.Official website of the Northland Antique Radio Club (NARC).
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The
Northland Antique Radio Club
Radio Daze 2009, the Upper Midwest's ultimate vintage radio collecting event, will be held Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, 2009, at the Comfort Inn of Plymouth, located at the northwest corner of I-494 and Hwy. 55 in Plymouth, Minnesota. This will be our 12th year at this great location! Room rates are $73.00 (plus tax) per night for either a single or a double room. The Comfort Inn's reservation phone number is (763) 559-1222.
This is NARC's premier event and is co-sponsored by both the the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting and the Antique Wireless Association (AWA). The auction, swap meet, radio contest, program, and awards presentation are well attended by prominent vintage radio collectors from across the country. The radio contest includes equipment displayed from the early 1920's to the 1960's. Fliers will be mailed in early April to all known radio collectors in the five state area.
The meet will kick off Friday evening with a wonderful vintage radio auction. We make this an entertaining auction and there will be a good variety of radios available (some are already consigned). If you want to sell your radio(s) at the auction, bring them in between 5:00 and 6:30 pm Friday and check them in. Auction preview is 6:00 to 7:00 pm, and the auction starts at 7:00 pm. As in past years, Ed Ripley will be our auctioneer, with auction coordinator Don Hauff handling registration and check in.
Note: If you have any questions about selling your radios at the auction, please contact us!
A visit to the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting is always a highlight of 'Radio Daze' and they schedule their annual garage sale of surplus radio relics for this weekend. The Pavek museum is located at 3515 Raleigh Avenue in St. Louis Park and will be open at 10:00 am sharp on Friday and again at 9:00 am on Saturday. Make sure you are displaying your Radio Daze name tag for free admission.
Saturday begins with the hotel parking lot swap meet in the morning. (Please note that the permit from the City of Plymouth does not allow any parking lot sales prior to Saturday morning.) The hospitality room will be open at 7:00 am with hot coffee and rolls. Hot dogs with cookies and snacks will be available starting at 11:30 am. The registration room opens at 8:00 am. Item check in for the old radio contest will run from 11:00 am to noon, with viewing from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Contest categories are described in the Radio Daze 2009 flier. A trip to the contest room always yields a surprise or two!
For Saturday lunch, NARC will offer a light lunch in the hospitality room, or a great meal can be had at Axel's Bonfire restaurant within the hotel. Several other restaurants are nearby, including Perkins, Jake's Sports Bar, and some fast food establishments.
The Saturday program begins at 2:00 pm and includes opening comments, contest awards, door prizes, and a featured speaker. This year, Alfred Balk, author of 'The Rise of Radio: from Marconi to the Golden Age', will present 'How Radio Shaped America, Sifting Fact From Fiction'. Alfred is a great speaker and is well qualified to tackle this subject. He has worked as a news-writer for station WBBM, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, and as a freelance magazine writer. He was Feature Editor of Saturday Review, Editor of Columbia Journalism Review, Founding editor of World Press Review, IEEE Spectrum Managing Editor and taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universities. Alfred will have copies of his book available at the event! This promises to be a very interesting program, so be sure to plan for it.
Click here to see the Radio Daze 2009 flier. Also, click here ( 2001 / 2002 / 2004 / 2005 / 2007) to see pictures from previous years!
Registration is required for admittance to all indoor events, the Hospitality Room, the Pavek Museum, and to sell items in the parking lot. Registration is encouraged, but not required, for anyone just attending the auction or buying at the swap meet. You can pre-register (and save $3.00) by returning a registration form before May 8th. After you arrive, pick up your name badge and other materials in the Registration Room.
21st Annual Radio Workshop
Sunday February 8, 2009 at Noon
Sunday February 8, 2009 at Noon
On February 8th, 2009, Steve Raymer will be showing off another aspect of his electronics expertise. He will be bringing old technology together with the new. This year's theme will be modern diagnostic techniques. Steve will use a computer with software downloaded from the Internet as test equipment to quantify radio performance. Since most of us own a computer, it will be interesting to learn how we can rate our own radios' performance using our own equipment.
The second presentation will be by Matt Hyman. He has an interest in high-end stereo and hi-fi table radios and has been collecting them for years. Matt will bring in several models made by Bose, Cambridge Sound, Boston Acoustics, Tivoli and others for the NARC membership to hear. Everyone will have a vote in deciding which radios sound the best.
The day begins with trunk sales outside in the parking lot, the Pavek 'garage sale' opening at 11 AM, and then the program will begin at noon and should last about 2 hours. We look forward to seeing you!
Refreshments will be furnished by the Northland Antique Radio Club.
Admission is free to all current Pavek Museum and NARC members (and immediate family members). Membership forms will be available for anyone wishing to join the club.
The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting is located at 3515 Raleigh Avenue, St. Louis Park, Minnesota 55416.
2008 NARC Fall Meet Report
This year's second largest event came a little early this year. Early November is the usual date for the fall meet, but the school had other events booked during our normal time. The weather was still mild, so mid-October was a good date for the meet.
The doors opened at 8:00 am and everyone, with carts full of radios, rushed to their tables to set up their wares. We only had a half hour to get ready since the doors opened to the public at 8:30 am, a half hour earlier than usual. Mary was in charge of registration and quickly processed everyone through. Tom Sargent was busy setting up the refreshments table with donuts, coffee, and pop. The club would like to thank Tom for volunteering and doing a great job in Aimee's absence.
The hall was bustling with sellers setting up. There was a wide variety of items for sale, including hi-fi equipment, wood, bakelite and plastic radios, battery radios, and even a couple of catalins and a blue mirror set. There was paper, test equipment, tubes, and advertising. And, there were some good deals to be had. Jeff Hed found a nice Deluxe radio with chrome grille. I got my radio fix for only $10.
Last year I sold everything I brought, but not this year. The turnout seemed smaller than last year. I suppose it could be the economy or maybe the earlier date conflicted with other activities for some collectors. But, we all still had a good time mingling with fellow NARC members and seeing all the radio stuff that showed up.
Lunch was served at 10:30. Mary offered a sloppy joe, cookie, chips and pop for $3. Not a bad deal, and the sloppy joes were top notch. The silent auction was a hit again, and number of items changed hands there at the end of the show. Ed Ripley made some announcements and advertised the 50/50 raffle. By 11:00 am, some sellers started closing up shop, and it was cleared out by noon.
The 2009 Fall meet may be held at a different location if we can't get a date locked in closer to November 1. If anyone knows of other alternatives, with more space, and in the St. Paul area, please let Ed Ripley know. Watch for details about the 2009 Fall Meet in upcoming newsletters!
Radio Daze 2008 Recap
Another great meet!
2008 was a year of change for Radio Daze with the swap meet held only on Saturday. We were delighted that this resulted in a much better Friday evening auction, more time on Friday to check out the Pavek Museum Garage Sale, and increased overall swap meet attendance!
We knew it was going to be a great auction as the line of people consigning their radios grew at the registration table. It has been many years since we've had more than 150 items, so when that number was reached, the registration people became concerned over the length of the auction and held an emergency meeting before deciding to continue taking consignments. The final tally was 207 items offered for sale to 90 bidders, with total sales of $9620.
Saturday morning, June 7th, found the Comfort Inn parking lot filled with old radios as offered by 42 sellers. Everything from crystal sets to transistor radios were available to buy, including early battery radios, cathedrals, floor models, a few catalins, speakers, and lots more.
The swap meet ran 2 hours later than in past years, so Saturday's contest also started 2 hours later and this eliminated a few regular participants who had a long way to drive home and didn't stay for the contest. It was disappointing that only 37 items were entered in the contest this year, so we hopefully will be able to change something next year to improve participation. Still, there were many great items entered with the 'Best of Show' award going to an engraved sword owned by Commander McDonald, the founder of Zenith Corporation.
The Saturday program was very interesting with Steve Raymer presenting a multi-media show about radio collecting in the Twin Cities, followed by an amazing door prize drawing.
Photos of the meet will be posted here shortly.
Thanks to all who helped make this another great event!
NARC EMBROIDERED SHIRTS AVAILABLE!
Sweatshirt (gray): Fruit-of-the-Loom 'Heavy Cotton'. 84% pre-shrunk cotton, 16% polyester.
Hooded Sweatshirt with a zipper front (gray): Hanes 'Premium'. 70% cotton, 30% polyester.
Polo Shirt (light gray): Jerzees 'Heavyweight Cotton' with 99% cotton and 1% other fibers.
Polo Shirt (medium blue): Cherokee with 100% cotton. (limited supply)
These are very good quality shirts and have a small Northland Antique Radio Club logo tastefully embroidered on them.
All gray shirts are available in S, M, L, XL, XXL, and XXXL. Blue shirts are in limited supply. Polo shirts are $18, sweatshirts are $23. XXL and XXXL sizes are $2 additional. Shipping is $4 per shirt, or we may be able to arrange pick-up or delivery if you are in the Twin Cities area.
Mail check to: NARC, PO Box 18362, Minneapolis, MN 55418
NARC MEMBERS!
Check out NARC's online list of members having email addresses or websites. This list now contains over 90 members and their interests!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
May 15th and 16th, 2009 - Radio Daze 2009
September 2009 - Annual Meeting and Mini-Swap Meet
November 2009 - Annual Indoor Fall Swap Meet
See Calendar of Events for details of these, and past events.