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
2363 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-06
1998 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-07
1753 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-08
2914 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-09
3072 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-10
3197 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-11
1529 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-12
3503 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-01
3619 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-02
2951 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-03
2297 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-04
3005 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-05
3318 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-06
3005 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-07
2851 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-08
1980 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-11
2376 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-12
1817 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-01
2624 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-02
2306 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-03
2454 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-04
2469 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-05
1187 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-07
2611 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-09
2403 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-10
2521 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-11
2473 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-12
1997 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-01
2445 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-02
2219 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-03
2088 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-07
1769 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08
2899 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08: Wireless Age Is Merged In
1086 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-10
2820 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-11
1201 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-12
1097 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-01
2783 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-02
1846 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-03
2431 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-04
2548 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-08
2478 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-11
2838 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-03
367 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-06
2217 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-07+08
1237 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-09
2222 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-11
2418 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-02
1964 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-03
1525 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-04
1409 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-05
3671 visits