[today’s run: watson road – 3.5 miles]
I received this month’s Electric Radio Magazine in the mail yesterday and I sat down and read through it already. It is an entertaining magazine, a bit expensive for a one-hour thrill every month. (But they do have a good resale value on ebay).
This month had some pictures of “radio row” stores in NYC which sold radio parts. They say the area was removed when the world trade center was built in the ’60s.
That reminded me of a similar store in Des Moines when I grew up. It was called Radio Trade Supply. I remember going in there a few times, probably with my Dad. I don’t remember what we bought though. It was an old kind of store.
Looking up old info on the internet, it appears to have been at 1224 Grand Ave, a few blocks east of Tech High. The site is something completely different now.
I think the last time I went into the place I was probably in high school. I remember looking at the transistorized shortwave receivers they had for sale. But I didn’t buy one. So they may have lasted into the early 1980’s?, something like that. I think they eventually were merged with Mid-States on Bell Ave.
[I did more searching… found a guy on linkedin.com who worked at Radio Trade Supply until 1993 and then from 1993 to present at Mid-State Distributing. So it lasted longer than I had remembered.]