A New Member's First Discussion

[Eric Beheim]

Hello Everyone,

 

Although I am a new member, I have owned a Scott 23 Tube All-Wave since 1983.  It was originally my grandfather’s who found it in a Cleveland, Ohio second hand store around 1958.  Here is a link to an article I wrote about it:

 

https://www.otrcat.com/grandpa-walter-s-scott-memories-and-recollec...

 

I look forward to being an active participant in the discussions.

 

Eric in East San Diego County.

[David C. Poland]

Welcome to this Scott Enthusiasts web site. 

There are informative threads. Evidently you have reprints of many pieces about the AW-23.  In the archive section there is a section with color photos of many Scott cabinets and models. 

[Kent King]

I read that story and saved it several years ago, a great story. I don't recall if I contacted you or not...but what is the serial number of the set? I can sometimes narrow down a build date for a set based on the serial number. Sets where ownership is a "long term" thing are quite interesting. I purchased an AW23 in a Wellington console from the estate sale of the original purchaser. I have all the original letters and materials from when the set was delivered in the fall of 1936. As the 2nd owner, I will never "break up" such a combination.It's great that you have almost 60 years provenance for your set.

[Kent King]

Oh, missed the serial number in the other thread...I replied there.

[David Melin]

Eric

When I obtained my Allwave, I was scouring the net for info - and stumbled upon your article.  I enjoyed it so much that I printed a copy of it and keep it with the documentation on my set as well!  

Thank you!!

David.

[Eric Beheim]

Hi David,

Thank you for your kind comments about the article.  It was originally published in MONITORING TIMES magazine.  It is now available at the OTRCAT website.

Eric

[Joseph W Strickland]

Eric;

That is an interesting story which brings back memories of my own introduction to radio and the entertaining programs that were being broadcast.

I had the privilege of meeting J. W. F. Puett years ago at a program he presented to the Richardson Wireless club in Richardson, TX. He had slides of the Scott Radio Laboratories models and printed material available as hand-outs. Sadly, I lost those in a move. He had one sheet which listed products he had for sale. Many were recordings of old radio programs available on cassette tape format.

Do you have copies of any of the material he often provided in his presentations?

Joe

[Eric Beheim]

Joe,

About all I have is the Scott 23 ALL WAVE material he used to offer.  This includes a photocopies of the manual and some issues of THE SCOTT NEWS.  I also have a copy of his SILVER GHOSTS book.  One wonders what became of his original material and the slides you mentioned.

Eric

[Kent King]

I knew and talked to June frequently...the "original" materials he had were long gone by the end of the 90s. As most folks could tell, he was then making copies of copies, and the quality of the materials had decreased. He did a lot to start interest in Scott, McMurdo and other high end sets. I especially like his "Large Radios" booklet on sets with 20 or more tubes. He's been gone a few years now, I have not heard anything about the disposition of any remaining materials he had. Back in the 90s, I had ordered just about everything he had on Scott sets, and have confidence today that I've got a substantial % of that material in originals, and have copied much of that to the archive here. Another project for my future retirement: more document scanning...

[Norman S Braithwaite]

I believe whatever was left in the way of "originals" were obtained by Radio Era Archives.  They started selling copies of Scott literature shortly after June passed away.

Norman

[David Wilson]

 Welcome Eric!

Thanks for sharing your story. I especially love the part about the concern over the cost of electricity to operate an AW23 back in the 1930s. I may have to put an electric meter on my Scott to keep my electric consumption down:-)

David Wilson

[Eric Beheim]

Hi David,

Back during the Great Depression, people were very aware of what things cost since the saving of even a dollar or two meant a great deal to the family budget.  I can remember that my father (who grew up during the Depression) would drive all over town in order to get the best possible price on something he needed to buy.  Few people today can relate to what it was like living during the Great Depression.  Of course, the people who could afford a Scott in the 1930s were probably not as bad off as a majority of Americans.  Even so, some of them might have had to pinch pennies, too, which is why Scott took the time to explain how much power his radios required.

Eric

[David Wilson]

Eric,

The production and sales of radios boomed before and during Great Depression. The average America was spending $110 for a console radio in 1936 and a entry level Scott sold for three times that amount. Even in a depression families spent their money on radios because of the afordable entertainment a radio provided. 

Radio was also one of the developments that advanced during the 1920’s and culminated in the Great Depression. The “Roaring Twenties” and inventions like the radio were part of the industrial revolution that was possible as a result of the discovery of electricity. This transformed people’s way of life tremendously. In the 1920's we became as a nation more and more dependant on electricity. In America in particular, industries manufactured electric home appliances which marketers triggered demand for by portraying them as necessities for each home. So I can see people all of a sudden finding themselves in a depression without the much income looking hard at their electircal consumption. 

The Great Depression is an interesting topic in the context of radio history. The vast majority of Americans at that time worked in the burgeoning industries for what some called poor wages. They also resorted to a growing dependancy on a time payment buying system to fit in the lifestyle demands of that era. Even Scott sold radios using time payment sytem. The manufacturers at the time were often accused of exploiting the cheap labor to produce more goods at very low cost thereby enjoying very high profits which they kept to themselves. However, the workers’ wages did not increase and they sank into debt soon after because they lacked surplus money after catering to their basic needs to offset their mass amount of time payment or credit purchases. Sound familiar today? Recently the Federal Reserve put out a report stating the 7 out of 10 American families had less than $1,000 saved.

So in the years leading up to the Great Depression there was a discrepancy between the wealthy company owners and their top executives salaries and the poorly paid workers. This discrepancy is thought by some historians to be, impart what helped create an unstable economic environment in the U.S. by the late 1920’s. At this time the top 1% of the America population in combination earned what the bottom 42% of the population earned. So, a top industrialist like Henry Ford individual income in the 1920’s might have been of $10 to $15 million dollars and the average income of the population stood at approximately $6,000 to $7,000. In this kind of economic environment, at the tail end of the “Roaring Twenties,” product sales began plummet because the market could not afford luxury spending on top of manufacturers over producing. Stock market investors lost confidence in the market and rushed to sell their shares leading to the stock market crash in 1929. I find it amazing that companies like E.H. Scott and McMurdo Silver manage to build and sucessfuly grown their radio companies in these difficalt economic times. 

According to the mainstream historians, the connection between these is that unequal distribution of wealth did a great deal to cause the Depression. It was thought that rich had too much of the money, sound familiar, and the the rest of the population in the U.S. did not have enough to pay their high credit bills.  When the Depression started, this meant that the non-rich did not have enough money to spend to even tide them over and which lead to the famous depression bread lines.

We may be fighting a similar battle today as our Congress passes the some of the biggest tax cuts in history in an attempt to shift more money to 7 out of 10 Americas that have less than a $1000 saved, in hopes they will spend the money and grow the economy.  Some economest think that in the “Roaring Twenties” if the wealth had been distributed more equally, the average person may have been able to spend more and the demand for goods and services would not have dropped so severely.  If the US as a whole had had the same amount of wealth, but distributed more equally (historians argue) the Depression might not have happened.

Your comment Eric that few people today can relate to what it was like the live in the Great Depression says alot. 

Thanks again for you nice story on E.H. Scott!

David

David