Vintage Radios: table model "music to my eyes"

The early history of Vintage Radios is the history of technology that produced radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio……                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Wikipedia

Blah, blah, blah.  Who really cares, as long as when you turn the knob, out come your tunes.  And, anyone with a third grade education in antiques knows, that just like other toys, what's really important, is the box it came in, and, when you talk about  classic radios, the box is those fabulous table radio cases that reflected and sometimes  dictated style during the radio heyday's from the early 1930's into the 1950's.

Even the depression of the 1930's couldn't dampen America's romance with the  Vintage Radios.  At a time when it was a struggle to put a roof over their heads, and with the average radio costing $47.00 (prices dropped during the depression, the average cost of a radio in 1929 was $129.00), people found that a radio purchased on installments (71% of all radios purchased in the 1930's were bought on installment payments), still provided inexpensive entertainment.  The floor model and console   radios popular in the 1920's, often made in  elegant styles like the "tombstone & cathedral", began giving way to smaller portable table models, which were less expensive to manufacture, and could be sold for less. Still dominated by wooden cases, manufactures began offering designs rooted in the 1920's deco movement, along with endless variety, more traditional models, many with geometric cutouts and striking 2-tone finishes.

The Great Depression would also have a profound influence on American tastes and, the 1933 Worlds Fair would provide the catalyst for new styles, and table top     radios with Deco, Streamline and Moderne design elements began to appear.    Simplified straight lines and basic aerodynamic curves began overtaking complicated design elements. The earlier "tombstones" were replaced by sleek geometric skyscraper designs, and more table top radios began to appear with metal and bakelite cases, which proved more cost effective than wood, and allowed more flexibility in shape and design.

While a few of the biggest radio manufactures such as Zenith, Crosley & Emerson would continue making mostly traditional wooden cased table radios throughout much of the 1930's, new makers like the unsurpassed "FADA", along with many established radio company's would jump headfirst into the newest materials and design trends.  Countless Vintage Radios in Deco and Moderne designs began appearing, both in plain and painted bakelite cases, and the bright colored catalin favored by "FADA" and others.

By the late l930's and early 40's, virtually every radio manufacturer was making stylish table radio's in ever evolving streamline designs.  By the early 1950's, Zenith had recaptured it's prominence in radio design, with an endless series of contemporary plastic cased radios. The parlor tables and night stands in American homes had never, and may never again looked better.

Today, deco and modern style Vintage Radios are highly prized by collectors.

Other Visitors Search For:

• vintage radios for sale
• vintage crystal radios for sale
• antique zenith radios
• vintage style radio
• vintage radio\s for sale
• vintage am fm clock radio for sale
• silvertone radio on ebay
• OLD TABLE RADIOS FOR SALE
• old style fm radio vehicle
• old general electric radio floor model
• General Electric antiques for sale
• best vintage table radio
• anything
• vintage zenith radios for sale