Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
Whenever I see advertisements for electronics
training courses, I think of the line in "Duel in the Snow, or, Red Ryder Nails
the Cleveland Street Kid," where it mentions how during the
Great Depression
years the magazines were filled with ads "promising successful careers repairing
radios." That story, which ultimately became the book and movie A Christmas Story, was
contained in Gene Shepherd's book "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash."
Jean Shepherd was a radio announcer and story teller who first read "A Christmas Story," on his WOR (New York
City) show in 1970.
You can listen to a 1974 broadcast in the YouTube video embedded below. This
reading is slightly different than the one given to me by a guy who actually recorded
it on tape during the very first reading on Christmas Day 1970, when he was living
in NYC.
Radio Training Association of America Advertisement
5000 Radio Service Men Needed Now!
The replacing of the old battery-operated receivers with all-electric Radios
has created a tremendous country-wide demand for expert Radio Service Men. Thousands
of trained men are needed quick!
$40 to $100 a week Full Time
$3.00 an hour Spare Time
This will Establish You As a Better Serviceman...
30 Days of R.T.A. Home Training enables you to cash in on this latest opportunity
in Radio
Ever on the alert for new ways of helping our members make more money out of
Radio, the Radio Training Association of America now offers ambitious men an intensified
training course in Radio Service Work. By taking this training you can qualify for
Radio Service Work in 30 days, earn $3.00 an hour and up, spare time; prepare yourself
for full-time paying $40 to $100 a week.
Mail Coupon on Opposite Page for No-Cost Training Offer
Cash in on Radio's latest opportunity! Enroll in the Association. For a limited
time we will give to the ambitious man a No-Cost Membership which need not ... should
not ... cost you a cent. But you must act quickly. Filling out coupon can enable
you to cash in on Radio within 30 days, lift you out of the small-pay, no-opportunity
rut, into a field where phenomenal earnings await the ambitious. You owe it to yourself
to investigate. Fill out coupon now for details of No-Cost Membership.
The Radio Training Association of America
4513 Ravenswood Ave. Dept. RCA-6 Chicago, Ill.
If you were qualified for Radio Service Work today, we could place you. We can't
begin to fill the requests that pour in from great Radio organizations and dealers.
Members wanting full-time positions are being placed as soon as they qualify. 5,000
more men are needed quick! If you want to get into Radio, earn $3.00 an hour spare
time or $40 to $100 a week full time, this R. T. A. training offers you the opportunity
of a lifetime.
We furnish you with all the equipment you need to become a Radio ServiceMan!
Radio Service Work a "Quick Route to Big-Pay Radio Position
Radio Service Work gives you the basic experience you need to qualify for the
big $8,000, $10,000 to $25,000 a year Radio positions. Once you get this experience,
the whole range of rich opportunities in Radio lies open before you. Training in
the Association, starting as a Radio Service Man, is one of the quickest, most profitable
ways of qualifying for rapid advancement.
If you want to get out of small-pay, monotonous work and cash in on Radio quick,
investigate this R. T. A. training and the rich money-making opportunities it opens
up. No special education or electrical experience necessary. The will to succeed
is all you need.
With this R. T. A. Testing Outfit you will be able to service all types of radio
receivers. As the instruction book which accompanies it gives individual data on
most commercial sets on the market, its operation can be quickly mastered. This
outfit does the work of testing outfits that cost over $100.00. Just owning the
set and being able to use it will make you a welcome addition to the staff of the
harassed, radio dealers who are being driven almost crazy trying to properly service
the new all-electric sets. With this outfit it will be a simple matter for you to
take a radio set that has gone wrong and by means of a few simple tests locate the
trouble. We are speaking of all types of sets - the old battery set, A.C. receivers,
and the new screen-grid sets. Tubes also can be tested with this outfit.
This R. T. A. Testing Outfit is housed in a well-constructed case measuring eleven
inches long, eleven inches wide, and four inches high. The instruments and switches
are mounted on an engraved bakelite panel, behind which is a spacious compartment
for carrying tools, etc. The case is covered with a durable keratol and all external
fittings are highly nickel plated. A large leather handle makes the Outfit easy
to carry.
You will find this testing outfit very easy to assemble and wire, and equally
simple to operate.
With it you can make all the important tests such as for plate voltage, plate
current, filament voltage, grid bias, cathode bias, screen-grid voltage, control-grid
bias, etc. You can also use it as a continuity tester for testing circuits, transformer
windings, shorts, etc. It is a portable radio laboratory-a laboratory in a box!
When you become a Radio Serviceman you will absolutely have to have such a testing
outfit. The one we offer you is equal to the best commercial test sets on the market.
When you walk into a customer's house with an impressive outfit like this, it gives
you prestige and inspires confidence. When a customer sees you starting to work
with this equipment, he's bound to feel that you know your stuff.
Bear this in mind - if you choose this testing outfit you can start cashing in
on your training by following our spare-time money-making plans. In a very short
time we'll have you in a position where you will be a full-fledged Radio Doctor
able to earn $3.00 an hour servicing sets When that time comes you will need an
outfit such as this. Think it over. This R. T. A. Testing Outfit meets every requirement
of the radio industry. It is a triumph of constructional perfection - a marvel of
completeness which when coupled with your training will give you a firm hold on
the lion's share of the radio servicing business in your community.
This Testing Outfit has been especially designed for Radio Servicemen. It is
the latest word in Radio Testing Outfits.
Similar outfits sell for as high as $100.00.
Included with this training is this Elaborate Testing Outfit
Within thirty days after you start taking our course and with the professional
outfit, illustrated above, you will be on the road to make real money.
No necessity to give up your present position, if you do not wish to do so. Many
of our students have started in as Radio Servicemen in their spare time until they
have become convinced that they can make far more money from Radio Servicing than
they ever dreamt of doing before.
Be sure to fill in the adjoining coupon and send it in today. It may well prove
to be the turning point of your life.
The Radio Training Association of America
4513 Ravenswood Ave., Dept. RCA-5, Chicago, Ill.
Gentlemen: Please send me details of your No-Cost training offer by which I can
qualify for Radio Service Work within 30 days. This does not obligate me in any
way.
Jean Shepherd reading "A Christmas Story"
Posted December 24, 2020 (updated from original post on 8/23/2016)
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