You say wireless, I say tomato !

[Viewmaster]

At what age does a wireless become a radio? How old to be termed vintage?

For me, 'vintage' is only circa 1920's, and wirelesses became radios in the '30s onwards.

It's probably because I am near vintage myself and so see post WW2 as very modern.

Of course, calling a radio a wireless puts 50 quid on the sale price.

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by Viewmaster

At what age does a wireless become a radio? How old to be termed vintage?

Wireless pretty much now denotes mobile comms technology, whether by internet or bluetooth!

If I called a radio a 'wireless', my son would have no idea what I was talking about.

I don't use the term, either. I simply call my vintage sets vintage radios, and they span between, 1936 and 1968.

'Vintage' is used casually and is virtually meaningless. EBay stopped allowing the term after controversies with its usage/misusage.

Some people wouldn't hesitate to denote a 1990's technology as vintage, but for me, the difficulty there arises at the very least with the aesthetics of the period - it can still be tough to argue the point. I'm comfortable using it to describe a radio or TV that has certain discernible qualities that might make it stand-out collectable, as well as being likely pre 1970's. But people born in the noughties have a very different perspective, obviously!

[Nuvistor]

Wireless World only removed the term Wireless from its title in 1996.

Always been Radio for me that’s since the 1950’s, but my parents tended to use Wireless.

[barrymagrec]

As a kid I was confused by the term wireless as they patently were full of wires, since then I have almost always referred to broadcast sets as radios, Mrs BM on the other hand always talks of "The Wireless" just as she normally refers to "The Motor Car". I think it`s mainly to sow confusion amongst others.

I think my father, pre war radio and record enthusiast and wartime R.E.M.E erk has always used the term radio.

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by astral highway

Some people wouldn't hesitate to denote a 1990's technology as vintage,

Some technologies simply age faster than others...

David

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Some technologies simply age faster than others...

Yep! Remember laser-discs, before CD's?

...they only seemed to be around for a very few years.

BETA, on the other hand, stayed the standard for professional video cameras and what you'd send to a broadcaster for years and years after most folk erroneously thought it had been completely and resolutely left behind by VHS!

[ThePillenwerfer]

I always thought that it became Radio when the ability to transmit speech came in. Certainly in the Services they'd talk about Wireless Telegraphy (W/T) and Radio Telephony (r/t).

The BBC called it's magazine Radio Times from the start in 1923.

Was the long-standing use of Wireless in conversation peculiar to British English?

[Station X]

I was born in 1950 and I can't remember my parents or indeed my grandparents using the word wireless, it was always radio which is the word I used. Of course my father and I talked of transmitters and receivers.

I can't imagine listening to Radio Luxembourg on the wireless.

[evingar]

I like the term wireless - It has a kind of retro charm.
As in, "I was listening to the Home Service on the wireless this morning". As was mentioned above, you would have to be of a certain age to know I was referring to Radio 4.

... have to say though, even my 83 year old dad calls it radio

[stitch1]

Originally Posted by astral highway

Wireless pretty much now denotes mobile comms technology, whether by internet or bluetooth!

If I called a radio a 'wireless', my son would have no idea what I was talking about.

I don't use the term, either. I simply call my vintage sets vintage radios, and they span between, 1936 and 1968.

'Vintage' is used casually and is virtually meaningless. EBay stopped allowing the term after controversies with its usage/misusage.

Some people wouldn't hesitate to denote a 1990's technology as vintage, but for me, the difficulty there arises at the very least with the aesthetics of the period - it can still be tough to argue the point. I'm comfortable using it to describe a radio or TV that has certain discernible qualities that might make it stand-out collectable, as well as being likely pre 1970's. But people born in the noughties have a very different perspective, obviously!

My grandfather always said put wireless on but they’ve always been simply radios to me.

Vintage to me just means ‘not current technology’.

I don’t believe eBay have stopped the use of the word vintage. I’ve never been restricted with any words on a sale. Just do a search on ‘vintage radio’.

I like the term ‘set’ too.

John

[dave walsh]

Non BVWS members won't be aware that a [very civilised] discussion is taking place within our organisation as it has been suggested that perhaps the British Vintage "Wireless" Society needs a name change. There are a surprising number of factors to consider but many of them overlap with points made in this thread already, eg the term "Wireless" now has other major ramifications in society at large

It's an internal private debate for BVWS people but the issues are clearly not unrelated to the Forum.

Many members here are also part of the BVWS but [of course] the Forum itself is privately owned and run. For what it's worth, I'm a futurist who doesn't like change [] so I'll stick with the title [on balance] using the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" adage. Very few things are that simple in the end though and I certainly won't be getting enraged about the outcome either way Semantics was mentioned recently here. I point out at the Supermarket [while swiping my card] that "contactless" is really a misnomer. Blank stares

Dave

[Sideband]

Wireless was simply used in the early days to describe the fact that the radio was not connected to the studio via wires and it picked up the sounds from the ether. To all intents and purposes it was 'wireless' so calling the set a 'wireless' was quite logical at the time. However does anyone know where the word 'radio' came from?

[Station X]

Now I think about it I do say "Wireless Set 19" for example.

[boxdoctor]

Is this not somewhat a matter of language evolution?
Originlly messages were sent by telegraphy along wires, then, with the arrival of the ability to send these messages by electromagnetic waves, the process became "wire-less", which, by common usage, resulted in the term "wireless" becoming the accepted name for the system itself, even though the accepted usage is for audio as well as purely code communication.
I believe the term "Radio" was an invention of the Americans.
Oh - and to me its "radio" if its post - 4 volt valves. FWIW. Tony

[Trifocaltrev]

I was born in the mid-1950s, My parents and both sets of grandparents always used the term Wireless and did most of my school friends parents.

To this day I always use the same term as it just flows naturally off of my lips. I am sure that I can't be the only one!

Trevor.

[ThePillenwerfer]

I'm 48 and use, and have always used, both terms.

Thinking about it it's odd though. I'll say I've been fixing an old radio but say I heard some good music on the wireless.

[dave walsh]

Same here PW but there is a slight change now, eg with the passage of time, people are more likely to understand " I collect radios" so I will use that with "civilians". Pretty soon anyone under 30 won't understand either option and probaly care even less.

There's a lot of direct dictionary interpretation of terms here but there's also an "added value" perhaps. It's pretty much well accepted that listening remotely, without wires through the aether, was extraordinarily popular, almost from the beginning. Like the modern "mobile" it had an individual and personal effect that had not been anticipated-especially during the Second World War and beyond. It's possible that saying "The Wireless" became a term almost of affection [recalling an old friend] rather than just a description of a household appliance.

Dave

[ukcol]

Originally Posted by Nuvistor

Wireless World only removed the term Wireless from its title in 1996.

Wireless World must have had a real problem over the name. The magazine had established itself world wide as "the" magazine on the subject of radio and electronics but the term "Wireless" (at least in the context of the time) had become archaic. Making a sudden name change would have run the risk of losing readers.

It primed its readers for a name change with the April 1983 issue when it dropped the subject list above the title and inserted "For Everything In Electronics" into the name. By October of that year it became "Electronics and Wireless World" until "Wireless" was finally dropped in '96.

[dave walsh]

"Brand" names are valuable and mysterious-they don't change a good one in a hurry. "Radio Times" is a very iconic brand and still the name for a weekly that dominates other TV listing magazines. Perhaps it's an old friend [like the Wireless]. Car-phone Warehouse. I haven't seen a car-phone for thirty years

Going back to the when Wireless Changed to Radio question, there seemed to be various preferences from the nineteenth century onwards. As Sideband said, Wireless was a lack of wires [transmission of sound entertainment was though telephone wires at one point]. There seemed to be a preference for Radio later on [apparently Latin for Ray or Beam] as there was more emphasis on magnetic field interaction in the scientific research. Maybe the Americans were just never into Wire-Less in the first place? The change to Radio is credited to the Second World War Military preference but was it also related to the USA entering the conflict with their radios?

Dave

[evingar]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

"Brand" names are valuable and mysterious-they don't change a good one in a hurry. "Radio Times" is a very iconic brand and still the name for a weekly that dominates other TV listing magazines. Perhaps it's an old friend [like the Wireless]. Car-phone Warehouse. I haven't seen a car-phone for thirty years

Indeed - and we also have YouTube - when the telly tube has long since departed mainstream use. YouFlatPanel just doesn't cut the mustard