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Are you ready to go inside radio? Now’s your chance for a closer look

April 20, 2026

A few weeks ago, I decided to finally straighten out my garage workbench.

The impetus was to get some space on the bench that has long been covered with old or spare parts, screws, and other things that needed to be organized in case I ever need them. Yes, I am my father’s son.

In doing so, I finally decided to work on some of the radios that people had handed off to me over the years, starting with a Montgomery Ward “Airline” Radio model #306, which I’d been given years ago — I even wrote about it back in late 2023. I had done some basic testing, but had never taken the time to look deeper into it.

For the tube-radio enthusiasts, the symptoms were: slight hum at the speaker, and seemingly no other sound. Except that once I tuned around the dial, I could just barely hear the sound of talking when I was on KFI (640 AM) and KNX (1070 AM). I could VERY barely hear it, but it was there. Interestingly, at full volume, that faint barely-audible sound was distorted – turning down the volume knob made the sound even softer, but the sound seemed to be clear. Experts may already know the problem.

(L) The offending transformer; (R) The "teledial" still has some of the local stations of the time in the fingertip tuning holes, as well as a lighted dial pointer for the frequency at the bottom. (Photos courtesy of Richard Wagoner) — (L) The offending transformer; (R) The “teledial” still has some of the local stations of the time in the fingertip tuning holes, as well as a lighted dial pointer for the frequency at the bottom. (Photos courtesy of Richard Wagoner)

I am not a tube radio expert, however. So I commenced with the recommended parts changes. I started with a new power cord so i wouldn’t electrocute myself, then I replaced all the capacitors that usually go bad, checked my work and turned it on. No change.

So I started changing some of the resistors, my theory being that I was not getting enough voltage to the output tube to produce sound. This is where I found that every published service guide and schematic has the wrong values for many of the resistors used, off by a factor of 1000. They are labeled using Mega-ohms rather than Kilo-ohms I realized this when I noted different color coding on the new resistors compared with the old … and once I understood the old resistor color coding system used in the 1930s.

Stumped, I contacted Greg Ogonowski, longtime genius engineer of local radio stations and sound processing equipment, as well as the man behind the wonderful StreamS HiFi Radio app available for your iPhone.

He had me check a few measurements, all of which were normal. Then, on a whim, I showed him the old speaker output transformer. It looked damaged, as if a rodent had eaten part of it. Suspicious, we both thought, but I was measuring the correct voltage at the output tube, and the tube needs the coil to be in circuit. Couldn’t be bad, right? I removed it and checked the primary coil: dead.

Turns out, this was the problem, and in fact, is a textbook cause of the original symptoms. The voltage at the tube was a “potential” voltage, but without completing the circuit through the coil, it did nothing. A change of the transformer brought the radio to life, and with all the other new parts, it now works flawlessly. Well, flawlessly other than the “magic eye” tuning tube being a bit dim … but though dim, it works. Reception is good, with even K-Mozart (KMZT, 1260 AM) coming in reasonably well even at night.

This may be one of the coolest radios I have worked on. It has AM and shortwave bands, and I even picked up some weak shortwave stations already with just a short antenna. The “teledial” operates smoothly, and I was able to get the fine-tuning knob to work as well. Even the volume knob makes no static noise in operation after a simple cleaning.

This radio is a true work of art, with solid wood and quality workmanship. Frankly, it surprised me that such a nice design and solid construction came from a house brand of a department store. A great department store, but this is truly a superb radio, such as I’d expect from the likes of Zenith. I wonder if anyone knows the company behind the design … I assume that Wards did not make in house, but regardless, this is a nice radio and I am sure it cost a lot in 1938 or so when it was made.

If anyone has more information on this radio, or if you’d like to share some of your own. Please send me a note.

Hendrie Screening Update

As mentioned previously, Long Beach low-power FM station KLBP (99.1 FM in the city, online at KLBP.org online) is presenting a special screening of the movie “Hendrie,” which chronicles the career of one of the most creative talk hosts to ever hit the local and national airwaves. He was perhaps best known for his time on KFI.

Sunday, May 3rd is the date, with the screening at 2 p.m. followed by a live appearance by Hendrie himself, including a question and answer session led by two true radio geeks, Michael Stark and me. Stark and I formerly worked together on the podcast, Radio Waves.

It will all be held at the Art Theatre in downtown Long Beach, 2025 E 4th Street, 90814. Tickets are $25 at KLBP.org, with proceeds benefiting the station.

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com

Are you ready to go inside radio? Now’s your chance for a closer look Orange County Register

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Are you ready to go inside radio? Now’s your chance for a closer look

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