See yourself in living black and white through a 1951 TV camera, get your old radio repaired, watch a “human modem,” or take a step back in time with your old vinyl records at a day of informal presentations and hands-on-learning hosted by the New Jersey Antique Radio Club on Saturday, January 17. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the David Sarnoff Library in West Windsor, 201 Washington Road. Follow signs for parking. The event will be held rain or shine. Admission is free.
This is a day of electronic entertainment and education for all ages and all kinds of radio-curious visitors. Informal presentations and hands-on learning will unfold throughout the day, with no need to sign up in advance. Visitors are encouraged to remember where and how they used their first radio when they look at the world’s first transistor radio — invented at the adjacent David Sarnoff Research Center in 1952.
Radio buffs who wish to attend the Radio Club’s free clinic for radio repair, or learn the approximate value of an old RCA Victor, Philco, Zenith, or mystery treasure, can call 609-734-2636 to make an appointment on the hour for one-on-one attention. If your radio can be fixed in less than 60 minutes, the club’s experts will do it for free!
Highlights of the day include:
Scott Marshall, one of the world’s finest thereminists, will introduce and play the very first electronic music synthesizer.
Rob Flory will turn into the “Human Modem” via an RCA Victor radio built in Camden for the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Al Klase presents a talk, “Radio from A-Z” at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. He will track the evolution of wireless communications and find out why people couldn’t send photos over cell phones a hundred years ago.
Phil Vourtsis will play the music you want and show why RCA switched from records made of slate powder and insect goo to discs made of pure Vinylite. This is geared to those with a warm spot in their hearts for the 45 rpm record and player.
Gerry and Marsha Simkin open their enormous collection of radio culture realia to document the era and provide opportunities to handle some of the treasured artifacts from the past.
Alex Magoun, director of the David Sarnoff Library, promises that visitors will be able to see themselves in living black and white through a 1951 TV camera on RCA’s best-selling 1948 set.
Guests are also invited to watch Mary Martin fly through the air in the 1959 classic color musical, “Peter Pan,” on a rare working model of RCA’s first color set, the CT100 — which celebrates its golden anniversary in 2004.
Visitors will either be surprised or reminisce when they see the early televisions, with lots of knobs, three channels, and small screens.
For information call 609-734-2636 or visit www.davidsarnoff.org.
