Scovill Manufacturing Company, Circa 1919

I just added this postcard to my collection. I have over 500 postcards from my hometown, Waterbury, but I have not added anything new in a long time because I already owned just about everything for sale that was reasonably priced. Suddenly, last week, this previously unknown (by me) Waterbury postcard showed up on eBay twice, being auctioned off by two different sellers --- go figure.

The postcard depicts the East End factory complex of one of the largest employers in Waterbury during the 20th Century. Postmarked 1919, the scene looks very different today. The left side of this scene is now the site of a shopping mall; interstate highway I-84 occupies the right side. The only parts of the complex that remain today are the smokestack front left and the building front center, which now serves as the Timexpo Timex Museum.

Bridge by Radio

I discovered this unique postcard on eBay advertising “Bridge by Radio,” a radio program that urged listeners to “have your cards and players ready at the time scheduled so as to make each bid and play as broadcast and you will find the radio Bridge games played by experts most enjoyable and instructive.” My research indicates that the program aired in the late 1920s originating from Cincinnati’s WSAI and was sponsored by the U.S. Playing Card Company.

The flare in the photo obliterated the call signs of some of the other stations broadcasting the program, but I believe the obliterated call signs are WEAF (New York City), WWJ (Detroit), WSB (Atlanta) and partially obliterated KPRC (Houston).

Virginia is for Radio Lovers

I just received the July-August 2013 issue of AMRAD Newsletter and as usual, it contains an interesting lineup of articles.

• "JT55a - A Minimalist's Error-free Ham Radio Protocol" by Terry McCarty, WA5NTI
• "An Arduino-based DFCW Beacon" by Andre Kesteloot, N4ICK
• "Adventures with the Arduino" by Karl Berger, W4KRL

Join Amateur Radio Research and Development Corporation (AMRAD) to receive the newsletter and be part of a group of ham radio "experimenters specializing in telecommunications technology."

AMRAD is based in McLean, Virginia, just up the road from the antenna farm pictured in the postcard above. Its monthly meetings always feature on-the-cutting-edge presentations.

By the way, here is the description on the back of the postcard:

"THE UNITED STATES NAVAL RADIO STATION AT RADIO, VIRGINIA. Situated at the southwestern end of Fort Meyer Military Reservation opposite Washington, D.C. Built by the United States Navy Department [Bureau of Steam Engineering]. Land ceded to the Navy Department by the War Department. Rated power of station 100 kilowatts. Towers, one 600 feet high 150 feet square at the base, two 450 feet high 120 feet square at the base, located at angles of an isosceles triangle, large tower at the apex base of the triangle 350 feet between centers of towers, perpendicular to base 350 feet. Normal range: day 2,000 miles, night 3,000 miles. Cost about $250,000."

WTKS nee WTOC

In October 1929, WTOC signed on as the first broadcasting station in the Savannah area on 1260 kc with 500 watts day and night, omni-directional. It was an enterprise of the civic group Junior Board of Trade that was the forerunner of the Savannah Jaycees. Later, WTOC increased to 1,000 watts daytime, finally settling on 5,000 watts day and 1,000 watts at night.

The NARBA nation-wide frequency shift in 1941, moved WTOC to 1290 kc. Shortly thereafter, WTOC built a four-tower array in Garden City, Georgia, and increased to 5,000 watts at night (directional).

The station was assigned the WTKS call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on January 25, 2002. (Source: Wikipedia)

Radio Light

On July 13, the United States Postal Service issued a new set of lighthouse postage stamps depicting lighthouses located on the New England coastline.

In conjunction with the stamp issue, I present a postcard depicting another New England lighthouse and a nearby wireless station: Highland Light in North Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A Naval radio station was located at Highland Light in 1904, assumed great importance during World War I and was guarded by a detachment of Marines. (Source: Highland Lighthouse History)

Radio Central Station

According to Telegraph and Telephone Age, November 16, 1921, Radio Central Station is designed for world-wide communication which includes Europe, South America and the Far East. This Super-Station is situated at Rocky Point (seven miles east of Port Jefferson) on the northern shore of Long Island, seventy miles from New York City. The station site covers 6,400 acres or 10 square miles.

The construction began in July, 1920, and the first test signals were sent in October, 1921, a little more than a year later, a record in itself when one considers the great amount of work accomplished. 1,800 tons of structural steel were used to erect the first twelve towers, each employing approximately 150 tons.

Each tower is 410  feet in overall height and the cross arm or bridge supporting the antenna wires at the top is 150 feet long. 8,200 tons of concrete were employed for the foundations of the twelve towers, the  base of each tower leg being sunk nine feet below the ground with a total base area of 360 square feet. The distance between two adjacent towers is 1,200 feet or nearly three miles from first to the twelfth tower.

Each antenna consists of sixteen silicon bronze cables 3/8 inches in diameter stretching horizontally from tower to tower. In all, fifty miles of this cable has been used for the first two antenna systems. The ground system for both antenna consists of 450 miles of copper wire buried in the ground in starfish and grid-iron fashion.

The first power-house section covers a space of 130 feet by 60 feet and accommodates two 200 K.W. high frequency transmitting alternators with auxiliaries and equipment. A sending speed of 100 words per minute is possible with the use of each transmitting unit at Radio Central. This means a combined sending speed of 200 words per minute for the two completed units. The present wave length in use is 16,500 meters.

The erection of additional antenna units forming the spokes of the huge wheel and further improvements which are being made will correspondingly increase the transmitting capacity of the big station.

Radio Shell Shock

I Speak

Tonight

Radio City Music Hall, New York City

I added Radio City Music Hall, New York City to my postcard collection last week. This postcard is unused, but it is a "linen" intended to look like cloth, a popular postcard style from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Originally named International Music Hall, the "names 'Radio City' and 'Radio City Music Hall' derive from one of the complex's first tenants, the Radio Corporation of America" (RCA) (source: Wikipedia). You can read more about its history here on the Radio City Music Hall website.

Although Radio City is only 90 minutes away, I have only been there twice. First time was in 1962, when Aunts Nellie and Stephanie took my sister Jeanette and I to see the live show (the Rockettes and all) and a film (Rome Adventure). The second time was in 1991, when my wife Laurie, daughter Hayley, and sister (still Jeanette) attended the Christmas live show (the Rockettes and all), but no film. Between 1962 and 1991, they jettisoned the film, but increased the admission price!

And so it goes.

Woolworth Building and City Hall Park, New York City

I acquired Woolworth Building and City Hall Park, New York City at the same time I acquired Singer Building, Broadway, New York. The Woolworth Building became the tallest building in the world in 1913, beating out the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, which previously had beaten out the Singer Building for that honor. At 57 stories and 792 feet, the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world until 1930. (The completion of 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building dethroned the Woolworth Building.)

The building was headquarters of the F. W. Woolworth Company until 1998. Its location is in Lower Manhattan at 233 Broadway, one block east of the site of the World Trade Center and four blocks north of the site of the Singer Building.

This postcard has a 1947 postmark and is a "linen" card because it is intended to look as if it was printed on cloth, which was a popular postcard style from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Singer Building, Broadway, New York

I have been collecting postcards of New York City architecture for about a year or so.

My latest acquisition is the "Singer Building, Broadway, New York," at the corner of Broadway and Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, which was the headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company.

The 47-story 612-foot building was the tallest building in the world from its completion in 1908 until the 700-foot Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower claimed the highest honor in 1909.

In 1968, the Singer Building was the third tallest structure ever demolished.

The postcard I acquired was unused, so there is no postmark to date it. But it is a "divided back" style postcard that was popular from 1907-1914, which makes the postcard 100 years old more or less.

On the Rare Road to Meriden, Waterbury, Conn.

This 1911-postmarked card is from my Waterbury, CT collection of postcards.

In my humble opinion, this is one of the ugliest scenes I have ever seen depicted on a postcard. However, it holds a lot of memories for me.

I was born and raised in Waterbury; born in St. Mary's Hospital, about 400 feet from the location depicted in this postcard, and raised about 1-1/4 miles from the location.

The postcard depicts the view from the Baldwin Street bridge looking northeast over the Mad River and the railroad tracks of the Meriden, Waterbury, and Connecticut River Railroad (MWCRRR), which was part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad by the time of this postcard's publication.

To the left of the river is part of the huge Scovill Manufacturing Company complex. To the right of the tracks are the rear of the houses located on Bridge Street, where my mother spent part of her childhood.

Notice that the tracks are lower than the river. I can recall many a rainy day going over the Baldwin Street bridge and seeing the river flooding the railroad tracks.

By the time I was crossing the tracks, they ended about a mile to the east near the Harper's Ferry Road bridge and only served Scovill and a couple of businesses on Hamilton Avenue.

Today, this scene is unrecognizable. The factory, railroad tracks, and Bridge Street are gone. Only the river remains and it is buried in a tunnel under six lanes of I-84. The Google Maps screen capture below approximates the location today.

Times Square, New York City

The mailman has brought me three new postcards for my collection since Saturday. Lately, addition to my collection have been slow in coming, so this has been an unusual seven days.

The latest addition is the chrome postcard illustrated above. It depicts the north end of New York City's Times Square with Broadway in the foreground and 7th Avenue in the background.

The card is postmarked 1952, but the photograph used for the card was taken in 1946.

It is usually easy to date when photos of Times Square were taken; just look at the card and note what films are playing, then look up the date of the film on imdb.com. In this case, there are two films clearly advertised: A Stolen Life starring Bette Davis and Night in Paradise starring Merle Oberon

Congregational Church, Wolcott, Conn.

Many postcard collectors include postcards related to their hometown in their collections. I do, too.

I was born and raised in Waterbury, CT, and moved to Wolcott, CT, after I married, so I include Waterbury and Wolcott postcards among the cards I collect.

Waterbury postcards are plentiful and I have hundreds in my collection. On the other hand, Wolcott postcards are rare. I probably add one or two new Wolcott postcards to my collection each year and just added number 32 today when the mailman delivered the postcard pictured above.

The 1908 postmarked postcard is a real photo postcard depicting the Congregational Church, which is on Center Street opposite the Wolcott Green. One hundred and two years later, the Congregational Church is still in business in the same building, which you can see here.

Chrysler, Daily News, Chanin, Lincoln and Lefcourt Buildings, New York City

I collect postcards and acquire some of them via eBay. The postcard above is my latest acquisition, which was delivered via the postal service on Saturday.

It amuses me that it took 81 cents of postage to mail the penny postcard to me! In theory, the seller could have stuck 28 cents postage and my name and address on the back of the postcard to get it to me.

Anyway, the postcard was postmarked February 1947. It depicts the east side of Manhattan Island in the vicinity of East 42nd Street. That area of The City is probably the one area that I have frequented the most during the past 58 years, since it is also the location of Grand Central Terminal, which is the terminus of a train ride into The City from these parts.

For you radio fans out there, note the radio tower at the top of the Lefcourt Building, which is the skyscraper to the far right.

For those new to the postcard hobby, this type of card is known as a "linen" because it is intended to look as if it was printed on cloth. This was a popular postcard affectation from the 1930s through the 1950s. Often the colors of the linens are so unnatural that they are ludicrous; this one happens to be one of better examples color-wise.