During the Depression, Radio seemed to be one of the ways to pass time (at least in one book I’m reading). I’m puzzled as to how the commener could possibly afford one. How much did a normal Cathedral style radio cost back in the dustbowl days?
Wait til whitetheo (I think that’s his username) gets here. There ain’t nothin’ about the history of radio that he doesn’t know. He’s one of the board’s best – but least heralded – experts if you ask me.
Oops. I meant “whitetho.”
I found some newspaper ads from the early 1930’s, here, here, and here.
By the time of FDR’s “Fireside chats”, almost every household in the country had at least one radio.
The list price of the cheapest nationally known brand of radio in the U.S. in 1932 was $37.50. That’s $420 in 2001 dollars.
The U.S. Census Bureau has a [map](www2.census.gov/pub/outgoing/ geo/cob/1930/pdfs/radios.pdf) showing the percentage of households in each state that owned a radio in 1930.
The radio with the $29.50 list price, linked above, would cost $330 in 2001 dollars.
The cost of radio receivers plunged during the great depression, although so did the quality, which would help set the stage for “Hi-fi FM” in the 1950s. If you were handy you could buy the parts and the vacuum tubes and save money by assembling the set yourself, much like some people today build their own computers. As a link to the outside world, many went to great lengths to have a radio during the depression – there are stories that some people would give up their refrigerators before they would part with their radios.
Don’t forget, cathedral-style radios weren’t the only models. You could get a crystal set and assemble it yourself for next to nothing.
For comparison’s sake, my father made a dollar a day after he finished high school in the late Thirties and he considered it to be a good wage.
I bought a table model,push button tuner,radio for $5.95 in 1935
50c down and 50c per week,no interest!
These were common Jewelry store items in Cleveland,ohio in those days
Chapel style units could be bought for under $20
Asembled and ready for use crystal sets were $1.25.
Another factor is that the bakelite radios came in during the 30’s:
I think the author’s $10 figure may be exaggerated, but the point is that in the 30’s smaller, cheaper radios with bakelite cabinets started appearing.
By WWII, most radio cabinets were made of plastic.
I obviously chose that article for the information, not the author’s grammar, BTW.
Another thing to wonder about - how much were vacuum tubes, and how often did you have to replace a blown tube?
Gloomy? 
Yeah, I noticed that. I thought I’d let it pass. He misuses the word a couple more times in the article. I’m guessing that English isn’t his first language, but he cites his sources at the bottom, and the basic information is there.
Likely he meant Groovy. :dubious:
I think a more useful comparison would be ave wage vs price, then to now.
When I was shown this formula, back in the mid 80s, I was very surprised to find that current Leica cameras were far less expensive (as in wagedays needed to afford) than the older models. When I applied it to cars, the same thing was true. Should hold true for radios, too.
I wish I still knew how to do that comparison… Anyone?
This site, the “Inflation Calculator”, might do what you want:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
The inflation calculator won’t tell you a wages to price ratio.