Antique Console Radios

Console radios are so large, they are designed to sit in a wooden cabinet on the floor. The cabinet is generally taller than it is wide, and the controls may be located on the front or top. One variety, the chairside, is smaller, with controls on the top of the console to provide easy access from an armchair. Because of their enormous size, console radios, which had their heyday in the 1930s, were treated as home decor—one part furniture, one part entertainment center. While radio giants such as Philco, Stromberg-Carlson, Westinghouse, and Zenith made consoles, smaller companies also built them. One was Midwest Radio Corporation of Cincinnati, Ohio, which sold its radios directly to customers via catalogs. While Midwest did not skimp on using real wood veneers like some companies did, the wood under the veneers was sometimes thinner than its competitors' to keep costs low. No such shortcuts are found in any of the surviving Zenith Stratosphere Model 1000Zs, only 350 of which were built from 1934 to 1935, although the Depression and the radio’s $750 retail price kept them in showrooms until 1938, when the last of these pricey behemoths was finally sold. Outside, fine American walnut inlaid with exotic hardwoods gave the 50-inch-tall cabinet a beautiful appearance. Inside, almost a dozen tubes powered the console’s 50-watt amplifier, which pushed the sounds of Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, and the Lone Ranger through two pairs of Jensen A-12 speakers and horn tweeters.