The Bone Fone

The Bone Fone makes for a cautionary tale in radio marketing. While bone-conduction headphones have a loyal following today, they have a predecessor which didn't catch on as well. William J. Hass patented the original design  (US4070553A) in 1977. Hass wasn't a marketing guy. He was an actual engineer from Illinois-Chicago College of Engineering, through he later pubished a coupel books on finance and private equity.  He had an intermediate design which he filed in December of 1979 (USD261511) Figure one is described as "...a perspective view of my new design" in that patent he also described it as a "ornamental design for a radio receiver." He wasn't patenting the technology, only the product design. 

Hass filed his third patent (USD268675S) for the Bone Fone November of 1980, a year after he began selling it. But I need to point out that the IP stood on shaky ground. Bone conduction was discovered in the 15th century and was written about in detail by physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard in the 1820s. In the 20th century Hugo Gernsback created a type of bone conduction hearing aid called the Osophone (US1521287) which required biting down onto a rubber "stop cushion."  He he later refined this into the Phonosone [SOURCE] which awkwardly clamped to the forehead like someone wearing their headphones defiantly wrong. It's hard to say which, if any of these Hass drew on for the Bone Fone but three patents for bone anchored hearing aids were issued in 1977. [SOURCE] That roughly fits the timeline.

Radio Craft March 1934

So it came in 1979 that JS&A began direct marketing the Bone Fone. Joe Sugarman founded JS&A in 1971. It was a direct marketing business with healthy catalog sales. An October 1980 letter sent to dealers spelled out that the Bone Fone was going to be advertised in People, Time, Cosmopolitan, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Runners World and other national magazines. If you bought $546 of inventory he'd send you $42 of batteries and two "Ask me about my Bone Fone" T-shirts. I have never seen that shirt, and that sounds like a dangerous question to ask a stranger. The Neck Fone was trademarked in 1980.  It's description was short "stereo sound unit for carrying on shoulders with electrical cord for coupling to stereo equipment."  That sounds more like traditional bone conduction headphones. 

I have examined the patents and all too many images of different Bone Fones and only ever seen two models: the BP-1 and the BP-1M. The latter is a AM-only version they marketed as "NUTS". It sold for $39.95 compared to the original AM/FM $69.95 model.  It's kind of an interesting choice to go "AM-only" in 1980 but that was probably the last time anyone decided to do that. According to the ads there is also a "Neck Fone" which was only $34.95 back in 1981. [SOURCE]  I have never found a picture or drawing of that model.  Anyway the AM still had a conduction unit which let you tune the conductor between 5 and 16 kHz. It's tone switch only had a nigh and low setting.

All of these models were primarily sold mail order through print advertising by JS&A Group, Inc, lead by Joe Sugarman. They sold pocket calculators, electronic games, digital watches, sunglasses, and later got into Infomercials and even slots on QVC. JS&A sold over 100,000 Bone Fones. But according to an FTC document, they manufactured 30,000 of the AM model and only initially sold 60. They lowered the price but it appears that they had saturated the market with the stereo model.

The audience for the Bone Fone was finite. By 1982 DAK Industries was offloading the AM Bone Fone for $5 each with the purchase of a few blank 90 minute cassettes. Bone Fones also appear in overstock and liquidation type electronics sales ads as early as January of 1982. It was dead. In 1988 the Neck Phone trademark was cancelled for lack of a USPTO filing. By 1994 the Bone Fone was appearing in Collector's Guides, for novelty radios. They were going for about $35 then. You can pick one up used for about $50 today on eBay. 

 

Bone Fone BP-1M "Nuts" packaging

In the spring of 1979 the FTC began an investigation of JS&A. They had racked up 33 consumer complaints via the BBB. These were about missing products, missing refunds, slow shipments, lost orders. Their catalog was missing some required language about warranties. Honestly it was pretty mundane stuff. Today that might seem like small potatoes, but it was at least notable in the early 1980s. It was enough that they issued a subpoena for the companies records. It was a simpler time, before virtually every transaction was structured to scam the consumer in some manner. Sugarman was both surprised and offended and he decided to fight rather than pay the fine. More here. 

This escalated into a Senate Subcomittee hearing to which [SOURCE] Sugarman or associates close to him coordinated a letter-writing campaign with public advertisements in his defense. The committee even remarks on this in their records "A short time later, after further unsuccessful negotiations, rather than comply with the subpoena, JS&A took its case to the public through full-page newspaper advertisements and publication of a series of battle reports and other documents." He has chutzpah I'll say that. But his interest in concealing the records in and of itself is not an admission of guilt. It sure does look bad though. 

I want one of these.

Instead of compromising JS&A raised the stakes and published a comic book called "The Monster That Eats Business" attacking the FTC. Sugarman was almost Trumpian in his disdain for law and order or government oversight of any kind. He was milking the same anti-government sentiment that Regan had ridden into office after the long recession of the late 1970s. (It's worth mentioning that Sugarman is Ex CIA and that there is a conspiracy theory out there that this was all theater.) By his own accounting Sugarman still ultimately paid 300k in legal fees and was fined 275k. His original suggested fine would only have been 100k. The implication is that raising a ruckus cost him about half a million dollars. More here.

The lawsuit probably had some modest deleterious affect on sales sales of the Bone Fone. While the radio did not figure prominently in the incident JS&A reports their annual sales dropped from 12M to 1.5M between 1979 and 1981. But that was not what killed the Bone Fone. The radio market in the 1970s was very different from that of the 1980s. The Bone Fone could have become the portable radio of choice, but that was not to be. Joseph Sugarman later wrote about it in an marketing text: "It was perfect timing until a product called the Walkman came out and killed our new product. Timing. It can kill a product or make it."  Sony released the Walkman in March of 1979. The Walkman ultimately sold more than 250 million units worldwide.

The Bone Fone Corporation donated many records for the designs, drawings, correspondence etc to Auburn University in Alabama. [SOURCE] William Hass died in 2019. Joe Sugarman died in 2022.

TAB Books

Technical Author's Bureau Books was based in Blue Ridge Summit, PA on the Maryland border about halfway between Gettysburg, and Hagerstown. It's s small town, even today the population is just 1,089.  That's fewer people than TAB released titles. 

TAB was founded by Verne M. Ray and Malcolm Parks Jr. in 1964. Some sources report that Technical Author's Bureau became TAB Books Inc. in 1980 but use of the TAB logo precedes that by at least a decade. 

Their bibliography is a highly varied assortment of technical books ranging in size from pamphlets to large compendiums; ranging in topic from radio, to computing, electronics, aviation, and into pure engineering. Some books are from anonymous teams of magazine editors and other authors appear dozens of times. 

The TAB Books name appears on all of these titles alongside either the TAB logo, the G/L logo or the Foulsham-Tab  F/T logo. The G/L stands for Gernsback Library. Early editions of some G/L marked texts preserve the known TAB book numbering but do not bear the TAB Books like Ex. Rapid Radio Repair by G. Warren Heath and Oscilloscope Techniques by Alfred Haas. The overlap goes through at least book #83, Fun With Electricity in 1967.

In 1988 TAB acquired Highmark Publishing. It was was acquired by the McGraw-Hill Inc.in that same year and their release schedule fell off sharply. the latest release I've found was in 1997.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of titles. I starting working on a list, compiling by author from the books listed on the inside pages of other texts. The list ballooned to absurd proportions and I had to scale-back my ambitions for now. After the McGraw purchase and numbering seems to have stopped. You can find some of these titles in Google Books, and on the World Radio History site of course. [LINK]

TITLE	No.	AUTHOR	YEAR
Servicing Record Changers	59	Henry Mileaf	1956
Rapid TV Repair	60	G. Warren Heath	1956
Transistor Techniques	61	Radio Electronics Staff	1956
Transistor Circuits	63	Rufus Turner	1957
Elements of Tape Recorder Circuits	67	Herman Burstein & Henry Pollack	X
Electronic Hobbyist's Handbook	69	Rufus Turner	X
Electronic Puzzles And Games	70	Matthew Mandl	1958
Oscilloscope Techniques	72	Alfred Haas	1958
Model Radio Control	74	Edward L. Stafford	X
Transistors - Theory & Practice	75	Rufus Turner	X
Servicing Transistor Radios	76	Leonard D'Ario	X
Rapid Radio Repair	78	G. Warren Heath	1959
Designing and Building Hi-Fi Furniture	79	Jeff Markell	X
Fun with Electricity	83	Tom Kennedy Jr.	X
Installing Hi-Fi Systems	86	Jeff Markell & Jay Stanton	X
Transistor Projects	89	Radio Electronics Staff	X
Radio Control handbook	93	Howard McEntee	X
Transistors - Theory & Practice	94	Rufus Turner	X
How To Fix Transistor Radios & Printed Circuits	96	Leonard Lane	1959
Industrial Electronics	99	Tom Jaski	X
Basic Math Course for Electronics	100	Henry Jacobwitz	X
Practical TV Troubleshooting	102	Compiled by Gernsback Library	1957
Basic Radio Course	104	Paul Kenian	X
Basic TV Course	105	George Kravitz	X
Radio Servicing Made Easy	107	Leonard Lane	1961
The Oscilloscope	108	George Zwick	1963
Basic Transistor Course	111	Paul Rodget Kenian	1962
Learn Electronics By Building Easy-to-Build Projects	112	John Schroeder	1973
Getting Started With Transistors	116	Lou Garner	X
Electronics Data Handbook-Rev. 2nd Edition	118	Martin Clifford	X
TV Sweep Oscillators	119	X	X
Hi-Fi Troubles	120	Herman Burnstein	X
Advanced Radio Control	122	Edward L. Stafford	X
Color TV Repair	123	X	X
The Handbook of Electronic Tables	125	Martin Clifford	1965
Servicing AGC Circuits	126	X	X
Skill-Building Transistor Projects & Experiments	129	Lou Garner	X
Basic Oscillator Handbook	130	Norman Crowhurst	1966
Test Instruments for Electronics	131	Martin Clifford	X
Radio Control Manual 2nd Edition	135	Edward L. Stafford	X
Easy Way To Service Radio Receivers	429	Leo Sands	X
Amateur Radio Extra-Class License Study Guide	453	73 Magazine	X
VHF Ham radio Handbook	460	Edward G. MacKinnon	X
104 East Transistor Projects You Can Build	462	Robert M. Brown	X
6 East Home-IMprovement Projects	343	Steven Bolt	X
Electronic Hobbyist's IC Project Handbook	464	Robert M. Brown	X
Ham radio Projects For Novice & Technician	468	Bert Simon	X
Ham Radio Incentive Licensing Guide	469	Bert Simon	X
104 Simple One-Tube Projects	486	Robert M. Brown	X
Transistor Circuit Guidebook	470	Byron Wels	X
64 Hobby Projects for Home & Car	487	Robert M. Brown & Mark Olsen	1969
Semiconductors from A to Z	493	Phillip Dahlen	X
Audio Systems Handbook	494	Norman Crowhurst	1969
Tape Recording For Fun & Profit	497	Walter Salm	1969
CB Radio Operators Guide	499	Robert M. Brown	X
Working With Semiconductors	501	Albert C. Saunders	X
Zenith Color TV Service Manual - Vol. 1	502	Robert L. Goodman	X
How To Fix Transistor Radios & Printed Circuits	504	Leonard C. Lane	1969
Installing & Servicing Home Audio Systems	505	Jack Hobbs	X
How to Read Electronic Circuit Diagrams	510	Robert Brown & Paul Lawrence	X
Understanding Solid-State Circuits	513	Norman Crowhurst	1973
Philco Color TV Service Manual	522	Robert L. Goodman	X
Guide to Radio - TV Broadcast Engineering Practice	523	Edward L. Stafford	X
104 Easy Projects For The Electronics Gadgeteer	524	Robert M. Brown	1970
Amateur Radio Advanced Class License Study Guide	527	73 Magazine	X
Pulse & Switching Circuits	528	Jarvey Swearer	X
Handbook of Magnetic Recording	529	Finn Jorgensen	X
Basic Electronics Problems Solved	530	Donald Arnold Smith	X
Servicing Modern Hi-Fi Stereo Systems	534	Norman Crowhurst	X
General Electric Color TV Service Manual - Vol. 1	536	Robert L. Goodman	X
125 One Transistor Projects	537	Rufus Turner	X
Computer Circuits & How they Work	538	Byron Wels	X
Transistor Projects for Hobbyists & Students	542	Larry Steckler	X
TV Trouble Diagnosis Made Easy	544	X	1970
Electronic Musical Instruments	546	Norman Crowhurst	X
Zenith Color TV Service Manual—Vol. 2	562	Robert L. Goodman	X
Modern Radar: Theory, Operation and Maintenance	575	Edward L. Stafford	X
How to Use Color TV Test Instruments	577	Robert L. Goodman	X
Modern Radio Repair Techniques	580	Art Margolis	1971
199 Test & Alignment Procedures	593	Art Margolis	1972
199 Color TV Troubles and Solutions	595	Robert L. Goodman	1972
Basic Color Television Course	601	Stan Prentiss	1972
Japanese Monochrome TV Service Manual Repair	602	Charlie Buffington	X
How To Build Solid-State Audio Circuits	606	Mannie Horowitz	1972
Basic Electricity & Beginning Electronics	628	Martin Clifford	X
Aviation Electronics Handbook	631	Edward L. Stafford	X
Simplified TV Trouble Diagnosis	633	Robert L. Goodman	1973
Modern Electronics Math	655	Martin Clifford	X
Fm Stereo-Quad Receiver Servicing Manual	660	Joseph Carr	X
Understanding & Using the Oscilloscope	664	Clayton L Hallmark	X
Zenith Color TV Service Manual -Vol. 3	668	Robert L. Goodman	X
Electrical Wiring and Lighting for Home and Office	671	Edward L. Stafford	X
Understanding & Using the VOM & EVM	672	John Cunningham	1973
Professional Picture Framing for the Amateur	674	Jack & Barbara Wolf	1974
Pictorial Guide to CB Radio Installation and Repair	683	Forest H. Belt	X
TV Tuner Schematic / Servicing Manual - Vol. 1	696	Robert L. Goodman	X
Electronic Measurements Simplified	702	Clayton L Hallmark	1973
Indexed Guide to Modern Electronic Circuits	706	Robert L. Goodman	X
Radio astronomy For the Amateur	714	David L Heiserman	X
Complete Guide to Outboard Motor Service and Repair	727	Paul Dempsey	X
The Complete FM 2-Way Radio Handbook	735	Clayton L Hallmark	1974
Vintage Airline Color TV Service Manual	741	Tab Editorial Staff	1975
Color TV Case Histories Illustrated	746	Robert L. Goodman	X
The Complete Auto Electric handbook	748	X	X
Auto Electronics Simplified	749	X	X
4 Channel Stereo From Source To Sound	756	X	1973
Troubleshooting with the Dual-Trace Scope	772	Robert L. Goodman	X
How to Make Jewelry Like a Pro	775	X	X
Op Amp Circuit Design & Applications	787	Joseph Carr	X
Microelectronics	794	X	X
Master Handbook of HAM Radio Circuits	801	Editors of 73 Magazine	1977
Flying Model Airplanes and Helicopters by Radio Control	825	Edward L. Stafford	X
Impedance	829	Rufus P. Turner	1976
The Complete Broadcast Antenna Handbook	833	John E. Cunningham	X
Zenith Color TV Service Manual - Vol. 4	838	Robert L. Goodman	X
Build Your Own Working Robot	841	David L Heiserman	X
CB Radio Schematic / Servicing Manual Vol 4.	862	X
Microphones - How They Work & How to Use Them	875	Martin Clifford	X
Color TV Case Histories Illustrated: Photo Guide to Troubles/Cures - Vol. 2	876	Robert L. Goodman	X
General Electric Color TV Service Manual—Vol.3	879	Robert L. Goodman	X
Do-It-Yourselfer's guide to chainsaw use & Repair	892	Charles Self	1977
CET License Handbook - 2nd Ed.	901	Joseph Carr	1976
Concrete & Masonry	902	Tab Books	X
How To Build Metal/Treasure Locators	909	Robert J. Traister	X
Servicing Zenith TV Modules	918	Robert L. Goodman	X
Practical Electrical Installation Repair & Rewiring	925	John E. Traister	1979
Servicing Medical & Bioelectric Equipment	930	Joseph Carr	X
Handbook of Marine Electronic and Electrical Systems	939	Edward L. Stafford	X
Mimeograph Operation, Maintenance and Repair	941	Howard Hutchinson	X
CBers Manual of SSB	959	Edward L. Stafford	X
Microwave Oven Service & Repair	962	Clayton Hallmark	1977
CBers Handy Manual of Base Stations	969	Edward L. Stafford	X
Miniprocessors: From Calculators to Computers	971	David L Heiserman	X
TV Tuner Schematic/Servicing Manual - Vol. 2	979	Robert L. Goodman	X
The Master Handbook of Still & Movie Titling for Amateur & Professional	1001	Elinor Stecker-Orel	1979
The Upholsterer's Bible	1004	Percy W. Blandford	1978
How To Repair Movie & Slide Projectors	1011	Robert Villastrigo	1978
How to Design and Build Electronic Instrumentation	1012	Joseph Carr	X
How to Repair Video Games	1028	Robert L. Goodman	X
How To Produce Slide Shows & Movies With Sound	1031	X	X
Hot To make Old Time Photos	1039	John McDonald & Melba Smith Cole	1981
101 Quality Wooden Toys You Can Make	1046	Hugh & Judith Ryan	1980
How to Install Everything Electronic in Cars, Boats, Planes Trucks & RVs	1056	X	X
Computerist's Handy Databook/Dictionary	1069	X	X
The Complete Handbook of Robotics	1071	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
Radio Control Handbook - 4th Edition	1093	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
Digital Interfacing With An Analog World	1070	Joseph Carr	1978
How To Build Your Own Vacation Home	1074	Charles R. Self	1978
How To Build Your Own Log Home & Cabin From Scratch	1081	S. Blackwell Duncan	1978
HTV Field & Bench Servicer's Handbook	1082	John Spillane	1979
All About Telephones	1097	Van Waterford	1978
How To Take Great Great Sports Action Photos	1098	X	X
How To Design & Build Your Own Custom TV Games	1101	David L Heiserman	1978
How to Cast Small Metal & Rubber Parts	1105	William A. Cannon	1979
Computerist's Handy Manual	1107	Clayton L. Hallmark	1979
Lasers, The Light Fantastic	1108	Clayton L. Hallmark	X
How to Make Your Own Lamps and Lampshades	1112	Bruce Mitton	X
77 Furniture Projects You Can Build	1122	Editors of Family Handyman	1980
The Complete Bed Building Book	1124	HyDee Small	1979
Building Fiberglass Ship Models From Scratch	1127	Richard V. Humphrey	1981
The Complete Handbook of Leathercrafting	1129	Jane E. Garnes	1981
Radio Control Manual - Systems, Circuits, Construction	1135	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
How To Build Your Own Working Robot Pet	1141	Frank DeCosta	1981
How To Repair Old-Time Radios	1148	Clayton L. Hallmark	X
The Complete Handbook of Centrifugal Casting	1153	Philip Romanoff	1980
Practical Troubleshooting with the Modern Oscilloscope	1162	Robert L. Goodman	X
The Complete Handbook of Sewiong Machine Repair	1163	Howard Hutchinson	X
77 Weekend Kitchen Projects You can Make	1165	X	X
Model Radio Control-3rd Edition	1174	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
The Complete Handbook of Lampglass Art	1175	Nadine H. Roberts	X
Practical Troubleshooting with Modern Electronic Test Instruments	1177	Robert L. Goodman	X
Troubleshooting Microprocessors & Digital Logic	1183	Robert L. Goodman	1980
The Master Guide to Electronic Circuits	1184	Thomas M. Adams	1984
The Master IC Cookbook	1199	Clayton L. Hallmark	1980
The Complete Microcomputer Systems Handbook	1201	Edward L. Stafford	1979
Basic Drafting	1202	Martin Clifford	X
Make Your Own Gemstone Jewelry	1208	X	X
44 Weekend Plastic Projects You can Make	1215	X	1081
How To Troubleshoot & Repair Electronic Circuits	1218	Robert L. Goodman	1981
Advanced Radio Control, Including Rockets & Robots - 2nd Edition	1222	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
Master Handbook of Electronic Tables & Formulas 3rd Ed.	1225	Martin Clifford	1980
Practical Knots & Ropework	1237	Percy Blandford	1980
Electrical Wiring Handbook	1245	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
Playing the Stock and Bond Markets with Your Personal Computer	1251	L.R. Schmeltz	1981
234 Wooden Wall Decoration Projects	1252	E. R. Huckleberry	1981
Giant Handbook of 222 Weekend Electronics Projects	1265	Raymond A. Collins	1981
How To Build, Maintain, and Renovate Your Home	1287	Edward L Stafford Jr.	X
99 Fun-To-Make Electronics Projects	1288	Cy Tymony	1981
Giant Handbook of Electronic Circuits	1300	Raymond A. Collins	1980
The Master Craftsman's Illustrated Woodworking Manual - With Projects	1315	Lewis H. Hodges	1981
The Second Book of Electronics Projects	1317	John E. Traister	1981
The Typewriter Repair Manual	1336	Howard Hutchinson	1981
49 Easy-To-Build Electronic Projects	1337	Robert M. Brown & Tom Kneitel	X
101 Easy Test Instrument Projects	1339	Robert M. Brown & Tom Kneitel	X
49 More easy-To-Build Electronics Projects	1347	Robert M. Brown & Tom Kneitel	1981
The Giant Book Of Hobby Projects	1359	Robert E. Ostander	1982
The Giant Book of Electronic Projects	1367	Editors of 73 Magazine	1982
Radio Communications Receivers	1391	Cornell Drentea	1982
Handbook of Advanced Robotics	1421	Edward L. Stafford	1982
Build a Personal Earth Station For Worldwide Satellite TV Reception	1409	Robert Traister	1982
Building Free-Form Furniture	1440	Charles W. Durney	1982
The Complete Handbook of Woodworking Tools and Hardware	1484	Charles Self	1983
Electronic Databook	1538	Rudolf Graf	1988
Sign Carving	1601	Garrit D. Lydecker	1984
The Homesteader's Manual	1629	Editors of Farmstead Magazine	1983
ABCs of Building Model Railroad Cars	1635	Wayne & Mary Cay Wesolowski	1985
Build-It Book of Digital Clocks	1683	Robert Haviland	1986
The Countryside Book of Farming Lore	1952	The Editors of Countryside Magazine	1985
Working with Acrylic Plastics	1959	Jack Wiley	1986
Electronics Math	1962	R. Jesse Phagan	1986
Car Design: Structure and Architecture	2104	Jan P. Norbye	1984
The Learjet	2246	Joe Christy	1979
How To Take Great Photos From Airplanes	2251	Frank Kingston Smith	1979
Low-Horsepower Fun Aircraft You Can Build	2267	Don Dwiggins	1980
Cold Weather Flying	2273	Jeff Griffin	1979
Maintenance/Overhaul Guide to Lycoming Aircraft Engines	2277	Joe Christy	1979
The Complete Guide to Aviation Photography	2281	Peter M. Bowers	X
The Complete Guide to Single-Engine Mooneys	2283	Paul Garrison	1980
Flying As It Was True Stories From Aviation’s Past	2403	Gerry A. Casey	1987
The Complete Shortwave Listener's Handbook	2655	Hank Bennett, Harry L. Helms, David Hardy	1986
Home Butchering and Meat Preservation	2713	Geeta Dardick	1986
The Packet Radio Handbook	2722	Jonathan L Mayo	1987
Principles and Practice of Impedance	2725	Rufus P. Turner &  Stan Gibilisco	1987
62 Home Remote Control and Automation Projects	2735	Delton T. Horn	1986
Practical Blacksmithing and Metalworking	2894	Percy Blandford	X
Experiments with EPROMs	2962	Dave Prochnow	1988
50 Powerful Printed Circuit Board Projects	2972	Dave Prochnow	1988

Hugo Gernsback Vs. Gaylord Wilshire

Henry Gaylord Wilshire, known by his friends as Gaylord, was a quack. But he was a notable quack. In 1895 he began developing 35 acres of a barley field in what is now Los Angeles. From that parcel, he donated a strip of land 120 feet wide by 1,200 feet long to the city. This was intended for a Boulevard which now bears his name: Wilshire Boulevard. If you're not familiar, it's the primary east-west arterial road in L.A. The Los Angeles Conservancy described him as "flamboyant character." In his day he was a land speculator, gold speculator, public speaker, political candidate, publisher and radio broadcaster.

In 1925, he started marketing the I-on-a-co, an electric belt that could purportedly improve health. The belt gained popularity from its marketing. [Donald G. Davis wrote a great whitepaper on the I-on-a-co here]  He bought a nearly full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times in 1926. At the bottom of that advert he listed a schedule of his upcoming radio appearances. He also was quoted as below:

"Since 1925 I have been broadcasting weekly lectures regarding the I-on-a-co Belt, in practically all the leading newspapers in California. I have been broadcasting weekly lectures on the I-on-a-co over three radio stations. I have lectured in person in many California cities..."

But even his biography by Louis Rosen does not name the stations. The advert listed only one of the three, his Thursday-evening spot on 1250 KTAB-AM in Oakland. We know the other two were also in the Bay area: San Francisco and Oakland. In Oakland the 9 options were: 590 KLX-AM, 830 KGO-AM, 1170 KFUS-AM, 1200 KLS-AM, 1250 KZM-AM (share with KTAB), 1360 KFUU-AM, and 1450 KFWM-AM. But in San Francisco there were only five: 700 KPO-AM, 1120 KFRC-AM, 1330 KFWI-AM, 1360 KJBS-AM, and 1450 KGTT-AM.

I had assumed it would be KLX as they also aired the nutter Aimee Semple McPherson. But it appears the answer lies elsewhere. I found a Radio Doings calendar from August, 1926 for 1260 KMTR-AM in Hollywood airing "Wilshire's Ionaco Lectures" at 7:30 PM on Tuesday the 17th and "Gaylord Wilshire Lectures" at 7:00 PM on Friday the 20th.  Broadcast Weekly lists "Ionaco with Gaylord Wilshire" on 1200 KFWI-AM on Tuesday Nov. 23rd, at 8:30 PM and again that Friday. KFWI is actually in San Francisco but KFWI is basically in Los Angeles... leaving us with a missing station.

A February issue of Radio Doings puts Wilshire on 7:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 15th on 890 KNX-AM, also in Los Angeles, then again on KMTR, 10:00 AM Saturday, February 19th Charles W. Hemp "Presenting Gaylord Wilshires famous invention The Ionaco." Charles was the Director of Radio Activities at the Iona Company. So it is no surprise to see him at 7:00 AM on 830 KFWB-AM, June 14th 1927. In Hollywood again this time on 1330 KFQZ-AM, 7:30 PM another "Wilshire Ionaco Lecture" Tuesday, February 15th. They keep stacking up also in that issue is 1220 KSFD-AM 7:00 PM Feb. 16th, KNX, again on Feb 15th and Charles Hemp was on KFWB and KMTR with the same schtick at least as early as January  1927.

Interestingly not only did the American Medical Association (AMA) go after Wilshire, but so did some science hobbyist magazines. Notably Science and Invention which was funded by WRNY. In October 1927 Hugo Gernsback wrote an exposé The Ionaco Swindle. Some readers wrote in to defend Wilshire and the Ionaco, most of them read like advertising copy. But other savvy readers, in a move that prefigures "doxxing" wrote in and outed other print publications still running I-on-a-co advertisements. Wilshire was already dead, but the editors rejoiced in the irony that Wilshire "died of the very ailments for which Ionaco was supposed to be specific [cure]."

Wilshire died destitute in 1927 in New York City. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. But even after his death (according to the book The Body Electric by Carolyn Thomas de la Pena) radio stations continued to broadcast his program from transcription discs. The FRC finally banned quack advertisements from radio in 1932.

Radio Police Automaton

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Gernsback Strike Again!

Hugo Gernsback is one of those names that pops up repeatedly in radio history. His late career success in science fiction overshadowed his snake oil interests in radio and his more bonafide accomplishments like WRNY and Radio News. He is for whom the Hugo awards are named. He foresaw video conferencing, social networking, electrical cars, radar, solar power, and microfilm. He didn't invent science fiction, he was science fiction. But let us discuss his more mortal accomplishments. He built one of the first New York radio stations.. then destroyed it with his own endless tinkering.

In 1925, Hugo founded radio station WRNY which broadcast from the 18th floor of The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City and was later involved in the first television broadcasts. Gernsback savvily used WRNY and his magazine Radio News to cross promote each other. Radio programs on WRNY often were used to discuss articles he had written or published, and some of the articles in Radio News covered the activities at WRNY.  The model was later emulated across the nation by daily newspapers that also owned local radio outlets.

At the time there were only about 500 radio stations in the whole of the USA. WRNY's license was so early, they were pre-FCC, and even pre-FRC.  His company, Experimenter Publishing applied for a license from the US Dept of Commerce to broadcast on 1160 kHz in New York City. But they didn't stay there. Before the station closed in 1934 they'd also have broadcast on 800 kHz, 920 kHz, 970 kHz, 1010 kHz, and 1070 kHz. But not all of those moves went so smoothly. In November of 1926, WRNY then operating on 800 kHz  moved from the Roosevelt Hotel to Coytesville, New Jersey. WHN, then operating on 830 kHz claimed that WRNY was causing them interference.There wasn't much they could do until the FRC was formed in 1927, whereupon WRNY was reallocated to share time on 920 kHz with WPCH.

By then Gernsback was getting bored with regular old radio. Just for giggles in 1927, Gernsback started the shortwave station 2XAL (later W2XAL) operating on 9700 kHz. Then he got the TV bug. In April 1928,he started a venture with Pilot Electric Manufacturing and began broadcasting television experiments on the AM band. His transmission on 1010 kHz yielded a silent black and white image on a screen 1.5 inches square. It had only 48 scan lines.  Impressively that tiny low resolution images could be transmitted in as little as 5 kHz of bandwidth. (For comparison remember that commercial television of the 1940s used 6 MHz of bandwidth.)

The FRC stepped in and stomped on his television dreams. Under the auspices of preventing interference the FRC limited television broadcast to shortwave stations above 1500 kHz. The experimental broadcasts would be limited to one hour per day and their bandwidth limited to  10 kHz. Oh and they couldn't air them during prime time 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. The bandwidth limitation was critical. TV experiments were no longer possible on the AM band. In the Spring of 1929 a bankruptcy petition was filed against the Experimenter Publishing Company for debts of over half a million dollars. A trust was established and Hugo was kicked out.  His shortwave station W2XAL became property of a flight school and WRNY went to the Curtiss Aircraft Corp. WHN later bought it out and shut it down to end a pesky dayshare arrangement.

An Hour A Day With John F. Rider

 John F. Rider was one of the most prolific writers of radio instructional texts in the business. His series of Riders Perpetual Troubleshooter’s Manual went into 23 volumes of 6-inch thick reference books between 1928 and 1954. He was more prolific than even Hugo Gernsback and Howard W. Sams. the U.S. Army used his books during WWII to much success. His Basic Electronics series was used by Navy specialty schools. He was also a ham radio enthusiast, his call sign was W2RID.

Born in 1900 he grew up writing in the age of the vacuum tube, but lived long enough to write instructional on Superhetrodyne receivers, FM radio and television.  His texts were uniquely narrative, and readable to laypeople. The somewhat silly illustrations probably helped too. How silly?  Well, imagine little spherical "electrons" with antennae and wings waving their hands at the reader. More here.

Despite that his books were for serious learning. The "Hour a day" series was meant for home study and self teaching. He was a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Signal Corps. He worked on experimental radio apparatus in Baltimore among other things. After leaving the military he became an engineer at Alfred. H. Grebe Radio & Company, and later went on to write for for Hugo Gernsback's Radio Craft magazine. It has been said that they didn't get along, which is why Rider struck out on his own and founded John F. Rider Publications. His office was located at 401 Fourth Avenue, in New York. Hayden Publishing bought him out around 1955. They kept publishing Rider branded series until at least 1959. More here.

He was the recipient of the Legion of Merit medal, and the Ralph Batcher Memorial Award. He retired to Florida in 1963 and died in 1985, survived by a daughter, Janet.

Gernsback For Beginners

He was a scientist that loved science fiction, perhaps the first true geek to rise from in the annals of science. The Annual Science Fiction Achievement Award formally became the "Hugo" in 1993, it was informally known by that name as early as the 1950s. It was Hugo Gernsback whose pulp sci-fi magazines elevated the genre.While a scant few identifiable fantasy works of fiction existed before 1800, scifi could not exist on any large scale before the consumers understanding of science was more common. When Hugo Gernsback  founded Amazing Stories magazine in 1926 things took off. It was the first fiction magazine to be focused exclusively on science fiction. More here.

Gernsback supported the careers of many now classic scifi writers. But I write about him here because he was a classic radio man. He also published the magazines Modern Electrics, Radio Amateur News, and Science and Invention. He founded the radio station WRNY (which will later get it's own post) he also was an early experimenter in television. He also founding the Electric Importing Company which was the world's first radio supply company—yes, before radio shack.

This booklet is one from a set of ten, of which I only have six or so. They are as follows:

1. How to make four Doerle short wave sets

2. How to make the most popular all-wave 1 and 2 tube receivers

3. Alternating current for beginners

4 . All about aerials

5. Beginners Radio Dictionary

6. How to Have Fun With Radio

7. How To Read Radio Diagrams

8. Radio For Beginners

9. Simple Electrical Experiments

10. Television

I have scanned all 32 pages below from No. 8 in the series and wrapped it into a nice tidy pdf. The technology is all out of date but interesting historically. I will try to get around to scanning the others.

Download all 72 MB

HERE

Hugo Gernsback is full of Hugonium

We begin this tale with an obscure reference from an advertisement that is almost a century old. It s a product I'm still not sure what it, and In  in advertisement, in a 1918  issue of  the "Electrical Experimenter" described the installation of Radiocite thus:

"Radiocite can be mounted like any other crystal; it may be clamped between springs, but it is best to set it in Hugonium soft metal.

The "Electrical Experimenter" was published by Experimenter Publishing. It was an 11 x 8.5 inches Magazine that competed with Modern Electronics in the 1920s. It was launched in 1913, and had no advertisements. It was subsidized almost wholly by the Electro-Importing Company. It's editors were Harry Winfield Secor and Hugo Gernsback. Hugo Gernsback had emigrated from Luxembourg in 1905 at the age of 21. As early as 1910 Secor had been publishing electrical essays in  Gernsback's magazines. Hugo's younger brother, Sidney emigrated around 1920 and became the secretary of the Electro-Importing Company, the company that sold Hugonium (among other electrical supplies and products both real and imagined.)

Whether it worked or not, Hugonium addressed a real problem. Admittedly, it was difficult to find a good spot on the crystal to rectify.  But, it was even harder to keep your cats-whisker on that exact spot. There were 101 different ways to mount the whisker and maybe 3 to mount the crystal. None were fool-proof. Most were bogus, crude, haphazard or unreliable. It was the weak link in a hobby that was slowly becoming a commercial enterprise.  My earliest confirmed ad for Hugonium is again from the Electro-Importing company recommended Hugonium in a 1912 Wireless Lesson booklet. That one is published by Electro-Importing but copyrighted to K. I. Co.  More here.

"For the utilizing of this universal detector for other crystals which do not require pointed contacts, a flat metal disc which can be screwed on the pointed contact, is supplied. Thus the detector can be used for any type of crystal which requires either form of contact. This detector, which is supplied by the Electro-Importing Company, uses the Hugonium compound for holding the crystal, as described above."

I thought that Hugonium might be a long lost snake-oil product but I found a more recent reference to it in a Book titled "Electric Relays" by Vladmir Gurevich.  It was published as recently as 2006.  He described it as a solder or low heat alloy for mounting a silicon detector. But that reference is an outlier, most references date to 1920 or earlier. Such as "The How and Why of Radio Apparatus" by Harry Winfield Secor, published in 1920 by Experimenter Publishing.  It makes s single reference:

"The copper pyrite crystal is mounted in a cup mounted on a spring-actuated rod provided with a suitable knob, by which it can be swung in any direction. Zincite crystals are mounted in a large cup containing several pockets, the mounting of both of the minerals being effected with a low fusing solder, Wood's metal or Hugonium alloy"

My theory is that Hugonium is just Wood's metal, a bismuth alloy But that in a fit of ego Hugo Gernsback renamed it for himself as slipped it into the catalog. Nothing else in the history of Electro-importing leads me to believe that they invented their own low temperature alloy. There is no copyright on Hugonium, at least not under that name.  All the references to Hugonium come from their own catalog, or their own periodicals which existed only to sell products through their mail order business. It makes sense then that Hugo Gernsback would eventually segue into science fiction in 1926 with the publication of the magazine "Amazing Stories." It's interesting to note that he also founded the radio station WRNY.  I'll tell that story another time.