"Static From My Attic" would make a great title for an antique radio blog, but, it is just a coincidence that this month Andy Senior mentioned a recent purchase of several 1920's era battery radios in his column going by that name. An alert reader noticed a familiar model among the radios he listed and sent us a letter which began:
From Norton Bell, Palo Alto, California:
I was surprised to read in your column that you had a Pfanstiehl radio.
My father was the manager of the tiny company in North Chicago IL.
They had a few employees and made battery operated radios and a few with AC power supplies.
They couldn't compete with the newer AC sets and went out of business about 1932. My father lost his job and we had very hard times during the depression.
We had a Pfanstiehl radio in our living room I recall in about 1935.
Do you have a photo of your radio and any information about it??
Carl Pfanstiehl was an independent entrepreneur and was wealthy.
When the economy improved a little my father, Oscar Bell, went back with Carl & they operated a small business until about 1950.
In those days only a few completed high school. My mother used to say proudly "Your father is a high school graduate!" Things have changed.
Upon receiving this letter Andy took some pictures of the radio in question.
Battery operated "Farm Radios" like these were
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Brian Sheridan
