Radio Index Magazine (1932)
This delightful little magazine offers a vivid picture of
radio entertainment during the "golden years" of the 1930s.
About half of the magazine is devoted to comprehensive
listings of radio broadcasts, indexed every imaginable
way. Shows and stations are indexed by day of the week
and network,
by call numbers, by geographical location
using a special map key, and by frequency numbers worldwide.
Although the program listings are chiefly for the United
States, the frequency listings include international
stations from Buenos Aires to Vladivostok.
The other half of the magazine contains a variety of feature
articles, ranging from gee-whiz fan coverage ("Ann Leaf at the Organ") to
technical subjects ("Hum and its Remedy"). Ann Leaf, in case you're
wondering, was a popular organ player of the day, and the
coverage of her was an agent's dream. Here's
a snippet from the beginning:
"Ann Leaf is just about as big as three and one-half healthy
octaves or one athletic arpeggio. She could curl up for
a nap in the center of the Wurlizter keyboard without
touching any of the red keys. Danseuse, champion skater,
tennis star-—you visualize all of
these when Ann, dainty, vital and dynamic, flashes across your
horizon for the first time. Instead, she is the girl of a thousand
melodies from Bach to Berlin, under whose windblown bob cantatas
crowd concertos, rhapsodies jostle the waltzes of Chopin and Strauss,
and the melodies of Gershwin, Harry Warner, Donaldson and others,
dozens of talented new composers, tumble over each other in a rush
to the tips of her sensitive, facile hands. Ann averages several
hundred tunes for each of her ten fingers—sometimes she thinks
it is twice that many—and her mind is a giant mental keyboard for
she must orchestrate each of these tunes and build them into a
harmonious whole each time she is on the air."
Sprinkled amongst the other feature articles are photos and
brief paragraphs about other personalities: The Sinclair Weiner
Minstrels, Mildred Hunt ("one of Radio's pioneer artists—a CBS
star"), the Pickens Sisters from Georgia, Jack Denny and his
Orchestra ("recently broadcast from a B & O train while speeding
at seventy miles an hour"), Elizabeth Barthell, June Pursell,
Irene Taylor ("NBC bluesette"), and many more.
The magazine also has a puzzle section, with a monthly
"cross-call," a crossword puzzle whose answers consist entirely
of station call letters, and other word-and-number puzzles
revolving around call letters. Stilted by today's standards, these
puzzles probably held a lot more interest to 1930s audiences,
who might have felt lucky to bring in even a few of the
stations listed.
In addition to entertainment and schedules, Radio Index included a
surprising amount of technical content, with articles on topics such as
antennas, eliminating hum, and even a schematic for a complete receiver.
Nowadays, entertainment devices are
mysterious "black boxes" to most users. Sixty-five years ago,
many radio listeners were builders, repairers, and experimenters,
as well.
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