@musichal I always enjoy your posts and threads! Thanks for your contributions to our community!
-Dave
Thank you for the kind comment, Dave. I enjoy so many others' posts and threads that I try to reciprocate.
Well, turns out that radio station was not a pirate, after all. it's KRMP, OKC, 1140 AM,
Heart & Soul. Apparently, they had some dead air while I listened that went on for several minutes. Soul music. Listening to it now on my
new RCA. Hearing some songs I haven't heard in many years, and some I never heard at all. Kinda nice to have something other than yakety-yak local. Christine loves it in the kitchen because she thinks it looks cool.
Her daughter and the two grandkids are here for the day, and Christine's explanation of the radio to her daughter has been somewhat humorous.
"Look at our new radio."
"It looks old. Is it made like that to make it seem old?"
"No, I think it is pretty old - like from the sixties, when they still had to use tubes."
"What tubes?"
"Well, you can't see them. They're inside the radio. But you know, the kind of tubes that look like small light bulbs and get real hot?"
"So this is a new one made like the old ones, or a real one from the sixties?"
"Yes, a real one."
"It looks new."
"No, it's old. Baby, what year did you think they made this one?"
"1948."
"Well, this one wasn't made in 1948, was it?" asks daughter.
"Yes. It was actually made in 1948. This is the only known specimen still in service," hey, I got to have
some fun.
"Must be expensive."
"Actually, not bad at all. Guy didn't know what he had... I paid well under a hundred. I thought about trying to put it on ebay or something and ask $15,000 for it, but I just like it too much to sell it."
"Somebody would give that for it?!"
"Well, they'd have to be as gullible as you, but this conversation gives me hope."
She laughs, "So when was it really built?"
"It
really was built in 1948. They built tons of them. For many years. They're pretty common, really. Other brands made very similar models, and they all are known as
All-American Five radios because they have five tubes, and were cheap to build. Millions had these in their homes. The styles and colors differ, but most, if not all, were made from an early plastic called Bakelite."
"I like the way it looks."
And the ladies went on to other topics, but the radio was of interest to them, and that's saying a lot.