North American Made Radios In The UK

[Richard_FM]

I was wondering how common were North American made radios in the UK during the 1920-40s.

In a previous thread I remember it was mentioned they were often imported as a bare chassis, and would be completed in the UK with a locally made cabinet and valves to avoid import taxes. Some of these operations eventually became full production, with sets being designed from scratch for the UK market.

I know that Philco, Ferguson, Pilot, and maybe some others like Western Electric had a presence, but did any others like Zenith and Admiral ever make it over here?

I can understand why General Electric & RCA wouldn't be common if marketed here at all.

[Herald1360]

I had an Admiral back in the '60s, a bakelite AA5 MW only set originally fitted with a line cord but latterly run from an autotransformer. It nearly killed me in about '68 thanks to a badly installed consumer unit (crossed L&N). I presume it was a 1940s import.

[Paul_RK]

I'd break down the presence of North American-type sets here into. let's see, three distinct categories -

1). The likes of Philco, Pilot, Belmont, Ferguson, for which UK factories were established to perform some part of the production and assembly processes, with designs oriented to local requirements (i.e. 240 volt operation and LW a must).

2) Pure commercial imports of standard sets already modified for the UK market, with LW and usually a "line cord". Some "midgets" came in around 1938, I posted photos of the tuning dials of a couple of resident examples (Fada and Commander) in a recent thread. "Radio! Radio!" if I remember rightly details legal measures taken around 1931 to prevent the market being flooded by US-made imports, hence the various category 1) operations established to get around these.

3) Standard US models that somehow found their way here as one-offs: with service personnel, people returning to the UK for various reasons, etc.. I've come across quite a few, Emersons, GE, Philco, Stromberg Carlson, etc.. Of course there's often no way of knowing whether a particular radio came here in the late '40s when it was more or less new or was brought in a few years ago by someone who liked the look of it. If unmodified, though, these will have no sign of LW (excepting a few "world band" portables) and (with more or less the same exception) will have no provision for 240 volt running.

Again from memory, the wireless press reveals that some attempts were made to market the most extravagant multi-valve US monster chassis here: Scott, McMurdo Silver, Midwest. The late Geoffrey Dixon-Nuttall reported in the early days of The Radiophile on a few of these that he'd met and restored, but in general they've vanished leaving few traces. Zenith also produced some monsters, but I've not heard of any of those turning up on this side of the pond. Their lesser sets too are very few and far between until - mid-1950s at a rough guess - the Transoceanic line began to receive heavy worldwide promotion.

Paul

[Gridiron]

Many American radios were imported during WW2, the "midget" type being the most common (Emerson,etc), which had to be adapted for use on UK mains. Some Majestic models were imported during the 1930's.
Mike.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Gridiron

Many American radios were imported during WW2, the "midget" type being the most common (Emerson,etc), which had to be adapted for use on UK mains.
Mike.

Thanks, yes. I'd started off intending to provide four categories, then couldn't think what the fourth was to be...

Paul

[ChristianFletcher]

I was thinking the masteradio D110 that I’m working at the moment looks very American. I think resistive line cords make more sense at 120 volt rather than 240 or the 250 at my house.


Link to my restoration video below. Masteradio D110W

https://youtu.be/A-Yo2s6daZQ

[Richard_FM]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I've heard of some American radios being imported during the Second World War, but spares for them, especially the valves were hard to source.

Long Wave never seems to have been a common band in North America, and often radios there had Short Wave instead, often called International Band.

It's interesting to see which brand names became common for home electrics over here, Westinghouse is better known for it's railway industry equipment here, rather than any of their domestic products.

[turretslug]

I recall back around 1977-78 when my parents were renovating a fisherman's cottage in Northern Scotland and the superannuated carpets were peeled back to reveal a great many underlying sheets of newspaper from 1936. There was a particular abundance of big Pilot radio adverts with extensive bumf on the various model specs, so there was obviously a big marketing effort on at the time. Not sure if this was coincident with or before the UK manufacturing presence- it would make sense for it to have been around the same time.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by turretslug

...sheets of newspaper from 1936. There was a particular abundance of big Pilot radio adverts with extensive bumf on the various model specs, so there was obviously a big marketing effort on at the time. Not sure if this was coincident with or before the UK manufacturing presence- it would make sense for it to have been around the same time.

Pretty much, yes. There are still quite a few UK Pilot radios around from the '30s, and I think the ones I've most often seen - I have one myself, a fairly large console with a modest 4V+R chassis - are "all-wave" sets (LW/MW/SW) with the large round "airplane" tuning dials that appeared in 1935-6 and were old hat a couple of years later. Rectangular tuning scale models from 1937-39 do come along fairly frequently too. Not sure I've ever met a pre-1935 British Pilot, whereas early '30s Philcos for instance were sold here in good numbers.

Paul

[FERNSEH]

Sold in the UK and made in the USA the Pilot X65B.

DFWB.

[Richard_FM]

American radios in the early 1930s seemed to have smallish round dials roughly central in the case.

[McMurdo]

According to a hansard report from January 1944, the UK had imported 18,000 US sets up till then to cover wartime domestic shortages and were due to import many more

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

According to a hansard report from January 1944, the UK had imported 18,000 US sets up till then to cover wartime domestic shortages and were due to import many more

I think it was the lack of spares & service data that led to the Utility radios being developed.