About the radio: This is a 9 tube superheterodyne console radio with broadcast and police bands and an interesting feature Grunow called “Si-lec-trol”.

"The Saturday Evening Post" 10/21/1933

As the broadcast band filled with more and more stations, radio manufacturers looked for ways to simplify the tuning process. The "Si-lec-trol" tuning (Silent-select-control?) system (used exclusively by Grunow) is actually a station blanking circuit.

To set up your Si-lec-trol system:
1. With the bandswitch in the broadcast position, tune a favorite station.
2. From the back of the radio, use a screwdriver to adjust one of the tuning "fingers" on the back of the tuning capacitor to coincide with a contact point.
3. Remove the access cover from the front of the dial eschuncheon and insert a station identification tab.
4. Repeat for up to 9 additional favorites.

To use Si-Lec-Trol tuning:
1. Set the bandswitch to the center position. This illuminates the lower half of the dial in which station identifiers have been placed and also activates the tuning fingers.
2. Rotate the tuning dial until a favorite station is displayed.
The radio will be silent until a preset "finger" aligns with a contact

Normal tuning is done with the bandswitch in the rightmost position which bypasses the Si-Lec-Trol "fingers".
To listen to police calls, the bandswitch knob is pulled out and rotated to the left.

William C. Grunow (1893-1951), along with Bertram Grigsby, formed the Grigsby-Grunow company in 1921 making auto accessories. In 1924 they began making horn speakers (marketed under the "GGH" trade name). In 1925 they marketed battery eliminator's under the name "Majestic". Radio production began in 1928 and they added tube production in 1929. William Grunow left the company in 1931 and formed the General Household Utilities corporation marketing radios under the "Grunow" name. The company ceased radio production in 1937 after which Grunow moved to Wisconsin and started a poultry farm named "Val-Lo-Will Farms" after his three children: Valerie, Lois, and William.

The World Of 1934

· President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
· Population: 126,373,773
· Cost of a first class stamp: $0.03
· Unemployment: 22.0%

Headlines

· Hitler becomes Führer.
· Dionne sisters, first quintuplets to survive beyond infancy, born in Canada.
· Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker killed.
· John Dillinger is shot outside Chicago movie theater.
· Dust storms ruin millions of acres of cropland in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

Oscars:

· Outstanding Production: "It Happened One Night"
· Best Actor: Clark Gable, "It Happened One Night"
· Best Actress: Claudette Colbert, "It Happened One Night"

· World Series: St. Louis Cardinals d. Detroit (4 - 3)

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Historical Data From InfoPlease.com

· "The Aldrich Family" premiers on NBC radio
· "A Christmas Carol" with Lionel Barrymore is 1st broadcast.
· First radio network show to originate from Hollywood is Hollywood Hotel on CBS 
· WLW increases to a half million Watts of power.
· The FCC is created by congress to replace the Federal Radio Commission (1927).
· An interesting article: Radio in 1934

Top 10 Radio Shows in 1934
(CAB ratings*)

1. Chase & Sanborn Hour (Eddie Cantor)
2. Maxwell House Show Boat (variety)
3. Fleischmann Hour (Rudy Vallee, variety)
4. Bakers' Broadcast (Joe Penner)
5. Texaco Fire Chief Program (Ed Wynn)
6. Lowell Thomas (news)
7. Amos 'n' Andy (serial)
8. White Owl Program (Burns & Allen, Guy Lombardo)
9. Kraft Program (Paul Whiteman Orchestra., Al Jolson)
10. First Nighter Program (dramatic anthology

(*The *Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting rated radio program popularity from 1929 through 1935)

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Top Ten Shows from "A Thirty Year History of Radio  Programs 1926-1956" by Harrison B. Summers

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Other models pictured in the brochure:
Table: 450 "Minuet", 550, 650 "Classic", 750 "World Cruiser"
Consoles: 651, 751, 752, 1101

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