmo Marconi sent a telegraph message without wires, but he didn't send voice over the airwaves; Reginald Fessenden, in 1900, accomplished that and made a weak transmission. On Christmas Eve, 1906, using his heterodyne principle, Reginald Fessenden transmitted the first radio broadcast in history from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing the song "O Holy Night" on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible.
In 1896 Marconi was awarded what is sometimes recognized as the world's first patent for radio with British Patent 12039, Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for. In 1897 he established the world's first radio station on the Isle of Wight, England. The same year in the U.S., some key developments in radio's early history were created and patented by Tesla. The U.S. Patent Office reversed its decision in 1904, awarding Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, possibly influenced by Marconi's financial backers in the States, who included Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. Some believe this was done to allow the U.S. government to avoid having to pay the royalties that were being claimed by Tesla for use of his patents.
In 1909, Marconi, with Karl Ferdinand Braun, was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for "contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". However, Tesla's patent (number 645576) was reinstated in 1943 by the U.S. Supreme Court, shortly after his death. This decision was based on the fact that prior art existed before the establishment of Marconi's patent. Some believe the decision was made for financial reasons, to allow the U.S. government to avoid having to pay damages that were being claimed by the Marconi Company for use of its patents during World War I (ignoring the prior art).
Marconi opened the world's first "wireless" factory in Hall Street, Chelmsford, England in 1898, employing around 50 people. Around 1900, Tesla opened the Wardenclyffe Tower facility and advertised services. By 1903, the tower structure neared completion. Various theories exist on how Tesla intended to achieve the goals of this wireless system (reportedly, a 200 kW system). Tesla claimed that Wardenclyffe, as part of a World System of transmitters, would have allowed secure multichannel transceiving of information, universal navigation, time synchronization, and a global location system.
The next great invention was the vacuum tube detector, invented by a team of Westinghouse engineers.
On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden (using his heterodyne principle) transmitted the first radio audio broadcast in history from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing O Holy Night on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. The world's first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan. The world's first regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment commenced in 1922 from the Marconi Research Centre at Writtle near Chelmsford, England.
The first benefit seen to radio telegraphy was the ability to establish communication between coast radio stations and ships at sea. A company called British Marconi was established to make use of Marconi's and others' patents. This company along with its subsidiary American Marconi, had a stranglehold on ship to shore communication. It operated much the way American Telephone and Telegraph operated until 1983, owning all of its own equipment and refusing to communicate with non-Marconi equipped ships. Many inventions improved the quality of radio, and amateurs experimented with uses of radio, thus the first seeds of broadcasting were planted.
Charles David Herrold, an electronics instructor in San Jose, California constructed the first broadcasting station. It used the spark gap technology, but modulated the carrier frequency with the human voice, and later music. The station "San Jose Calling" (there were no call letters), was first established in April 1909, and has continued an unbroken lineage to eventually become today's KCBS in San Francisco.
Herrold, the son of a Santa Clara Valley farmer, coined the terms "narrowcasting" and "broadcasting", respectively to identify transmissions destined for a single receiver such as that on board a ship, and those transmissions destined for a general audience. The term "broadcasting" had been used in farming to define the tossing of seed in all directions. While Charles Herrold did not claim to be the first to transmit the human voice, he did claim to be the first to conduct "broadcasting". To facilitate the spreading of the radio signal in all directions, he designed omni-directional antennas, which he mounted on the rooftops of various buildings in San Jose.
Herrold also holds the title as the first broadcaster to accept advertising. He exchanged publicity for a local record store for records to play on his station.
Better known than Charles Herrold, Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Scripps' Detroit News in Detroit, Michigan were mistakenly credited as the first US broadcasters in the early 1920s. Broadcasting was not yet commercially supported; the stations owned by the manufacturers and department stores were established to sell radios and those owned by newspapers to sell newspapers and express the opinions of the owners. Westinghouse was brought into the patent allies group, General Electric, American Telephone and Telegraph, and Radio Corporation of America, and became a part owner of RCA. All radios made by GE and Westinghouse were sold under the RCA label 60% GE and 40% Westinghouse. ATT's Western Electric would build radio transmitters. The patent allies attempted to set up a monopoly, but they failed due to successful competition. Much to the dismay of the patent allies, several of the contracts for inventor's patents held clauses protecting "amateurs" and allowing them to use the patents. Whether the competing manufacturers were really amateurs was ignored by these competitors.
Old-Time Radio (OTR) or the Golden Age of Radio is a term used to refer to radio programs mainly broadcast during the 1920s through the late 1950s. The end of the OTR era was marked by the final CBS broadcasts of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar on September 30, 1962.
Although very little radio comedy-drama currently airs on American radio, it continues at full strength on British and Irish stations, and to a lesser degree in Canada. Regular broadcasts of radio plays are also heard in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. In the United States, vintage shows and new audio productions are accessible more on recordings rather than over the air. The audio theatre art form was invented prior to radio, developing in the 1880s and 1890s on early wax recordings. The first examples were recordings of vaudeville sketches, sometimes modified for the medium, but original audio pieces were being created well before Reginald Fessenden first broadcast sound over the radio on Christmas Eve, 1906.
Before the expansion of television in the early 1950s, radio was the most popular home entertainment system across the United States. With the rise of the movie industry, America's appetite for mass entertainment grew. As with films, early radio shows reflected vaudeville origins and usually featured variety shows with music, ethnic humor and often suggestive situations. As the medium matured, sophistication increased. By the mid-1930s radio featured genres and formats popular in other forms of American entertainment -- adventure, comedy, drama, horror, mystery, musical variety, romance, thrillers -- along with farm reports, news, weather, commentary and panel discussion shows.
Old-Time Radio (OTR) or the Golden Age of Radio is a term used to refer to radio programs mainly broadcast during the 1920s through the late 1950s. The end of the OTR era was marked by the final CBS broadcasts of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar on September 30, 1962.
Although very little radio comedy-drama currently airs on American radio, it continues at full strength on British and Irish stations, and to a lesser degree in Canada. Regular broadcasts of radio plays are also heard in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. In the United States, vintage shows and new audio productions are accessible more on recordings rather than over the air. The audio theatre art form was invented prior to radio, developing in the 1880s and 1890s on early wax recordings. The first examples were recordings of vaudeville sketches, sometimes modified for the medium, but original audio pieces were being created well before Reginald Fessenden first broadcast sound over the radio on Christmas Eve, 1906.
Before the expansion of television in the early 1950s, radio was the most popular home entertainment system across the United States. With the rise of the movie industry, America's appetite for mass entertainment grew. As with films, early radio shows reflected vaudeville origins and usually featured variety shows with music, ethnic humor and often suggestive situations. As the medium matured, sophistication increased. By the mid-1930s radio featured genres and formats popular in other forms of American entertainment -- adventure, comedy, drama, horror, mystery, musical variety, romance, thrillers -- along with farm reports, news, weather, commentary and panel discussion shows.
Top comedy talents surfed the airwaves for many years: Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Victor Borge, Fanny Brice. Bob Burns, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Red Skelton and Ed Wynn. More laughter was generated by such shows as Abbott and Costello, Amos 'n' Andy, Burns and Allen, Ethel and Albert, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve and The Halls of Ivy. Radio comedy ran the gamut from the country humor of Lum and Abner and Minnie Pearl to the dialect characterizations of Mel Blanc and the caustic sarcasm of Henry Morgan. Gags galore were delivered weekly on Stop Me If You've Heard This One and Can You Top This?, panel programs devoted to the art of telling jokes. Quiz shows were lampooned on It Pays to Be Ignorant, and other memorable parodies were presented by such satirists as Spike Jones, Stoopnagle and Budd, Stan Freberg and Bob and Ray.
Some shows originated as stage productions: Clifford Goldsmith's play What a Life was reworked into NBC's popular, long-run The Aldrich Family (1939-1953) with the familiar catchphrase, "Coming, Mother!" Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway hit, You Can't Take It with You (1936), became a weekly situation comedy heard on Mutual (1944) with Everett Sloane and later on NBC (1951) with Walter Brennan.
Other shows were adapted from comic strips, such as Blondie, The Gumps, Li'l Abner, Little Orphan Annie, Popeye the Sailor, Red Ryder, Reg'lar Fellers, Terry and the Pirates and Tillie the Toiler. Bob Montana's redheaded teen of comic strips and comic books was heard on radio's Archie Andrews from 1943 to 1953. The Timid Soul was a 1941-1942 comedy based on cartoonist H.T. Webster's famed Casper Milquetoast character.
The Lux Radio Theater offered adaptations of Hollywood movies, performed before a live audience, often with cast members from the original films. Suspense, Escape, The Mysterious Traveler, Inner Sanctum were popular thriller anthology series. Leading writers who created original material for radio included Norman Corwin, Archibald MacLeish, Arthur Miller, Arch Oboler, Rod Serling and Irwin Shaw.
Most American radio network programs were presented live, and they were often re-performed for listeners in Western time zones. Network policy did not permit the broadcast of recorded programming during most of the OTR era. For a variety of reasons, however, many programs were recorded as they were broadcast. In some cases, the recording was made at the point of origination (usually network studios in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles). In other cases, it was made at an affiliate station. For example, a program originating at CBS in New York might be recorded off the network circuit at WJSV in Washington. A relatively few surviving programs were recorded off the air ("airchecks"), usually at a recording studio, since home recording equipment was uncommon during the OTR era. Before magnetic tape came into use in the early 1950s, the format was normally 16-inch diameter "transcription disks" (also known as ETs, for "electrical transcription"). Most of the OTR programs in circulation among collectors – whether on tape, CD or MP3 – originated with these ETs.
During part of the OTR era, the Armed Forces Radio Service (later Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) obtained copies of network radio entertainment programming for distribution to AFRS radio stations serving U.S. troops overseas. The programs were edited to delete commercials, and disks were pressed for shipment to stations. Many OTR shows have survived only in the edited AFRS version. (Some exist in both original and AFRS formats.)
A relatively small number of surviving series were recorded for syndication. These programs were typically distributed to stations on transcription disk, and the station would then play the program on the air at their convenience. Like syndicated television programming today, different stations played the programs at different days and times.
Vintage radio is fondly remembered by most Americans of the right age for at least a few trademark sounds, phrases and events: the famous broadcast of The War of the Worlds by Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air; the creaking-door sound effect which framed each episode of Inner Sanctum; Jack Benny's famous call for "Rochester" (and the famous answers of Eddie Anderson; the clipped speech of Jack Webb on Dragnet; the "Hi-Yo, Silver!"call of the Lone Ranger; the cackle of The Shadow: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows..."
RCA was formed in 1919 as a publicly-held company owned in part by AT&T and GE. David Sarnoff was named General Manager. RCA's charter required it be mostly American-owned. RCA took over the assets of American Marconi, and was responsible for marketing GE and Westinghouse's radio equipment. It also acquired the patents of United Fruit and Westinghouse, in exchange for ownership stakes.
In many ways the story of RCA is the story of David Sarnoff. His drive and business acumen led to RCA becoming one of the largest companies in the world, successfully turning it into a conglomerate during their era of their success.
By 1926, RCA had grasped the market for commercial radio, and purchased the WEAF and WCAP radio stations and network from AT&T, merged them with RCA's own attempt at networking, the WJZ New York/WRC Washington chain, and formed the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
In 1929, RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous "Victrola") and phonograph records (in British English, "gramophone records"). The company then became RCA-Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper trademark. RCA Victor produced many radio-phonographs. The company also created new techniques for adding sound to film.
In 1939, RCA demonstrated the first television system at the New York World's Fair. With the introduction of the NTSC standard, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the start of commmercial television transmission on July 1, 1941. World War II slowed the deployment of television in the US, but RCA began selling television sets almost immediately after the war was over.
Antitrust concerns led to the breakup of the NBC radio networks by the FCC, a breakup affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. On October 12, 1943, the "NBC Blue" radio network was sold to Life Savers candy magnate Edward J. Noble for $8,000,000, and renamed "The Blue Network, Inc". It would become the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1946. The "NBC Red" network retained the NBC name, and RCA retained ownership.
In 1949, RCA-Victor developed and released the first 45 rpm record to the public, answering CBS/Columbia's 33⅓ rpm "LP".
RCA Video-Tape machineIn 1953, RCA's color-TV standard was adopted as the standard for American color TV. RCA cameras and studio gear, particularly of the TK-40/41 series, became standard equipment at many American television network affiliates. Perhaps surprisingly David Sarnoff commented in 1955, "Television will never be a medium of entertainment".
Today, beautiful replicas of old RCA radios and Victrola phonographs can be found gracing homes and offices everywhere.
These articles are licensed under the "GNU Free Documentation License". They use material from the Wikipedia articles; "Radio", "History_of_radio", "RCA" and "Old-time_radio".
Crosley's idea was a simple one. Design a fully functioning radio, meticulously craft each unit with obsessive detail and precise accuracy, and of course add a measure of consideration for the wallet. Because of his creativity, innovation and ingenuity Crosley was dubbed ‘The Henry Ford of Radio' - and so began Crosley Radio which was to become the world's largest radio manufacturer.
He's most well-known for the mass production and marketing of radios and the creation of WLW - "The Nation's Station" and the 500,000 watt tower he constructed that transmitted FDR's fireside chats. Those signals were reported to have been heard as far away as Australia! By the mid 1900's, he presided over a star-studded radio empire that featured such stars as Rosemary Clooney, Red Skelton, Jack Benny and more.
A true industrialist, Crosley also became known for a multitude of ventures. He was infamous for the Crosley - a miniature-sized automobile, fashioned after the lightweight European cars. The chubby-profiled vehicle promised 50 miles to the gallon and was sold in department stores for just $325. He got involved in many other ventures including the Shelvador refrigerator, the Moonbeam airplane, the first car radio - the Roamio, the Icy-Ball chemical-mechanical ice box and the Go-bi-bi go-kart/stroller, to name a few.
Today, the Crosley philosophy remains virtually unchanged. The Crosley name lives on with superbly detailed replicas that truly transcend time. Reintroductions of original vintage radios and turntables feature the newest technologies graced by unforgettable Crosley stylings. As a leading manufacturer of vintage wares, the Crosley Collection will excite you with completely unexpected treasures featuring pleasantly familiar twists. Their extensive collection of antique replicas are painstakingly rendered after yesterday's old radios, jukeboxes and phonographs we've all come to know and love.
This article uses material by permission of The Crosley Radio Corporation.
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Copyright © 2007 DCW Store Jukeboxes, Radios & Phonographs. All rights reserved. |
