POPULAR RADIO was a magazine about setting up and listening to and enjoying radio broadcasts during the formative years of the 1920's. It aimed at a broader market than the technically oriented magazines published by Gernsback, but was more about the hardware than about the stars or the programs.
For most of its run its covers were stylized radio-related graphics, against a background of silver-colored ink. This kind of cover is impossible to reproduce correctly on a computer screen, but we've tried. We've tried several different ways. Give us some slack.
POPULAR RADIO ran from May, 1922, until May 1928. In late 1925 it absorbed THE WIRELESS AGE, another radio-related magazine which had been founded in 1913. In the last two issues it tried to cover the early, abortive beginnings of television, adding "AND TELEVISION" to its title. According to Steve Davis, the last issues used better paper and more expensive two-color layouts, and we assume production costs went up. Content was somewhere between consumer and technical experimenter, and may have been too technical for one and not technical enough for the other. Perhaps they guessed wrong when they focused it on television; the last issue announces television articles for the June issue that was never published. A subscription ad in the last (May) issue offers special deals for new subscribers, including 5 months for a dollar or 7 months for $1.25 -- and that may be a sign of a cash-flow problem.
For most of its run its covers were stylized radio-related graphics, against a background of silver-colored ink. This kind of cover is impossible to reproduce correctly on a computer screen, but we've tried. We've tried several different ways. Give us some slack.
POPULAR RADIO ran from May, 1922, until May 1928. In late 1925 it absorbed THE WIRELESS AGE, another radio-related magazine which had been founded in 1913. In the last two issues it tried to cover the early, abortive beginnings of television, adding "AND TELEVISION" to its title. According to Steve Davis, the last issues used better paper and more expensive two-color layouts, and we assume production costs went up. Content was somewhere between consumer and technical experimenter, and may have been too technical for one and not technical enough for the other. Perhaps they guessed wrong when they focused it on television; the last issue announces television articles for the June issue that was never published. A subscription ad in the last (May) issue offers special deals for new subscribers, including 5 months for a dollar or 7 months for $1.25 -- and that may be a sign of a cash-flow problem.

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Popular Radio 1922-05
2378 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-06
2008 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-07
1762 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-08
2921 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-09
3078 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-10
3207 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-11
1537 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-12
3513 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-01
3629 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-02
2960 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-03
2304 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-04
3014 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-05
3329 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-06
3012 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-07
2862 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-08
1993 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-11
2387 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-12
1831 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-01
2635 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-02
2316 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-03
2462 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-04
2480 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-05
1198 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-07
2624 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-09
2413 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-10
2533 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-11
2483 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-12
2007 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-01
2454 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-02
2230 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-03
2109 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-07
1781 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08
2909 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08: Wireless Age Is Merged In
1094 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-10
2831 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-11
1211 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-12
1108 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-01
2796 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-02
1858 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-03
2441 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-04
2556 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-08
2487 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-11
2849 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-03
384 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-06
2232 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-07+08
1246 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-09
2233 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-11
2432 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-02
1974 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-03
1533 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-04
1419 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-05
3687 visits