Post by Steve on May 7, 2022 1:28:32 GMT 12
I've just recently been made aware of this peculiar model...
www.vintageradio.co.nz/model/moderne/es-dw
At a casual glance, it looks like a AWA Fisk Radiola Empire State... but a closer look reveals a Kiwi dial, with Kiwi stations. Moderne... a Wellington company
Legend states Mac Macdonald (who I understand started Moderne, but I have not gone down that rabbit-hole yet as I'm fairly deep in Radio Corp history at the moment) was quite taken with the Empire State cabinet and so licenced or purchased them from AWA for one of his own sets. The Moderne ones have 2 screw holes for the speaker in the front of the grille, different knobs (maybe), a different dial and no AWA round label in the front.
I've been trying to date this set, and I'd also love to find one to examine because I've got no idea whats inside the cabinet (valve count / lineup etc).
In trying to date it, the thing really doing my head in is where 4ZB is on the dial. 4ZB was (in the early-mid 30s) at around 1050 I think from memory, then it went to 1220 when the National Broadcasting Service got hold of it in 1937... then in 1948 it dropped back down to 1040. On this dial it appears to be 1310 or thereabouts... was it ever there? I was hoping this might help me date it - but I am beginning to think its just in the wrong place...
1310, if that's what the frequency is, was 1ZJ in Auckland, right through until 1948 as far as I can tell... when it became 1XH in Hamilton
Its possible I'm missing something here - or its possible the dial is wrong.
As a side note, a Trade Me seller is selling one of these Moderne Empire State sets on TM at the moment, claiming it to be a genuine AWA Radiola Empire State.
I have found absolutely no advertising for this model - although I have found advertising for another one with a similarly laid-out dial (but more compressed). This could mean the Empire State one is a bit later than I thought, and a post-WW2 model, as this one appears to be from around 1947
Hutt News, 26th March 1947
Cheers, Steve
www.vintageradio.co.nz/model/moderne/es-dw
At a casual glance, it looks like a AWA Fisk Radiola Empire State... but a closer look reveals a Kiwi dial, with Kiwi stations. Moderne... a Wellington company
Legend states Mac Macdonald (who I understand started Moderne, but I have not gone down that rabbit-hole yet as I'm fairly deep in Radio Corp history at the moment) was quite taken with the Empire State cabinet and so licenced or purchased them from AWA for one of his own sets. The Moderne ones have 2 screw holes for the speaker in the front of the grille, different knobs (maybe), a different dial and no AWA round label in the front.
I've been trying to date this set, and I'd also love to find one to examine because I've got no idea whats inside the cabinet (valve count / lineup etc).
In trying to date it, the thing really doing my head in is where 4ZB is on the dial. 4ZB was (in the early-mid 30s) at around 1050 I think from memory, then it went to 1220 when the National Broadcasting Service got hold of it in 1937... then in 1948 it dropped back down to 1040. On this dial it appears to be 1310 or thereabouts... was it ever there? I was hoping this might help me date it - but I am beginning to think its just in the wrong place...
1310, if that's what the frequency is, was 1ZJ in Auckland, right through until 1948 as far as I can tell... when it became 1XH in Hamilton
Its possible I'm missing something here - or its possible the dial is wrong.
As a side note, a Trade Me seller is selling one of these Moderne Empire State sets on TM at the moment, claiming it to be a genuine AWA Radiola Empire State.
I have found absolutely no advertising for this model - although I have found advertising for another one with a similarly laid-out dial (but more compressed). This could mean the Empire State one is a bit later than I thought, and a post-WW2 model, as this one appears to be from around 1947
Hutt News, 26th March 1947
Cheers, Steve
