Webcast Radio

Portable Radio

Portable radios emerged during the 1930s when technology advanced to make radios more useful and more powerful. They were easier to use, smaller, and the quality was much higher. Radio tubes were the primary reason for these striking changes. Tube design had improved rapidly. New tubes were developed for special purposes, such as oscillator-mixer tube in the super heterodyne. When several tasks were built into one tube, it meant that one tube could take the place of two. Surprisingly, the shrinking of the radio didn't worsen the quality. Thanks to better tubes the whole operation actually improved.

The quality of the loudspeakers also improved greatly as designs improved. The dynamic speaker was more efficient and gave another sound and wider range than the horn speakers of the 1920s. This is the same basic design used today in portable radios and stereo systems.

Finally the super heterodyne became the exclusive receiver design. It was easy to tune, received many stations, and didn't drift once it locked on a station. This also is the same basic circuit that is used today. Push-button tuning made it easy to find often-used stations.

As improvements in design and tubes made radio better, they also moved radio out of the home and onto the beach and into the car. Radios became smaller and portable radios became popular. In the mid 1930s car radios became so common that automakers began designing space for them in the dashboard. Previously they were loaded onto the running board, along with their cumbersome batteries. The dash-mounted radio didn't require separate batteries as they were powered by the car battery.

By the end of the 1930s, portable radios were becoming increasingly popular. They created their own batteries and the better models could pick up shortwave stations. The basis for this popularity was the newly designed tubes. These became so efficient that radios could operate with batteries small enough to fit inside the portable radio itself. Still the portable radio was light enough to easily be carried around. Some of the smaller portable radios weighed less than a pound.

The Depression made radio an important part of many homes. Radios were an affordable luxury and radios became a center around which the whole family could gather. Networks supplied programs that would entertain the entire family whether it was comedy or music.

The Depression helped radio become a major component of family life. If it weren't for the Depression, people would have gone off in separate directions as cars were readily available. As it was, the family stayed home and listened to the same programs, laughed at the same jokes, and enjoyed the same bands. Not only did portable radios proliferate in the 1930s but radio became indispensable to most American families during the 1930s.