Bizarre institutional? vacuum tube am radio with weird table cabinet and locks to keep the cabinet secure. Typical EZ fix to get it working but a strange radio www.patreon.com/shango066
Gas and oil companies are intervertenly pushing/forcing people into the electric agenda ... it is all about profits right now for big oil... times change , most don't like it... just like at the turn of the century ... the horse and buggy crowd had to be pulled into the future kicking and screaming ... same will happen today...
I recall the gas lines in 1976, I was living in the DC area, and you could buy a Cadillac for 500 bucks on about any corner of town but look for a VW Bug and they were unobtainable!
This is ridiculous. You couldn't be more wrong. The car was better than horse and buggy for 99% of people. The EV is NOT better for 99% of people. I don't have an EV and could not drive an EV if you gave me one for free. There is nowhere to charge a car in American cities. Cities are loaded with row-homes with on-street parking where spots are nether assigned or defined. You park where you can. Maybe you get lucky and find a spot near your house, maybe you park 3 blocks away. EVs are 10s of thousands of dollars more expensive than gas. 10s of thousands higher you have to finance at high interest rates now. Say goodbye to the 72 month 2% interest loans. All you weirdos with a fetish (and that's what it is) for electric vehicles because, well, reasons, are running face first into REALITY.
Way back in the mid 1950's my favorite cousin became ill with Tuberculous and as treatment required back then, she was hospitalized in the State Sanatorium some 300 miles from our place. Dad had just purchased a new Ford, first new car we ever got, it as a 1954 modal, so he decided to take my cousin's father, his brother up to see her, mom and I went along. WE drove a couple of days, and spent a couple nights in motels. Being very young, and having never spent a night in a place with electric power, I had to play with every light switch and button in the room. When they checked in the desk person wanted to know if we wanted radio with the room, it was a buck extra if I recall. My uncle footed the bill for the radio and that is nearly identical to t he radio in the room except it was all polished wood, sort of like the floor modal radios of the time. It had a key switch that came with the room key if you added the rental fee. I thought it was just the most wonderful thing in the world at the time. When we got to the sanatorium they found out that I was to young to visit, so I stayed in the parking lot in the car and my cousin opened her window on the 4th floor and sat in it, waving at me from the distance. She recovered and now lives in Washington State, She called me on my last birthday, I turned 71 and we talked for over an hour, even talked about that trip. That radio stuck with me, and when I was 10 or so years older, I built one out of an old book case and some plywood Not nearly as nice but it sounded great with a collection of several speakers out of old cars and tvs and such.
Back them a dollar was real money. Gas was 20 cents. (Yeah, I am that old to have been around then and remembered.) I was thinking maybe 50 cents for the radio, or 25 cents.
What a nice story, Thank you. I grew up in the 1980s in New Zealand. I remember staying at motels on holiday and you could pay extra to have a VHS movie played in your room. You chose the movie from a brochure in your room, called the reception and booked a time. They would put the vhs cassette in the player behind reception, and tell you to switch your room TV to a certain channel to watch. Most New Zealand tvs in the 80s were floor standing Japanese console tvs.
Magna or Magnatone is more famous for their guitar amplifiers. I had no idea they did radios. Interesting. I think you were right about this being in a hotel or motel. All the lock stuff is anti-theft for the mid-1950s. Judging by the shape of that speaker cutout, this cabinet was made by Magnatone, not a homebrew. This thing deserves to be restored correctly, IMO, cabinet and all.
This thing looks like it belongs in the day room in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. If you're very, very good then nurse Ratchet might use her key to unlock it so you can listen to the ball game. Very interesting find. Always the best stuff from Shango066, thanks.
That's what I was thinking with the locking switch in the front would kill the power to the set until it was unlocked basically a lockable on-off switch
There is not much cigarette glaze for a hotel room set. I am thinking maybe a school (somewhere with people not allowed to smoke) where they didn't want kids poking the parts.
Magnatone got their start in 1937/8 building coin operated radios for motels/hotels. By the 50's they were building mostly guitar amplifiers that were/are extremely popular with professional guitarists such as Buddy Holly, Billy Gibbons, Neil Young etc. They went out of business at some point but the brand was recently revived by the son of a former employee. They build very high end, hand built, made in the USA guitar amplifiers. Very nice stuff.
Yeah, or hospital...that's my guess. You paid extra to have it unlocked, but if you played it too loud or at bad hours, they locked you out. Envision Nurse Ratchet holding the key asking if you were going to play by the rules or not.
I would suggest the lock is to deter theft of the tubes. The radio itself is attached firmly to the rest of the cabinet, so it's not easy to pull out and carry away. The tubes, however, pull out relatively easy and are small enough to fit in a pocket or hand luggage.
Look at how well this chassis of this radio is made. The tuning shaft runs through the chassis and out the back of the chassis. Very well-made and this project is definitely worth restoring. Get an old-time woodworker and he could reproduce those parts that are damaged by the water the shelf on the bottom and the faceplate and the backplate. If that was mine I would definitely have it restored it's a very nice piece. Very unusual and very rare.
It probably lived in the recreation room of a mental institution. I imagine the wire mesh over the speaker was installed to prevent the inmates from trying to dig the singing demons out of the unit.
I'd keep it, as you said it's "unique", puts a whole new meaning in a "table radio". Radio tunes great as well. Tunes in all the horrific news as well!
I remember, long ago, where "handyman" magazines would have articles on full projects for subscribers to make, I'm betting a project to make a "Radio Table" was in one of them. One of my uncles built a old school "entertainment center" with a ceramic cartridge turntable, a "Pilot" brand tuner (art deco motif too) , square faced similar to that one, with a Bogen 10 Watt tube amp and a woofer/tweeter. It was in our house before I was born, and over the years I gutted the Bogen amp to use for other applications and the rest got tossed. OR, like others had said, could have been a small scale run for hotel/motel use, which makes total sense because of how it is locked down for access. Tubes were cheap back then, but free is even cheaper.
I used to work with a guy who had a console stereo in his parent's living room, but when you opened the doors, it had a Radio Shack Realistic tuner, amplifier , BSR changer and speakers built into it. He said it was a shop-class project that he took on with the help of his parents. I don't much enjoy woodworking, but that would be a cool way to learn it.
Hotel room radio, the front key disabled or enabled the connection to the user-operated power switch. The "crucifix key" allowed hotel staff to swap out chassis. Most were coin-op, some were front-desk enabled. I've seen them at DVHRC Kutztown.
Agree totally. I believe I saw something similar in some old forties flick. Also to your comment, the screws on the bottom helped prevent any theft of the radio itself without difficulty.
The coin-op mechanism would have made it more expensive and required periodic collection. It looks to me like suited to a small roadside motel. A mom-and-pop kind of place.
@@KameraShy My dad's Uncle Phillip owned a Philco dealership, (and an Indian Motorcycle 'Agency'; God, that had to have been COOL-AS- H _ ll!!) . This is the person who piqued my interest in electronics, at around age 10. I remember his recollection of "Tuesdays were 'Y-Day', when he'd park his Boyertown 'Drive-On' van at the YMCA/YWCA, and collect the $$ from the 0.10¢ for one hour radios, and pay the "Y" their split". I believe that most, as you state, were controlled by the front desk.
Saw an absolutely gorgeous 'end table' style radio in the Myrtle Beach area antique shop about 1 yr ago. Had I had a way to get it home, I would have bought it. It had been taken VERY good care of. Finish was almost perfect.
@@CoreyDeWalt I don't recall, I have no mind anymore. LOL! I'm thinking it was a bit pricey, but would've been worth the money since it was in almost perfect shape.
I don't think this was a hotel/motel radio. If the paint and linoleum top are original, and looking at the size and style of it, my guess is that it was made for use in hospital patient rooms, institutions, or nursing homes. The size and style are very similar to bedside tables you see in 40s-50s era photos of hospital rooms. I'm guessing if someone searched enough, they'd find one in an old newspaper or stock photo from the period. The locks were to keep patients or visitors from opening up and tampering with it or stealing the tubes. The linoleum top is for easy cleaning and to handle spills from a water pitcher, etc.
The paint and linoleum look added on to me. Under the paint, there is a dark wood finish. Since the paint is peeling so badly, it cannot stick to that finish. If it was original, there would have been bare wood so the paint would adhere. Also, the grill cloth would have been a different color, not covered with paint. The linoleum looks added on, possibly after the table had been in use for many years to the top finish was worn.
Nursing Homes I could see that, but hospital not so much due to how loud that thing could get plus most hospitals back then had more shared rooms so there would be squabbles over what was playing.
I've seen one of these before at an antique shop up here in Sacramento years back. It had a hotel placard attached to the back. I was thinking about it, but when I went back, it sold. It was very similar to this one, but oak with a nice finish.
Magna Electronics Corp. of Inglewood ,CA Possibly their early venture into radios before going into amplifiers. They made one , six tube radio with two different chassis numbers. The M300-6 and the M400-6 in 1949. A schematic that is available online matches up in the tube ( two are switched) , IF transformers ,speaker and tuner locations so I think this is that model with two different numbers. Maybe one was a regular radio cabinet and the other this wood table version that was found in early motel rooms. That 50L6 should be a 25L6 BTW. Maybe why they added the pot on the back, too loud and distorted sound? It not fossil fuels it's organic fuels! Great resurrection Shango with a bit of mystery throw in for fun! Commentary is as always, perfect.
That set most likely came out of a hotel/motel or hospital, and the lock on the front looks like a switch that was formerly wired into the AC line. If you paid a fee to use the radio, they'd give you the key to turn on the set. The back lock is to keep people out of the inside. Most of these types of radios were coin operated and a few were free-play. I have a Jetco end table motel radio that uses a Packard-Bell chassis and my version is free-play. As far as Magnatone, they were more into guitar amplifiers and I have a record player with that name on it. BTW, I see a 45th week of '46 date code on the output transformer.
MagnaTone they made some really raunchy sounding Guitar amps - So Iwas told /Read they had a true SAW~tooth Tremeloe sound effect - check out tunes like Lonnie Macks "Memphis " . "words Of Love" by Buddy Holly , The String-alongs "wheels" -- They all had this strange RiPply sort of Leslie Speaker Effect that was not as soothing as Fenders Design - but cool in its own right . Supposdely Magnatone was More Into Accordion Amplifiers . I see the Company is Now Revived by one dedicated Music maniac /guitarist!!???
I have a picture of one very similar to this one taken by my grandparents in a bungalow in Daytona Beach, FL. My grandfather said that he needed to pay extra to get a key to turn the radio on, so maybe somebody edited out the key circuit on this one. Of course this was a long time ago in a Ford Galaxy far far away from today.
Shango - As many below have said and you're probably to young to remember but back in the day anything in a hotel/motel room was fair game for removal. That unit was used in a "business" class motel/hotel and I would guess was screwed to the floor to further discourage its removal. When you rented the room you would have had to pay extra, per day, to use it. Normally who ever checked you in would accompany you to your room and would insert the key and turn the power on so the radio could be used OR you would have to pay a refundable fee for the unit power key. I would guess that the pot on the back of the chassis was used to set the max volume that the radio could be played at. Just a comment on your gas comments. The cost of getting the gas out of the ground and processed is the same. It's the middleman, the wholesaler/retailer, who has their fat greedy fingers in the pie! I won't comment on the political processes in play as their outcomes are plain to see by even the dimmest of dims!
I believe that the front key is to disarm the theft alarm so it could be unplugged and the back key is just to keep you out. It's a motel radio from before I was born. I have seen them before but never in service. And if you really want to know what's going on with energy in this country just start reading Joes royal proclamations. Day 1 hour 1 war is declared on the energy industry.
30:26 is absolutely poetry in motion, Shango who isn't afraid of getting the Sh** shocked out of him, tries to put a random laying around cap in as an across the line cap by wiggling the extension cord apart with his foot, all while holding the camera, LOL The headline would be so great "Local man kills himself with a 30 year old Orange Drop"
I'm glad you made it work pretty well. When you stated you were going to leave it original, I was thinking... Neat old radio doesn't work, but keeping it original for kicks. Sounds like dead grandma in the attic. Keeping her around, even though she doesn't work anymore, but she's all original, by golly! Wahh! and the "No" at the end are classic.
@@xaenon I have owned many front wheel drive vehicles and I prefer rear wheel drive for the ride and ease of maintenance and I had at one time a 87 Chevrolet station wagon with a positive traction rear end that would go in the snow better than any front wheel drive vehicle l owned.
I am in Scotland UK, and I'm a retired TV repair man aged 72. This was very interesting for me. It looks like a pre built radio installed in a homebrew cabinet/table. Could the dial screen not be cleaned? I have a friend here who bought a 50s RCA 45s record player. I knew I would have to supply it with 115 volts but our 230 volt system works at 50 Hertz, so a Stepdown transformer made the motor run slow. I eventually found the solution from a U S company. My 230 volts is stepped down to 11volts DC, then an alternator changes that to 115volts at 60Hertz. It even has the correct American 2 pin socket fitted. The only thing is the motor runs slow at first, but within a few minutes it's at the correct speed. I don't know if it's the motor or a slow build up of the correct voltage from the alternator. Anyway, I'm leaving well alone! Good to see stuff I'm not used to. Cheers for now. Jim Howison.📻
Lately I've been hunting up old radio broadcasts from our local radio stations from back in my childhood. You can feel the difference in the culture between night and day in the news coverage and in the level of entertainment.
Wifes name and pic. Mark here. Cool project radio. I heard ole Leon Caplan "The motor man." on that radio, fantastic to hear him again. Great point on gas subject for people from other countries to understand our situation better. Peace
Definitely institutional. Maybe even a hospital ward? I've seen sets like this in rural motels. The locks make sense for anti theft of the chassis. The fact that the pay phone key worked is another clue. Also, definitely, this was built for longevity, durability. Gas price comments are correct, I believe. The cheap gas was legislated because GM lobbied Congress to get away from mass transit, and support union jobs at GM factories. Now the opposite is happening. We are being legislated back to mass transit. Some of my dumb friends thinks this is a denial of constitutional freedoms. No, it's not!
It would make sense that this was probably some sort of motel/hotel radio. (There are plenty of green lawns here in Seattle. I remember in 1973-74 when everybody thought the V8 engine was going to be a thing of the past because of the "Energy Crisis." The more things change, the more they stay the same.)
Very true,people are driving around modern suv’s with huge engines that get worse mileage than some late 50’s and 60’s cars. Like Shango said,Americans have always loved big cars with big v8’s.
I'm not sure how long ago, maybe a decade or more, I at that time paid $3.99 per gallon, the highest for me ever. Sales of gas guzzling pickup trucks went into the basement and smaller cars sold more. Then eventually, I saw gas go as low as $1.39 in my city, more pickups back on the road again. People don't seem to learn that it will happen again such as it's doing now. I last filled up on June 2nd 90 miles from home. When I got back home, had a little more than 3/4 tank left. I only live 1 1/4 miles from work so now as long as the weather is good, I bike to work. Now I know not everyone can do this but if it's possible, ride a bike, great exercise and less visits to the gas station. After driving that 90 miles back home, I've only driven 10 miles and that is my once weekly run around to get food and supplies for the upcoming week. I won't be filling my car up again until July 10th, when I plan on a road trip back to my former home town to visit family.
@@teacfan1080 I believe prices went through the roof again for *political* reasons and an adverse *regulatory* environment. Back in the 1970's, oil shocks were caused by the U.S. being heavily dependent upon imported OPEC oil, which in turn was caused by technological limitations on domestic production at that time. Normally, when prices go up, so does production, as does research and development into more efficient and profitable means of production.
This is probably from a motel room. I've seen many 1950s and 1960s postcards with similar unusual radio cabinet designs, mainly side tables so you could listen to the radio and still be able to put a lamp on top, but I also remember seeing one built into a coffee table in the center of a room
Remember kids, he had gloves on when he put that orange drop cap across the line! That so cracked me up, because I thought, he's not going to really do that, is he?! 😄
Shango, glad you made the gas price comment! People from other countries just don't get it, our country is much bigger than theirs. I've explained that to others on other sites.
Call AAA, they have great lockout service. I had to stop to watch our president fall off of his bicycle a few times,,, now I can resume today's Shango episode.
The bottom line is global carbon reduction, even if not the first order desired effect it's happening. Apparently covid and it's Solutions were not effective enough
I remember seeing those in some old ma/pa Motels back in the 70's. The front key was to enable the power (yes the tv had a key switch too). Yes even back in the day in-room entertainment cost extra.
This reminds me of something I saw in one of those "Select Electronics Projects" booklets in 1974: a "One Station Radio" that some guy designed to keep his kids from tuning in anything but his favorite station. The thing was basically a $25 Lafayette speaker box with a set of those audio amplifier and IF-strip modules they sold in catalogs like Lafayette and Allied. I can picture this table-radio thing being used in a mental institution to keep the inmates from hearing each other's rantings.
This one really interesting due to the bizarre nature of it. Your challenge now is to try to find another, or a brochure showing similar on your future travels. Must be very rare if it is commercial.
"This is the Lockpicking Lawyer and what we have for you today is a bedside table radio and oops it's already open. Let's make sure that's not a fluke. It's open again."
Electronics teacher (about 1980) told me 130 volt bulbs last so long because most homes are 120 volts. So it's not operated at it's max voltage, so the filament does not get quite as hot. Or something like that.
When I was a kid reading comic books they had all that crap they advertised in the back pages. One was a button device that you could insert into a light socket and then screw in the bulb that was supposed to make them last 100 years! Big claims for young minds but from what I understand they were some sort of capacitor that smoothed the peaks of AC voltage and cushioned the bulb from sharp spikes on the power line or something like that. I never thought I could use it as I didn't have to pay for light bulbs back then, just a quarter for 3 comic books tied in a roll with the covers half torn off. Only way I could afford comics.
@@shango066 here's an idea for your AM middle of the desert dxpeditions.get a tecsun an200 medium wave antenna off amazon .they work really well and I'm picking up AM stations 1200 miles away at night in tenerife from the UK. The antenna works by electromagenitic coupling and really gets those hard to tune stations .for more modern radios with a 3.5mm antenna jack .a cable comes included
That Motorola service key you showed that fit into the lock (but didn't open it) is the same blank they used for Rock-Ola jukeboxes back in the day too.
Nice! You can use a scraper to get the paint of the veneer easily and then, hopefully, with some dexterity, you can probably re-attach the peeling veneer back on the wood panels. You can then re=finish or leave it with as is with its weathered look. Great find none-the-less - the radio condition is astonishing as it looks nearly intact! I'd keep the original part in a box, for historical purposes - there's plenty of room in that cabinet. The real mystery is the front lock. Maybe the front panel is not original and was re-purposed, the lock being a remnant from its previous life.
I can’t remember the movie name I saw that had this similar thing to what you have here. I remember the side table between two couches. It looked almost the same, but brown. Clearly, someone was making these as a “ built in radio “ to table niche consumers.
You know, if someone made the Dodge Omni equivalent of an electric car (small, simple and without the unnecessary software and gimmicks of a Tesla) I might be interested. But keeping electric cars as an expensive cult status symbol isn't going to do the green movement any favors.
Hi Shango0. Very interesting radio. I hope you can keep it. Looks to be a Hotel / Motel bed side table. I bet you had to pay extra to use it, in your room. You tell em Shango0. Gas affects everything in this Country. We have no Government,just crazy crooks running things. My wife when she goes grocery shopping. Comes back with less and less and I fear things are going to get much worse. Liked shared has always. All my very best.
I would say a metal health institution at a guess. This unit congers up visions of Jack Nicholson, old buildings, egg shell painted walls, caged windows, cast iron radiators and orderlies wearing white tee shirts and black pants. They probably used radios like this to drown out the tormented whimpers and screams of patients echoing down the corridors. ;-D Interesting how the speaker improved over time. Great video as always.
I left Commiefornia last year. It cost me about $100K to move and it was worth every penny. There is life in the free world. We moved to Georgia, a free state. No masks required since the first "flatten the curve" 6 weeks was it. Businesses are and have been open, firearms laws are reasonable, carry for your protection or don't it us up to you not a bureaucrat in Ca. The streets are safer, trees are everywhere, I have a small lawn at 2 acres. Shango, you need to move from there. I don't know what your ties are but life is 500 percent better in a state that treats its citizens as citizens rather than surfs. Over 60 years in Ca, and it was over 40 too many. When I got out of the Army in 1978, I should never have gone back. GET OUT, EVERYTHING is better from energy prices to unlimited water (your lawn comment was the driving force for this post) to personal freedoms, lower taxes, lower energy prices, cleaner air, less traffic, $25 per year plates for your vehicle regardless if it is brand new or an antique. EVERYTHING is better out of that state!
my uncle was a master carpenter/cabinet maker and vintage tube radio hobby he built stereo consoles better looking than anything orginal gave them to family members as a heirloom the one i got is parts from a 1963 motorola stereo/phono 9 1/2 ft long mahogany birch pine & red silk fabric grill cloth it's got many many many speakers some from guitar amps if you turned volume up all the way it shattered windows in the house every someday i'll service it
You know, Shango, it's kind of sad and almost cruel in a geeky kind of way that you awaken these awesome pieces of tech from a bygone era. Back when they were new, the information and music they demodulated was from a simpler, more moral and ethical time. Society was just a better place. These machines get to wake up to play the tripe and corruption that fills our airwaves of today. Seems almost merciful to let the radios sleep. :-) As always, great little resurrection. I'm always impressed with the very good fidelity of these older rigs with RF front-ends/filtering broader than a barn door. They sound so much better than the SDR/digital tuning with 6 KHz IF bandwidth radio-on-chip junk of today.
@Hitech Rednek,Beautifully put! I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly. Maybe we can get Shango to build a time machine. Where’s Doc Brown when you need him?
Best sounding radio I ever had was a 1935 Philco #20 Baby Grand. A 3 stage TRF radio with push-pull output. Next best was the #25, a Superhet. My dad collected Philco radios, and almost bought a Predicta TV when it was the newest thing. We only had one TV station at the time and we needed other things more than a TV, so mom said no.
Hmmm, not convinced. Things looked better in old photos and film footage because the pppulation was smaller and people *did* take more pride in their homes, neighbourhoods and surroundings. Widespread drug abuse wasn't really a thing yet, with all the associated social problems it creates. Corporations werent out of control as there were still some checks on their excesses. However... beneath the veneer I can't imagine it was much fun if you were a woman stuck in rhe kitchen or a Black person relegated to the back of the bus. I'm autistic so I'd have probably ended up drooling out my days pumped full of shit in some institution. If you could pass as 'normal' I guess the 50s and 60s were indeed a 'golden age' of prosperity and technological progress. But not for everyone.
Those Sprague caps are probably genuine. They're old stock, date code on the one you showed the camera is 1991, but I see no glaring indication they're fakes. I believe Sprague has had a partnership with Nichicon and use them as the OEM for many of their caps. The museum I work for still buys from them and they have the exact same printing as yours - looks like a Nichicon jacket but with the Sprague logo instead.
I noticed the output tube is a 50L6(emerson branded tube made by sylvania) is not the correct tube for that radio. being that it is a 6 tube set, it should have a 35L6 output tube!!!!!!( or use two 6SS7 tubes in place of the 12SK7 tubes)
It's a fascinating piece! I'd love to see it fully restored. Maybe pass it to Mr. Carlson? It also looks remarkably clean inside. My guess is this was designed for a hotel or motel. I remember going on road trips in the late 60s with my parents and there were fancy radios in the hotel rooms.
I agree with those who think it came out of a motel- a table is a much harder thing to steal than a conventional radio. Looks like it was picked up for private use after it left the motel and subsequently painted and linoleum-ised. Nice little thing, maybe I’ll build one for myself one day.
Magna electronics was a local (LA) firm known for guitar amps, although they were pretty small. As far as the table cabinet goes, could be institutional, maybe built in the wood shop of state facility- or maybe small motel owner with woodworking skills...
that's one problem I've had with pay radios, the coin mechs tend to be missing. Though, that one appears to be an electrical key switch instead of a coin operated radio, which is even stranger.
