Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018 — I came to the conclusion some years ago that I was born 60 years too late.
Now I’m a journalist by trade, and a ham by choice, and electronic gizmos have been part of my life since I can remember. My uncle gave me an old perfboard electronics kit Radio Shack used to sell (he had built it already). The kit was a sound-operated relay, complete with a crystal microphone. I had a blast with the relay, and some of the best fun I had was hooking up a bell to the relay with the normally closed contacts. The bell would ding and the sound would open the relay for a period of time, then close again, causing the bell to ding briefly again. And the cycle continued.
I’m a big fan of Hugo Gernsback, who emigrated to the U.S. from Luxemborg in 1904. He was a prolific author, magazine publisher, inventor and also known as the “Father of Science Fiction.” The sci fi award known as “the Hugo” is named for him.
I have a number of original copies of my favorite Gernsback publication, Shortwave Craft, known early as as “The Experimenter’s Magazine.” The magazine debuted with the June/July 1930 issue, and focused on the growing — and fascinating — field of shortwave radio. You have to recall that in the earliest days of radio. the shortwaves — those above 3 MHz and up — were considered useless. It was Amateur Radio operators and other experimenters who pioneered the use of HF radio, and Gernsback was there to document and encourage every advance.
Shortwave Craft offered the radio newcomer easy-to-follow hook-up diagrams for radios and other apparatus that were tested and if property connected, would work. The early days of the magazine, shortwave converters were all the rage because it was an inexpensive way to tune HF frequencies without the expense of buying a new radio.
The inaugural issue of Short Wave Craft features articles from noted radio men, including Lee DeForest, and a Dr. H. Bley, a German engineer, who chronicles the then-short history of shortwave development. It’s interesting to note that in Dr. Bley’s article, it notes that in Germany, they use the term “Hertz” to mean “cycles per second.”
I would have loved working in Gernsback’s many publishing companies writing, editing and reviewing articles about radio and related items. Gernsback used one magazine to help sell other products he created. For example, he published books titled, “How to Build and Operate Short Wave Receivers,” “How to Become an Amateur Radio Operator.” He also published a series of small pamphlets priced for a nickel or dime on a variety of radio and electronics topics.
He also sold a variety of globes (to help the aspiring DX hunter locate the distant countries). He created his own “Short Wave League,” a club of SWLs who would compete each month to submit the greatest number of SWL verifications. The winner received a handsome trophy as part of the “Short Wave Scouts.”
He published an endless stream of magazines on radio, electronics, the future and what would later become known as science fiction. And of course, as a ham operator, the 1930s were a fertile time for advances in radio overall. It would have been a heady time to write in a field that is also a hobby interest!
The June 1936 cover of Short Wave Craft notes that the magazine is combined with “Official Short Wave Listener” magazine. The magazine had always covered the developments of TV, and the December 1936 issue notes that due to the growing interest in television, the magazine’s name — effective Jan. 1, 1937 — will be Short Wave & Television.
Radio and TV technology was evolving quickly, and in the September 1938 issue, the publisher announced the magazine’s name would change to Radio & Television effective with the October 1938 issue.
“The magazine will hereafter specialize in Radio Experimentation and Amateur Radio. It will have special appeal to the thousands of young men who aspire to become licensed hams.”
In December 1939, the magazine was merged with Foto-Craft magazine, making the publication’s new title, Radio & Television incorporating Foto-Craft. The January 1940 issue notes that it was “two magazines in one.” The Foto-Craft name dropped from the cover by June 1940, though the magazine retained a photography “section until it was merged with Radio-Craft late in 1941.
Other magazines Gernsback published included Sexology, Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories, Science and Invention, and more.
At any rate, Gernsback’s publishing empire helped fuel the development of radio, TV and science fiction.