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
2398 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-06
2019 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-07
1774 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-08
2932 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-09
3088 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-10
3217 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-11
1546 visits
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Popular Radio 1922-12
3523 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-01
3639 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-02
2972 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-03
2314 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-04
3023 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-05
3347 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-06
3023 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-07
2880 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-08
2006 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-11
2397 visits
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Popular Radio 1923-12
1842 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-01
2645 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-02
2327 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-03
2469 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-04
2489 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-05
1209 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-07
2637 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-09
2423 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-10
2542 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-11
2494 visits
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Popular Radio 1924-12
2017 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-01
2467 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-02
2238 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-03
2120 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-07
1789 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08
2923 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-08: Wireless Age Is Merged In
1103 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-10
2839 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-11
1222 visits
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Popular Radio 1925-12
1119 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-01
2805 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-02
1868 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-03
2452 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-04
2565 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-08
2497 visits
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Popular Radio 1926-11
2858 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-03
397 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-06
2243 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-07+08
1257 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-09
2247 visits
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Popular Radio 1927-11
2444 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-02
1986 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-03
1541 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-04
1428 visits
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Popular Radio 1928-05
3695 visits