The Burlington’s Denver Zephyr’s in 1937 offered desktop radios “for private use in bedrooms, compartments and drawing rooms.” I have to wonder of what value an AM radio would be on a speeding train averaging at least 60 mph. These were overnight trains between Denver and Chicago, so any radio listening would be done at night when reception was better. Nevertheless, at that speed, any radio station that could be received would soon be out-of-range. Given that the train itself was constantly changing position and orientation, fine turning should have been all but impossible.
Anyone have any idea how well received or effective these radios were? I don’t believe radios were offered on any other trains of the day.
Agree, that thought of having an AM radio on a moving train does raise some questions.
But consider many clear channel 50,000wt stations were on the dial back in the 30’s and 40’s…KDKA…WBZA…and many more and many of these stations could be heard for hundreds and hundreds of miles. {At night}.
Of course radios were sometimes found in lounge cars and would be touted in timetables and advertisments as an example of how up to date a particular train was. As I recall in that era antennas would be mounted on the roof top and run nearly the entire length of the car.
I recall lying in my roomette berth one night in about 1960 on either the Ak-Sar-Ben or American Royal Zephyr listening through earphones to a trainsistor radio. I had to do a lot of fine tuning to get any kind of reception at all.
…Sure that was probably necessary to pick up the distant clear channels. I remember back in the 30’s at home we had an antenna {wire}, out from the house perhaps a 100’ in length. I also remember once the lightning got it and we never found an inch of it. It blew the knobs off the radio {floor model}, across two rooms. End of radio. 100’ antenna was grounded with a brass rod deep in the ground too.
Yes, but radios of that era that picked up distant radio stations were of the console variety, stationary, and could be finely tuned. Even then due to atomospheric changes, radio reception often had to be kept constantly re-tuned.
A table top model on a moving train to me makes little sense. I don’t think it would have had the range. Offering a radio may have been more a gimmick than having any actual practical value.
A train approaching Denver or especially Chicago would not be traveling at a high rate of speed. A listener could tune in a local station and probably catch 15-20 minutes of a program before the final stop.
I didn’t address antennas because I thought either with home console models or on board desktop models, that aspect would have been well covered. I’m still skeptical about long lasting and clear reception on a moving train.
You may have been the victim of ground currents. A lightning strike may have hit elsewhere nearby, but ground currents would have intercepted the wire and used it as a conduit.
I was once caught inside a thunderstorm atop a mountain, and I know all about ground currents first hand. I’m very lucky to be here.
…Back in about 1960 we were down in Florida…a bit north of Orlando. Had a little portable radio AM / Short Wave Zenith model…a rather small one. Remember at night tuning thru it to see what it would do…{it was rather new}, and picked up KDKA, Pittsburgh. That’s a good 1000 mile in distance. Of course that was not moving…Actually believe I was laying in bed.
What limits reception on the AM Radio Band is the noise (lightning, thunder static, and other radio stations you do not want to hear.)
Back in the 1930s there were fewer AM Radio Stations on the air, hence less interference from undesired radio stations. In fact the FCC designated several Radio Stations as “Clear Channel Stations.” Most of these Clear Channel Stations , especially those in the Midwest, were able to be heard all over the Contental USA.
Today, the FCC has allowed other stations to broadcast on the Clear Channel frequencies, destroying their coverage.
Listening to the AM radio band in the 1930s was much more enjoyable than it is now.
Even in the 1960’s in Idaho I listened to KOMA (Oklahoma City) and Wolf Man Jack (Del Rio Texas - actual across the river in Mexico). Good clear reception after dark. A good quality AM radio would pick up clear channel stations all across the midwest and Chicago-Denver is definately midwest.
…Yes, the “clear channel stations” were awarded a frequency that no one else in the lower 48 could transmit on. I remember KDKA, PGh., and WBZA, Boston were very close in frequency and were a bit tricky to keep separated.
Believe De Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Neb. had clear channel stations too. Again, {I just thought of it}, coming across the Pacific in 1954 when we were still out {from Seattle, Wa.}, hundreds of miles, I picked up De Moines on a hand held small portable…At night.
Chances are a strike did hit the rod atop the nearest telephone pole, then the juice ran to the ground via the grounding wire that all utility poles should have attached. But the action doesn’t stop there. The path electricity can take is unpredictable except for it being the path of least resistance. If there was water on the surface, it could well have reached out from that pole.
That station in Mexico transmitted at least at 100 KW if not 150 KW. I’m not sure if it was operating in the late 1930’s.
While US-based commercial radio stations were limited to 50 KW (with some notable exceptions), they usually did not transmit at their full power until after dark. Since the Denver Zephyrs were overnight trains, US stations would have been at full power.
…I believe I remember reading of a Mexican {or several}, stations with up to 250 KW power back in those days…
…A bit of Trivia:
As a youngster, I had a crystal set…{no power…no batteries}, and I managed {several times}, to pick up Kearney, Neb. {at night}, from western Pennsylvania…!
One needs to be careful here. First, long distance radio reception may be affected by seasonal or transient atmospheric conditions. One might receive a station from several states away for a day, a week or even a month, but then only sporadically.
Second, many advances were made in radio transmission through the decades. Initially, transmission was usually omnidirectional from a single tower. By the 1960’s, clusters of up to five antennas could be used to focus the energy of radio waves laterally, thereby increasing the distance an equal powered station could be heard.
…Back several decades ago we had an AM station {can’t remember it’s call letters now}, and it had a cluster of antennas…exactly how many I’m not sure…perhaps about 6 of them maybe 200 to 250’ towers but it was a day time only station…and low power.
It’s still here but now a completely different set up and it’s now an FM station and I believe it broadcasts from several nearby towns.
Many rural areas, especially in mountainous terrain, tend to use several low power repeater stations, usually operating on different frequencies. A program is transmitted by either line-of-sight microwave or over a dedicated (telephone) line for broadcast to several stations at once.
Actually, hashing out the history, capabilities and technicalities of radio broadcasts is germane to the topic. It all relates to how useful AM radios for passengers aboard 1937 Zephyrs would have been.