Skip to main content

SLCC displays portion of antique electronics cache

On March 4, 1933, Americans huddled around radios in their homes to hear Franklin D. Roosevelt utter the famous words, “… the only thing we have to fear is … fear itself …” during his 20-minute inaugural address as the 32nd president.

Only 30 years earlier the technology inside what would be called the “radio” was being transformed into a device that would change the way people around the world consumed news and were entertained.

With nothing but a voice being piped through speakers and a listener’s imagination, radio is still considered by some today as a preferable medium for storytelling over anything you’d see on a movie or television screen.

Paying homage to the history of radio, Salt Lake Community College is displaying 30 pieces from its varied collection of old radios and electronics numbering in the hundreds. The public is invited to view the display at SLCC’s South City Campus, 1575 South State Street, Salt Lake City, until September 1.

“In my classes students learn that media are changing and distribution channels are evolving,” said SLCC Communications associate professor Nick Burns. “And that includes history, from early colonial newspapers to the rise of radio and TV, to now the web and beyond. This radio collection solidifies for students the concrete history of mass media.”

The late P.R. McIntyre collected the radios from the 1920s into the 1950s at his radio sales and service shop, Mac’s Radios. The McIntyre’s family donated the collection to KSL Radio, where P.R. McIntyre also worked, to Brigham Young University, which eventually turned it over to SLCC. Most of the radios were manufactured between 1915 and 1950 and include brands like General Electric, Philco, Victor, Atwater-Kent, Olympic, Motorola and Crosley.

The collection also includes phonographs, television sets, wire and tape recorders, headphones, old speakers, microphones and Dictaphones. SLCC’s goal is to have a series of rotating exhibits that make the entire McIntyre collection available for public viewing.

“I applaud SLCC’s dedication to preserving this important part of media history,” Burns said. “I fear that not many colleges would take this on, and for SLCC to have one of FDR’s Fireside Chat mics, well, that’s pretty fantastic.”

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SLCC Automotive Repairs

Click to enlarge. Attention: SLCC Students, staff and faculty! Many SLCC automotive programs need vehicles to work on in these areas: 30 point inspections Oil changes Tire rotation Engine repair Brake systems repair Automatic and transmission repairs Air conditioning repair Electrical troubleshooting & repair Suspension & steering system repair Auto-body repair and painting (on a very limited basis) Please be advised that any repairs are done at the discretion of the instructors due to the subject areas they are teaching.  Because we are using your vehicles for training purposes, we offer members of the College discounts on parts and labor. Parts are at our cost plus 15% and the service fee is $20 per hour based on industry time standards (if the industry assigns an hour for a repair, that's all you're charged for, regardless of how much time it takes the student). We can also offer these services to non-college personnel on a limited basis with...
165 comments
Read more

SLCC All Access

Did you know you can access SLCC lab software for free from your own computing device?   Come learn how SLCC is supporting BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) with All Access. The goal of All Access is to provide any time, any place, and any device access to college computing and lab software SLCC students, faculty and staff.  All Access works on almost any device from a PC or Mac, to tablets and smart phones.  With All Access you can use programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, AutoCAD, MatLab, Mathematica, MyITLab, NetBeans, and online Library Databases.  We also provide you with online storage space so you can save your files in the cloud and have access to them wherever you are.  Anyone is welcome to this session where we will cover the basics of All Access, give you some tips and tricks for getting the most out the system, and we’ll also have some people there to help get your computer set up.  When and where: ...
1 comment
Read more

SLCC Alumnus and U.S. Diplomat to Speak at 2025 Commencement

Salt Lake Community College’s 2025 Commencement speaker Branigan Knowlton will share his perspectives drawn from a 12-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. In serving his country, Knowlton has honed his foreign relations and diplomacy skills in Hong Kong, Mexico, Colombia and Italy. Knowlton is also a proud Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) alumnus (2002).     Knowlton currently serves at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Before reporting to the embassy, he was detailed to the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport as part of the Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellowship program. In Bogotá, Knowlton worked for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, and in Hermosillo, Mexico, he worked for the Bureau of Consular Affairs. His first assignment abroad was in Hong Kong, where he worked for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.     "I've actively sought opportunities that push me into the unfamiliar, even when ...
Post a Comment
Read more