1940 Philco Radio
Sanders and Lucetta (Ray) Steele lived in Huntington, West
Virginia. I always called them “Aunt” and “Uncle” but technically
Lucetta was my Mother’s 1st cousin, once removed. Anyway,
whenever we visited Huntington, where all my Mother’s people were, we
always stayed at Lucetta and Sanders’ home. We would sleep there,
eat there and do our visiting to the other relatives in Wayne
County. I don’t know why that was, looking back on it, but I
don’t remember ever eating or sleeping at anyone else’s home there but
rarely. As a child it was generally quite boring. There
were no other kids to play with the exception of my Uncle Paul and
Naomi’s daughter Ruth Ann (who was the same age as me), but she was a
GIRL. There was Lucetta’s sister Gladys that we’d visit
occasionally and they had an older boy and a GIRL the same age as I, (who also was the first girl I ever kissed, or should I
say kissed me) and they also had the American Bricks that I first
played with, later to get my own in 1950.
The hours spent at Lucetta’s alone were especially monotonous until I
discovered the big Philco radio that they let me play with. I had
to sit on the floor with my ear to the speaker so as not to disturb the
grown-ups in their conversations. Keep in mind, this was back in
the days when children were to be seen and not heard. I knew
better than to interrupt or be a nuisance, or Dad would raise that one
eyebrow, which was effective whether in a small group or across a
crowded room! Amazing how one gesture can convey a thousand
words. And let me be quick to say that Dad was never overly
strict or abusive, it was just that old adage “the best discipline is a
lack of any visible discipline”so I can’t begin to tell what power was
behind that gesture, it was just there.
Anyway, less I digress too far, it must have been 1950, the year we got our new Pontiac that I remember
spending the most time in front of the radio. I was 11 and radio
was to me then what DVD’s and MP3's are to kids today. The
shortwave bands and the police bands were such a fascination, along
with the few AM bands we could get back there in West Virginia.
Stations were mostly WSM Nashville and KDKA Pittsburgh.
In 1961 Barb and I were married. We went through Huntington on
our Honeymoon and spent the night at Lucetta and Sanders’ home (where
else in Huntington) on our way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was
in the summer of 1966 that we brought the radio home. We had
rented a u-haul trailer to bring home the pump organ and Lucetta
suggested that if we had room, we could have the radio. At the
time, it still played but the wires were all brittle so it just sat
until last year (2003) when we decided to have it repaired. It
has taken my friend Lance Kula the best part of a year to get it in
tip-top shape. He has remarked often that he has never seen a
radio of this vintage in such pristine condition. The pushbuttons
and station call letters have been replaced, as were all critical wires
and internal parts changed out with modern wherever possible to not
change the outward appearance. It may well be one of the best
specimens of a 1940 Philco anywhere.