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
2536 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-06
2124 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-07
1880 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-08
3024 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-09
3187 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-10
3307 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-11
1637 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-12
3609 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-01
3729 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-02
3065 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-03
2413 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-04
3108 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-05
3443 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-06
3098 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-07
2971 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-08
2103 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-11
2494 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-12
1914 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-01
2745 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-02
2425 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-03
2550 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-04
2575 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-05
1304 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-07
2719 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-09
2522 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-10
2627 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-11
2582 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-12
2101 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-01
2569 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-02
2377 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-03
2200 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-07
1865 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08
3004 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08: Wireless Age Is Merged In
1191 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-10
2917 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-11
1308 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-12
1203 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-01
2880 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-02
1948 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-03
2539 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-04
2668 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-08
2594 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-11
2958 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-03
501 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-06
2329 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-07+08
1360 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-09
2348 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-11
2554 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-02
2128 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-03
1625 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-04
1518 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-05
3800 visits