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
2594 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-06
2170 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-07
1930 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-08
3063 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-09
3245 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-10
3349 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-11
1692 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-12
3666 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-01
3776 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-02
3107 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-03
2459 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-04
3155 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-05
3492 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-06
3154 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-07
3024 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-08
2156 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-11
2550 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-12
1962 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-01
2789 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-02
2476 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-03
2599 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-04
2622 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-05
1349 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-07
2760 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-09
2570 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-10
2673 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-11
2636 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-12
2155 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-01
2615 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-02
2419 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-03
2259 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-07
1929 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08
3062 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08: Wireless Age Is Merged In
1242 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-10
2975 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-11
1351 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-12
1252 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-01
2931 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-02
1998 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-03
2584 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-04
2705 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-08
2641 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-11
3003 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-03
550 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-06
2377 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-07+08
1411 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-09
2408 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-11
2604 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-02
2175 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-03
1669 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-04
1580 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-05
3852 visits