the 5th knob

9/24/2007 8:44:47 PMDel in MN

I am watching THE WAR PBS. One of the views was a man listening to a tombstone style radio. It had three knobs below the circular dial and one knob each on two sides of the circular dial. That would be a total of 5 knobs. What was/is the 5th knob and its use/control? Thanks.

9/24/2007 11:19:51 PMBill J.

:I am watching THE WAR PBS. One of the views was a man listening to a tombstone style radio. It had three knobs below the circular dial and one knob each on two sides of the circular dial. That would be a total of 5 knobs. What was/is the 5th knob and its use/control? Thanks.

Del, I didn't see that particular radio - perhaps it was a black faced Zenith with the 5th knob (upper right) being a sensitivity control (ie., local / distant)...

9/25/2007 5:54:54 AMJim Mann

Del,
I saw the same scene and radio. Don't know what radio it was, but I have seen some with the on/off control separated from the volume pot. If that wes the case you could have five knobs, the others being: tone, band switch, and tuning.
It could also have been a battery set with the 5th being for a dial light on/off switch.
Jim

9/25/2007 6:25:33 AMAndy Rolfe

:Del,
:I saw the same scene and radio. Don't know what radio it was, but I have seen some with the on/off control separated from the volume pot. If that wes the case you could have five knobs, the others being: tone, band switch, and tuning.
:It could also have been a battery set with the 5th being for a dial light on/off switch.
:Jim

Del; I too saw the radio but missed the knobs. Just a comment though; doesn't Ken Burns put together some truly excellent documentary films, my favorite being "Jazz". I've taped them all!!
Andy

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9/25/2007 11:49:59 AMJGJ

::Del,
::I saw the same scene and radio. Don't know what radio it was, but I have seen some with the on/off control separated from the volume pot. If that wes the case you could have five knobs, the others being: tone, band switch, and tuning.
::It could also have been a battery set with the 5th being for a dial light on/off switch.
::Jim
:
:Del; I too saw the radio but missed the knobs. Just a comment though; doesn't Ken Burns put together some truly excellent documentary films, my favorite being "Jazz". I've taped them all!!
:Andy
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:Andy,
Ken Burn's productions are visually pleasing but sometimes the politics are skewed. Many of us in the South are still sore about "Civil War" series - whether it was for states rights vs slavery. "The War" doesn't seem quite up to earlier productions - and I personally would have prefered a background music score from those times - rather than that awful free-form jazz score by Wynton Marsalis.
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9/25/2007 4:58:24 PMDel in MN

Thanks to all. Perhaps it was an on-off on the left and a volume on the right of the dial and then 3 other controls below the round dial. No name of the radio shown and it was not a black dial Z.

9/25/2007 11:07:57 PMFeldman KC

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:Thanks to all. Perhaps it was an on-off on the left and a volume on the right of the dial and then 3 other controls below the round dial. No name of the radio shown and it was not a black dial Z.

Anyone notice the radio anachronism on Tuesday's episode? They were fading into a war radio announcement and briefly showed 3 tipped 01-A's in a cluster. Although the base wasn't shown, it probably was a 3 tube island on an AK breadboard. Though times were tough - I doubt many breadboards were in use in 1943. Battery sets are often very dependable but I'll bet batteries were extremely hard to come by.

9/26/2007 6:08:44 PMIan

Some time radios have the antenna trimmer attached to a knob in the front for easy adjustment.

9/26/2007 5:02:52 AMbills

The radio looks like a silvertone battery set the extra
knob may have been for the light???
bill