• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Radio

Alan, Classic FM is my favourite radio station, listen to it when walking my dog (5 times a day) and while having breakfast and when I am painting. Eric
 
eric and alan i also listen to classic fm and because i am a sports fan also talk sport

lyn
 
Ironically my other half bought, as one of my Christmas presents, the Classic FM book on Johann Sebastian Bach. although of course we can no longer receive the station out her in Crete! :) I used to listen when I lived in the UK.

Maurice
 
Angel radio is a very good station. It’s oldies all day every day. It’s based on the south coast( Portsmouth and Isle of Wight) so there is some local information but ignor that and enjoy the music especially the music quiz nights. On line only unless you live in the south.
 
Alan,

Not officially, because before it will play anything I get a popup saying they don't have broadcasting rights outside the UK and asking for my UK postcode. I inserted by son's postcode and it played immediately. So it obviously takes a quick look at my IP address and then pops the question. But thereafter it appears that no checking takes place! So I guess that if I used the postcode of Buckingham Palace or the House of Commons there would be very little that they could do about it. :)

Thanks,

Maurice
 
cookie273uk said:
Alan, Classic FM is my favourite radio station, listen to it when walking my dog (5 times a day) and while having breakfast and when I am painting. Eric
Click to expand...
Had to visit the doc this week and classical FM was on with good speakers. Took my mind of it all. They were playing an Irish melody with a full orchestra. It might have been from Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
 
1/6p now £4. i sent for a lot of these books of ebay. transistor radio 40 shillings. in 1960 lol
 

Attachments

  • practical.jpg
    practical.jpg
    525.2 KB · Views: 9
My husband used to have lots of those! We've still got valves in the shed, not the useful common ones though. The radios were damaged in the loft when part of the roof came off in the storms a few years ago.
rosie.
 
rosie said:
My husband used to have lots of those! We've still got valves in the shed, not the useful common ones though. The radios were damaged in the loft when part of the roof came off in the storms a few years ago.
rosie.
Click to expand...
how rosie sorry hear that. i love valve radios. i have one and it only goes on once a month,that is to listen to radio caroline.which is transmitted manx radio. it sounds really nostalgic on that box.
 
We had a old 30s radio as my Dad often salvaged and repaired TV's and radios as a hobby. The radio always seemed to be on and I have fond memories of listening to 50s music, the smell of Sunday lunch cooking with Two way Family Favourites playing in the background and the familiar sound of ''Can you hear me Jean?''. The valves used to generate quite a bit of heat and occasionally the reception would be interupted with loud electronic 'burps'. Dad never spent much on luxuries but had his technology treats such as a Spectone 7'' reel to reel tape recorder which, according to a internet search would have cost 76 Guineas in 1959 - I bet my Mom had no idea! I still had the recorder until a couple of years ago, it was quite large and was stored in the Garden shed where it was destroyed by storm damage. Isaved a couple of reels but haven't had the time to do anything with them yet. Dad was quite innovative in that he managed to hook the recorder up to the radio and record the Sunday afternoon programmes to replay them again in the evening, electronic burps and all - much more up beat than listening to Sing Something Simple (as time goes by....), The Mike Sammes Singers or the Black and White Minstrels, all of which would instantly set the mood for school the next day!

The only exanmple of this machine I can find is in a museum! I'd love to get the old tapes copied but have a feeling that it would be quite difficult since the machine recorded at 3 different speeds and occasionally we'd have to adjust the playback. I can pretty much guess what tunes and artists will be on one of the tapes as they were played over and over....

Hang Down your Head Tom Dooly, Old Shep (and my Dad singing his version!), Big John, High Hopes, Rye Whiskey, For Me and My Gal, Marty Robbins,Jim Reeves, The Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly, Adam Faith, Marty Wilde,Nina and Frederick, Lonnie Donegan and the list would go on but for some reason there were three haunting songs from the early 60s....... Johny Day by Rolf Harris, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakomoto, which fascinated me as I had no idea what the song was about though I still remember one or two lines I would try and sing in Japanese, also Rye Whiskey could have been sung by my Grandad , except for the American Accent lol

1577882570643.png


Here's some of my radio nostalgia - Happy New Year!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnchBPgKWlE
 
mbenne said:
We had a old 30s radio as my Dad often salvaged and repaired TV's and radios as a hobby. The radio always seemed to be on and I have fond memories of listening to 50s music, the smell of Sunday lunch cooking with Two way Family Favourites playing in the background and the familiar sound of ''Can you hear me Jean?''. The valves used to generate quite a bit of heat and occasionally the reception would be interupted with loud electronic 'burps'. Dad never spent much on luxuries but had his technology treats such as a Spectone 7'' reel to reel tape recorder which, according to a internet search would have cost 76 Guineas in 1959 - I bet my Mom had no idea! I still had the recorder until a couple of years ago, it was quite large and was stored in the Garden shed where it was destroyed by storm damage. Isaved a couple of reels but haven't had the time to do anything with them yet. Dad was quite innovative in that he managed to hook the recorder up to the radio and record the Sunday afternoon programmes to replay them again in the evening, electronic burps and all - much more up beat than listening to Sing Something Simple (as time goes by....), The Mike Sammes Singers or the Black and White Minstrels, all of which would instantly set the mood for school the next day!

The only exanmple of this machine I can find is in a museum! I'd love to get the old tapes copied but have a feeling that it would be quite difficult since the machine recorded at 3 different speeds and occasionally we'd have to adjust the playback. I can pretty much guess what tunes and artists will be on one of the tapes as they were played over and over....

Hang Down your Head Tom Dooly, Old Shep (and my Dad singing his version!), Big John, High Hopes, Rye Whiskey, For Me and My Gal, Marty Robbins,Jim Reeves, The Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly, Adam Faith, Marty Wilde,Nina and Frederick, Lonnie Donegan and the list would go on but for some reason there were three haunting songs from the early 60s....... Johny Day by Rolf Harris, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakomoto, which fascinated me as I had no idea what the song was about though I still remember one or two lines I would try and sing in Japanese, also Rye Whiskey could have been sung by my Grandad , except for the American Accent lol

View attachment 140328


Here's some of my radio nostalgia - Happy New Year!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnchBPgKWlE
Click to expand...
Mbenne, you may be surprised at what some of the new recording/reproducing technology can do by monitoring and adjusting to tape speeds. Usually music is recorded at faster speed than voice. With music there is more noise/data than with voice.
 
Great memories, a 50s childhood seems pretty much the same as any other kid. I also recall my dad coming home with a reel to reel tape recorder. It was an Elizabethan not sure of the reel size. Everything was recorded, us singing, relatives visits and conversations, radio shows, I would love to have saved those tapes but sadly long gone.
 
Malcolm, thanks for posting those clips memories and names came flooding back. I got a tape recorder for my 12th birthday, a Grundig TK20 and had hours of fun recording everything and everyone at any occasion. Left it at home when I got married and never saw it or my tape collection ever again, sadly.
 
dial.jpg
Radio dial circa. 1937 as used on wireless made by my dad. This was our house set until TV, VHF and transistor portables came along. The smell of ironing is forever linked with memories of 'Listen with Mother' - and bad memories of 'The Archers' - "Be quiet!" heard from this radio.
 
Spargone said:
View attachment 140339
Radio dial circa. 1937 as used on wireless made by my dad. This was our house set until TV, VHF and transistor portables came along. The smell of ironing is forever linked with memories of 'Listen with Mother' - and bad memories of 'The Archers' - "Be quiet!" heard from this radio.
Click to expand...
what a great dial.
The archers.:) First voice i heard on my cats whisker set was David Jacobs
 
Grea said:
Great memories, a 50s childhood seems pretty much the same as any other kid. I also recall my dad coming home with a reel to reel tape recorder. It was an Elizabethan not sure of the reel size. Everything was recorded, us singing, relatives visits and conversations, radio shows, I would love to have saved those tapes but sadly long gone.
Click to expand...
Dad used to have a powerful microphone which he would attach to the recorder and hang it out of the living room window in the evenings and place it on speaker mode. It was a bit like fishing as you never knew what it might pick up!!
 
Last edited:
mbenne said:
We had a old 30s radio as my Dad often salvaged and repaired TV's and radios as a hobby. The radio always seemed to be on and I have fond memories of listening to 50s music, the smell of Sunday lunch cooking with Two way Family Favourites playing in the background and the familiar sound of ''Can you hear me Jean?''. The valves used to generate quite a bit of heat and occasionally the reception would be interupted with loud electronic 'burps'. Dad never spent much on luxuries but had his technology treats such as a Spectone 7'' reel to reel tape recorder which, according to a internet search would have cost 76 Guineas in 1959 - I bet my Mom had no idea! I still had the recorder until a couple of years ago, it was quite large and was stored in the Garden shed where it was destroyed by storm damage. Isaved a couple of reels but haven't had the time to do anything with them yet. Dad was quite innovative in that he managed to hook the recorder up to the radio and record the Sunday afternoon programmes to replay them again in the evening, electronic burps and all - much more up beat than listening to Sing Something Simple (as time goes by....), The Mike Sammes Singers or the Black and White Minstrels, all of which would instantly set the mood for school the next day!

The only exanmple of this machine I can find is in a museum! I'd love to get the old tapes copied but have a feeling that it would be quite difficult since the machine recorded at 3 different speeds and occasionally we'd have to adjust the playback. I can pretty much guess what tunes and artists will be on one of the tapes as they were played over and over....

Hang Down your Head Tom Dooly, Old Shep (and my Dad singing his version!), Big John, High Hopes, Rye Whiskey, For Me and My Gal, Marty Robbins,Jim Reeves, The Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly, Adam Faith, Marty Wilde,Nina and Frederick, Lonnie Donegan and the list would go on but for some reason there were three haunting songs from the early 60s....... Johny Day by Rolf Harris, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakomoto, which fascinated me as I had no idea what the song was about though I still remember one or two lines I would try and sing in Japanese, also Rye Whiskey could have been sung by my Grandad , except for the American Accent lol

View attachment 140328


Here's some of my radio nostalgia - Happy New Year!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnchBPgKWlE
Click to expand...
Cant play any of your clips, recognise all the names and songs mentioned, except Rye Whisky, what date was this? And was it Tex Ritter? and that smell of Sunday roast came flooding over out of my tablet, Aaah! bisto and memories
Bob
 
mbenne,

If I remember correctly, the Spectone used a modified Collaro tape deck, used by many of us electronics fanatics to build our own tape recorders. I certainly did and so did my cousin. A few years ago he sent me a CD of a family gathering at 547 Bordesley Green, his uncle's home at that time. He'd just turned his Collaro-based machine on and left in running for half an hour to record their family Brummie chatter. He'd kept the tape and the machine for years and then digitised fairly recently and sent me a copy. A unique record of many people on my genealogy database, some of whom I had never met, and all of them except my cousin are now longer with us.

When I can find an hour or so, I will edit a chunk of it and post it here as a unique recording of Brummie chatter.

Maurice :cool:
 
Well, I did have a crystal set when I was about 11, that's all we could afford. Fast forward about 65 years I was buying some head set & music players CD's etc for my grandchildren. While doing that I came across a Sony (love Sony & Bose), short long and medium radio, runs on 4 AA batteries or AC. Its about as big as 4 packs of cigarettes'. I use it a couple of dozen times a year to listen to the BBC and Australia. Finally Grandpa got his radio and takes it with him wherever he goes!
 
Bob Davis said:
Cant play any of your clips, recognise all the names and songs mentioned, except Rye Whisky, what date was this? And was it Tex Ritter? and that smell of Sunday roast came flooding over out of my tablet, Aaah! bisto and memories
Bob
Click to expand...
It was Tex from 1959 but there was an earlier version in 1933.
 
sospiri said:
mbenne,

If I remember correctly, the Spectone used a modified Collaro tape deck, used by many of us electronics fanatics to build our own tape recorders. I certainly did and so did my cousin. A few years ago he sent me a CD of a family gathering at 547 Bordesley Green, his uncle's home at that time. He'd just turned his Collaro-based machine on and left in running for half an hour to record their family Brummie chatter. He'd kept the tape and the machine for years and then digitised fairly recently and sent me a copy. A unique record of many people on my genealogy database, some of whom I had never met, and all of them except my cousin are now longer with us.

When I can find an hour or so, I will edit a chunk of it and post it here as a unique recording of Brummie chatter.

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...
My Dad and my Uncle would visit one another with their tape recorders to swap music. Not exactly portable machines but I guess that was the 50's equivalent of file sharing lol
 
Any one familiar with Eddy Stone Radio their logo used the lighthouse a friend worked there part time then when he left school he worked full time.
The place of business was off one of the roads at the West Heath Island home of the 45 bus terminus.
 
Last edited:
Hi Pete,

Many thanks for the references, - I took the opportunity to save Graeme Wormald's
QRG from the link given. I met Graeme many times at Centre Electronics in
Stockfield Road, and he was a real gentleman. I also owned many different Eddystone
sets over the years, and had the opportunity to use other models at the shop.

A great company and although it's gone, many of the sets live on.

Kind regards
Dave
 
My cousin was for a few years one of Eddystone's design engineers and they were, in their time good sets, but overtaken by such as the Racal RA17, which is also now old technology. The only thing new is the rate of progress in technology, which became almost exponential, and you needed a proverbial money tree if you wanted to keep up with it.

Maurice :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top