September, 2007

Since I seem to be stuck on the Zenith Corporation this weekend and the “Walton” radio topic, it’s worth noting that 1970’s television show the “Walton’s” plays into the survival rate of these radios. In 1971, most of the original owners of the “Walton” radios were still alive and the many of them watched the Walton television series. If these viewer's “Walton” radios were still in storage in the 1970’s then there is some merit to the idea that seeing their family radio on television each week made these original radio owners and their family members more aware of the radio; which in turn made it less likely for family members to be pitched in the trash. This is why the radio is not called by its model number and instead has been given it name the nick name “Walton” radio. People in their minds are saying; we can’t throw this radio out, it was my grandparent’s radio and it was the Walton’s radio. I know, it sounds kind of goofy when put this way, but you know what I mean.

The television show the “Walton’s” made this Zenith radio iconic. Hollywood and the Madison Avenue Advertising agencies have the power to make things become iconic by featuring items in the movies and on television.

The other icon radio of the 1930’s was the Philco 90 and 70. Why are these Philco’s so iconic? The 90 and 70 were the first of the new breakout radio designs aimed at getting away from the 1920’s breadboard and breadbox look that was so common at the time. These radios had a very beautiful and different design thus becoming a very popular radio with consumers.

The Philco 90 and 70 were produced in the early 1930’s and, like the “Walton” radio, they were produce with varying chassis in the same cabinet. The bottoms on the 70 and 90 varied some but for the most part they share the same basic design.

Manufactures always turn to good design and new features when there’s a down turn in sales. My guess is that better design became one of the sales stimulus used to help sluggish radio sales in the rock bottom days of the Great Depression.

It needs to be pointed out that one of the core rules of collecting comes into play with both the “Walton” and Philco radios here and that is; “If the item has a Golden Design then it has a better chance of surviving overtime.” It’s only human nature to keep things that have a nice design look to it. Don't forget that people used there old radio form the 1930's up into the 1960's a lot of the time.

In 1946 and 1947 the Wurlitzer Corporation produced close to 60,000 Wurlitzer model 1015 jukeboxes. From 1934 to April of 1942 Wurlitzer single biggest model produced was the 1937 model 616 and 616-A. In that year 39,706 of the model 616 and 616-A were produced. Wurlitzer 616’s shows up on ebay a few times a year and sells for less than $1,200 on average. This jukebox has a very plain design with the look of an average 1937 radio console.

On the other hand the Wurlitzer 1015 is animated with turning color cylinders, long orange colored bubbling tubes and beautiful chrome trim. The large production number of 60,000 was a result of the demand for jukeboxes due to the U.S. Government restricting the production of jukeboxes during World War II.

The number one jukebox you will see on listed on ebay these days is the Wurlitzer 1015. You will see 2 or 3 a month listed in restored condition and selling for around $7,000 to $8,000. Ebay will have, at any given time, 1 or more of the modern 1015 reproductions listed.

Why so many 1015’s on ebay? Large production numbers, a great design using all kinds of design innovations for its time plus, the Wurlitzer 1015 reach iconic status in the 1970’s when Hollywood and advertising set designers used the 1015 over and over in film and TV just like the “Walton” radio.

I believe there are a lot of similarities between the Zenith’s “Walton” radios and Wurlitzer’s 1015 when it comes to their iconic popularity with the public. They both had great design to them as well as great innovations and they both may have even had large production numbers in common. They are both coming up on ebay a lot these days.

Just for fun check out the Wurlitzer 250-A jukebox speaker from my collection, which looks to be a distant cousin to the Zenith “Walton” radio cabinet.