Grunow Radio

[kpreed]

I would like to get a feel for who has what year and model number.
Mine is a 1937 model 621

and any other brand of radio also you may want to share.

Thanks

 

[Sefton]

Mine is model 470. Year:1935. 4 tubes.

 

[kpreed]

Radio

Great looking radio! That is three Fadora folk's I know with Grunow's. Thanks!

Glad you shared.:eusa_clap

 

[Thomas Peasley]

Have many of these-my wife';s maiden name was Grunow. I'm currently restoring a model 555 "all-wave" floor model. Enjoy these bits of the past.-Tom

 

[kpreed]

Welcome!

Enjoy and welcome to the Lounge:eusa_clap I Love old radios ( I have under a dozen, so not a big bunch), but have a real place for my Grunow!

 

[Flivver]

Early Grunow History

Grunow started out as the Grigsby Grunow Hinds Company in 1921. They specialized in automotive accessories. One of their first radio products was a very nice horn loudspeaker made of an early plastic called Paralyn. These GGH horns were introduced in 1924-25.

In 1926, GGH introduced a very successful line of battery eliminators using the cold cathode Raytheon BH rectifier tube. These were marketed under the Majestic brand.

But when RCA introduced its line of AC filament tubes in late 1927, GGH's battery eliminator business dried up almost overnight since inexpensive AC powered radios were now possible. So GGH decided to take the plunge into the radio receiver business. These first GGH radios were also called Majestic.

The Majestic line of radios got off to a fast start because they embodied the latest technical advances including an electro-dynamic loudspeaker. Majestic quickly shot to first place in the industry.

Their success was short lived, however, because by 1930 Philco had won first place in the industry and held on to it for decades. Majestic got hit hard by the depression. In 1931, William Grunow pulled out of Majestic and formed the General Household Utilities Company which marketed radios under the Grunow brand.

Grunow ended radio production in 1937 with its 1938 models.

 

[kpreed]

Thank You.

Thank you for the early Grunow history.

 

[RetroToday]

I can't say that I've ever seen one actual Grunow radio up here in Toronto, although I've seen many Majestics.

The Rogers company took on the Majestic and DeForest name in Canada, so it resulted in many of the radio models across all three brand names to look very similar.

I have about thirty vintage radios right now in various stages of restoration, you can see them at the link in my signature below.
Don't want to clog my post with thirty images, the people on dial-up wouldn't appreciate that either.

But, my favourite era for these sets is the 1930s, wish I had more of the heavily art deco styled ones. Such beautiful, thoughtful designs.
So, here's at least an image of one of my favourites - my 1937 McMurdo Silver Masterpiece VI.

 

[Fletch]

Majestic got hit hard by the depression. In 1931, William Grunow pulled out of Majestic and formed the General Household Utilities Company which marketed radios under the Grunow brand.

Not generally known (or cared about ) is the fact that Majestic briefly owned Columbia Records. This was in 1932-'34, at a time when both companies were on their keesters. They also sponsored a television experiment station at Purdue University in those years.

 

[Thomas Peasley]

Grunow radios

In answer to your original question: I have (4) Grunow radios. a564,1171,460 and currently working on restoring a 555 console all-wave model. If you like Grunow radios, you can see many restored models the way most were meant to look at: http://www.antiqueradios.com/gallery/v/Grunow/
Enjoy 'em -Tom

 

[kpreed]

Welcome!

I HOPE YOU ENJOY the Lounge. Thank you for the link, I also am on the Antique Radio Forum often too. Happy Holidays!

 

[Big Man]

Look what I found ...

At my grandmother's old place (now my house), there is an old trash dump down the side of the hill behind the house where she threw away all the broken dishes, glass, and whatever. The trash pile was in a ditch, and putting all that old stuff there helped stop the ditch from further eroding. Over the years, the layers of rubbish and dirt built up. The trash pile hasn't been used in more than 25 years, so there is quite a layer of dirt built up over the "goodies" buried below. One thing I like to do when I have some time on my hands is to scratch around in the old trash pile and see what kind of "treasures" I can find. Well, this past Saturday was one of those days.

I uncovered this old piece of a radio (well, actually two pieces?). I remember my Dad telling me that they went to Ivey's in Asheville, NC sometime in the 1930's and bought a radio. Could this be what was left of that old radio?

Some quick searching indicates that the Grunow brand was made in the 1930's (and was discontinued about 1938). So, it looks like I found the old family radio. Too bad this is all that's left of the radio, but it is something.

Does anyone have any idea what model this old radio may have been? The serial number on the dial is 31237-2 (5 or 7 ?). Also, both these pieces were found side-by-side. Are they two pieces of the same radio or could they be from two separate radios?

 

[kpreed]

Great Find! I will do a bit of a search and post what I find.

 

[Big Man]

Great Find! I will do a bit of a search and post what I find.

Thanks. I'd appreciate anything you can find.

I heard my Dad talk a lot about the old radio they had. When they got the radio, it really was a big deal. He told me how his uncle Clyde strung the antenna from the eve of the house to a pole out in the garden (the old ground post is still in the ground beside the porch), and the antenna ran in the window to the radio that sat on the buffet in the dining room. The old buffet is still there by the window and there is a notch carved out in the window frame where the antenna wire passed through the window.

It would be great if I could find an old radio like that one to put back there (or at least something similar).

 

[kpreed]

No problem, I am not sure, but it looks like it may have been a table top model or do you think there is room for a floor model?
I play my Grandfolk's 1936 Crosley radio everyday from a transmitter hooked to my computer with pre WW II music on my hard-drive. Some Great Stuff.

Grandpa and Grandma's Crosley Radio Model 715

 

[Big Man]

No problem, I am not sure, but it looks like it may have been a table top model or do you think there is room for a floor model? ...

I'm positive it was a table top model.

 

[vitanola]

Here is a 1935 console in my collection:

And a 1931 Majestic tombstone:

1930 Majestic:

1929 Majestic:

 

[kpreed]

Knowing that sure helps and with the limited years of the maker we should get close. The color of the dial and number of knobs help too. The link above shows many a maybe. I will keep up the search.

 

[vitanola]

It appears to be a type 48 4 tube chassis, introduced in September of 1934 as a 1935 model.

This chassis was used in the 460 and 470 tombstone sets. These were inexpensive AC midgets, retailing for less than $20.00.

The five-tube model 570 was a better performer, and retailed for $29.95.

 

[Big Man]

Thanks, folks, for all the great information and links. From your information and the photos, I would suspect that the old radio my grandmother had was a 470 (the knob placement and the dial face match).

Who knows how long that old radio lay buried in the ground. It was never around in my lifetime (53 years), so to find as much of it as I did is really something. Now the project will be to find a "replacement" to put back where the old one used to be.