For the past several years, my kids and I have done the yearly Monday morning trek to our county fairgrounds the week of the county fair to submit our entries into the annual fair contests.
My son usually enters some artwork; my daughter enters art, photography and this year, crochet categories. My category? Antique radio, of course.
In the years I've been entering radios, I've only gotten one second place. I've been sweeping the category with 1st places each year — to my amazement really because I don't have a clue what the judges are looking for when they look at the radio. There's no information out there as to what the judges look for or what they like, or even what constitutes an “antique radio.”
So yeah, the blue ribbons have been a mystery to me, but a pleasant one that's kept me interested in entering year after year.
The local newspaper publishes the “fair book about a week before the fair, so that book (along with obits and the jail logs) is a must-read. After wrangling it from my daughter's hands, I flipped back to the antique section. I scanned the pages carefully … past the food and floral categories … past the art and ceramics … ah here it is, the antique section.
The listing for the many antique categories use to fill a page; I was unnerved to see them fill about 3/4 of a column of text. What gives??
And the categories were different … very different. Instead of dozens of categories for literally dozens of different types of glass ware, bowls, salt shakers, etc., the categories were cut to about 30. Egads! There's no category here for Antique Radio!
I carefully checked every single page, but there were no additional antique categories. Perhaps a printing error? I called the extension office this morning hoping the long list of categories had fallen off the flat, including my beloved “antique radio” category.
The extension agent was very cordial, and told me they totally revamped the categories in the Antiques division, cutting dozens of categories out totally. Most of the categories left are new. For example, there's a category for best antique wooden item. That'a pretty wide open. There's new categories focused on Kentucky, NElson County and bourbon too.
But alas, no radio category.
They may bring some of the categories back next year. I suspect what happened had more to do with a loss of funds for the contests; each blue ribbon winner received $5, with $4 for second and $3 for third. They saved a bundle of money by reducing the number of categories.
I would suggest they bring back the categories but only give cash for a blue ribbon. Or heck, its all for fun, the $5 won't make or break you, right?
My planned entry in my favorite former fair category sits here in the shack with me. It's a pristine Hallicrafters TW-1000 portable shortwave receiver.
The TW-1000 was Hallicrafters answer to the Zenith Trans-Oceanic (Hallicrafters' “TW” designation stood for Trans-World). The TW-1000 looks much like the Zenith too, with a few unique touches that make it definitely a Hallicrafters item.
The radio covers 8 bands, including low wave (180-400 kHz), BC and the other popular shortwave BC bands. New in 1952, the receiver was $150, a healthy chunk of change. The receiver was both AC and battery operated, and it was the ultimate in portable radios at the time. Hallicrafters had a special loop stick antenna (much like the wave antenna on the Zeniths) that would allow for listening while onboard a train, plane or steel reinforced building. The loop stick antenna was appropriately named “The Skyrider.”
The hinged cover also contains a loop antenna on the TW-1000.
The example I own came (naturally) from eBay, and I hunted a while to get one in good shape. The case is covered in black leather (the TW-2000 was the same radio with brown leather), and the exterior condition on mine is very good. Only a couple of scuffs present, it really shows well.
The receiver works too, but the dial cord is broken, so I can't tune it. I have the service manual and it tells how to restring the dial, a chore I've delayed until after the fair, but something I'll tackle later I guess!
My winning entry last year was a Zenith Trans-Oceanic, though the Hallicrafters is the nicer of the two. I don't expect to collect this big honkin' radios, but they're fun to listen to.
Though my favorite category was deleted from the Antiques section of the fair, I'm going to wind up with an entry in the Antiques anyway, under “Antique whiskey, paper memorabilia.”
I bought (again off eBay), a large book of the complete plot and plans for the former Schenley Distillery that (in 1951) was located on Bloomfield Road by the railroad tracks. Heaven Hill now owns the property and uses the remaining warehouses for storage. Until I saw the plots for the property, I had forgotten all the buildings that once filled the area close to US62. The foundation to some parts are still visible.
I'm not sure that it is “antique enough” for an entry, but its worth a shot. It's an interesting piece of memorabilia at any rate.
I'm out of here, have a CW net to attend to.
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