The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-26
GOOD OLD DAYS
 OF RADIO HAD DISADVANTAGES
Early Thrills Came In Surroundings Of Coils
 And SwitchbOards

'nThose good old days" in radio were not always so good after all.
 Every radio fan who was in on the new art in it's infancy will always re- member with a vividness and joy akin to affection his experiments and strug- gles in those early days, and his de light when he overcame the difficulties under which he worked and got results with his primitive set.
 But if you were one of those early fans, of course, you remember how your house was strewn with huge coils, switchboards and other apparatus, and how crude your set looked. You will never forget, however, the thrill when you brought in something, even if it was only the time signals at Airing ton, on an earphOne.
 Loud speakers, amplification without distortion, 4-tube circuits, distance re- ception, scores of powerful broadcast ing stations, daily programs that filled two or three columns of newspapers all these meant nothing in your young life. Enthusiastic as you were about radio, you had not yet dreamed how the new utility would permeate and ir- fluence almost every phase of life. Now the general public is beginning to realize how rapidly and how potent ly radio is affecting education, music. entertainment, sports, politics and other spheres of modern life. But way back there in the beginning, who dreamed of the ramification of radio? Honestly, did you ever expect then to hear worlds series over the radio?
 And yet what a short few years ago it was when the radio was in it's be- ginning stages everywhere. Its rush into everyday life is one of the mira cles of the age.
 Imagine how surprised and thrilled you would have been in those old days --'way, way back in 1918 and 1919- to look, say, at an Acme 4-tube Reflex set, in a cabinet z by 15 inches, with three stages of radio frequency aIfd three stages of audio frequency, work ing on four tubes, with a loop instead of an outside aerial, with only one control-and yet bringing the stations within a thousand mile radius loud and clear so that a whole room full of peo- pie could hear as well, and better, than you could then with the earphones glued to your ears. What q contrast to the huge antennas, big tuning coils and crude condensers. In those days, your apparatus covered a whole big IdDIe ana SpIlIeu ONeE OH lAc HUT and surrounding furniture.
 Your personal experience as an anna teur has been duplicated by the man ufacturers as well. The new art is so new, even yet, that the ''old timers' in the manufacturing side, as well as the receiving side of the game, are youngsters.
 Three years ago there were probably not more than fifteen or twenty man. ,lfacturers of radio apparatus in the country. Now there are literally thousands, with an annual business to- taling not less than $250, ,000, 900 to $3O0,O00,000. The new industry has made possible careers as remarkable as the industry itself. Take for example, the case of the inventor of the third element in the audion tube, which has made radio possible. A few years ago he was living in $6 week room. Today he is famous throughout the world as an engineer and manufactu- Ter.
 Six years ago two men, just out of