Alabama Historical Radio Society Don Kresge Memorial Radio Museum

The museum is located in the first floor atrium of the Alabama Power Headquarters building located at 600 18th Street, North, Birmingham, Alabama. Come on by and take a look!

The WSY radio station of Alabama Power Company was located in Birmingham, Alabama is the main feature of this museum. Since WSY began broadcasting in 1920, the radios in the cabinets are representative of those that would have been used to listen to the broadcasts. Many listeners built their own radios from instructions in newspaper articles in the “Birmingham Age Herald”. WSY was only the 127th station in the U.S. approved for broadcasting in April 1922, but within two years 1000 licenses had been issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Superflex Radio
WSY Cabinet
WSY Orchestra
Superflex radio and other radios from the 1920's

This display features the "Superflex" radio manufactured in North Birmingham in about 1927. Note the beautiful engraving on the front panel. The Society owns the only two surviving radios from Radio Products Corporation. Other radios in this cabinet are from the late 1920’s and would have been competitive products to the Superflex. The loudspeakers on the bottom right were just beginning to replace earphones for listening to radio in the late 20’s.

This display shows radios from radio's most popular period of 1930 to 1950 when television began to take over. Even the great depression could not stop radio's phenominal growth. The second world war slowed the production of radios but listeners kept their ears "glued" to their radios for news from overseas. By 1950 the price of a radio required far fewer hours of work to afford than in 1930. Also in this display is some typical amateur (ham) radio equipment. Many hams filled vital roles in our countries defense during WWII, and continue to serve the public in emergencies.

WSY Cabinet