April 1956 Popular Electronics
Table
of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Popular Electronics,
published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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When I first saw
this picture of Dr. Martin L. Klein, I though he was Superman. No, it doesn't take a superman to
teach electronics on television, but the familiarity of George Reeves as the star of the "Adventures of Superman" series in
from 1953 through 1958 would have been a good reason to use him in the "Wires and Pliers" TV show.
Dr. Klein and his techie sidekick Aram Solomonian performed a weekly show presenting basic
electronics to the audience. BTW, as long as I am on a roll with misidentifications, I also looked
up whether Dr. Klein is related to the
Klein Tools family. Klein has long been a producer of very high quality hand
tools for electricians (and others), hence, wires and pliers. Alas, wrong on that one, too. I still
own and use the Klein lineman's pliers, dikes, screwdrivers, etc., that I bought nearly five decades
ago when first entering the realm of electricianhood [sic].
TV Show Features "Wires and Pliers"
They're trying a new experiment on TV in Los Angeles. Every
Saturday, those who want to see popular electronics at work can watch Dr. Martin L. Klein on the "Wires
and Pliers" show, Station KCOP. Dr. Klein, a well-known electronics designer, and Harry C. Morgan,
another electronics engineer, have found a novel way to interest viewers in the subject. Morgan designed
a complete series of simple useful circuits, each one costing less than five dollars to build. With
the help of a super-fast electronics technician, Aram Solomonian, they have put together on the program
a crystal radio (this took Solomonian five minutes), a transistor amplifier (seven minutes), and an
electronic puzzle (eight minutes). What's more, they then prove to the audience that the circuits really
work. And the Electronic Engineering Company of California, sponsor of the show, is packaging the circuits
in kit form at nominal cost.
Part of each program is devoted to explaining the function of involved electronic apparatus.
Posted February 21, 2017
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