An early (1921) Westinghouse broadcast radio receiver Model RC. The radio cabinet is wooden and the front panels are made out of Micarta. I think the knobs are also. In line with the current discussion on ICON about antique purple glass suspension bells with a Micarta core, Paul Greaves mentioned that he saw that George Westinghouse invented Micarta. That is correct and the material was developed for electric insulating purposes and to use as panels for the face of electrical instruments including radios.

This radio model is one of the first commercial home broadcast radios in use and was designed in part by Frank Conrad, who was also responsible for the first noted public broadcast, November 2, 1920 over his station KDKA in Pittsburg, PA. And who did Frank Conrad work for? Why, Westinghouse, of course! This photo was snagged off of eBay, I also have one of these radios but have no photo of it. Mine looks far better than this one! This photo does not show the complete radio outfit which had a separate speaker (in those days, a horn) or earphones and several external batteries to provide the power to the vacuum tubes.

I almost forgot, a long wire outdoor antenna, strung with antenna insulators like we are familiar with in the hobby today. AND a ground wire to a rod in the ground or a metal water pipe. Next time you flip on an I-pod or a small transistor radio, try and imagine that all the stuff I mentioned above is now crammed inside of it!