Electronics-Themed Comics
November 1948 Radio & Television News

November 1948 Radio & TV News

[Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio & Television News, published 1919-1959. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

These three electronics-themed comics appeared in the November 1948 issue of Radio & Television News magazine. You don't need to be of the era in order to appreciate the humor, but Millennials might need a little assistance with the second one. That contraption sitting the desk is called a "turntable," and it used to play platter-shaped audio media called "records" by spinning them at a certain rate (33-1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, 78 rpm), while that horizontal lever called a "tone arm" held a piezoelectric needle in the grooved tracks of the record. The joke here is the guy having to spin his head while trying to read the printed label. I'm just joshing the Millennials†, of course, since they use spinning disks called CDs and DVDs for listening to music - or do they? Is everyone now using solid state drives in tablets and smartphones for storing music? Oh shoot, the 8-track player is dragging on my "Jim Croce - His Greatest Hits" tape - back in a minute...

† Actually, a lot of Millennials are big fans of vintage vinyl and many have impressive collections of not just records, but vintage stereo gear that would be the envy of lots of people my age.

Comics

"Something is wrong!"
page 88

"The name of the selection now playing is . . . .  !"
page 153

"I lifted a lot of things in my life - But this is the last time I handle hot radios!"
page 156

Posted July 28, 2022
(updated from original post on 12/11/2015)