Besides RCA's Radiola, I know that some juke boxes were branded "Rock-ola." It seems like other radios had that suffix?

I can only think of Spanish, "O la." I'm not sure, but that may mean "wow." But in the first half of the 20th Century, Spanish hadn't encroached much on the (American) English language.
Doug

Radiola came from Victrola, as did Motorola. A long time ago when I was in high school, I read a big book about a lot of different companies and inventions and things regarding recordings. It was long, and was almost on par to how I write, so it was kind of hard to follow. I don't remember details, but the guy who developed Motorola owned or worked for a coil manufacturing company that became Motorola. I think that he owned it or something. It was quite small. He had an idea to install radios in cars. A banker was thrilled with the idea. He asked the guy to have a radio installed in his car. While the two were at lunch, a workman installed the radio. However, the workman got some wires crossed or something, and burned the car. The banker loved the idea so much that he funded it anyway, which gave a start to Motorola (the funding allowed the company to expand). The guy who owned the company knew about Victrolas and such, and decided that he should come up with a name similar to that. Motorola, being a maker of auto radios, made perfect sense (though to me it's kind of like naming a restaurant after a street...boring).

Regarding Radiolas, RCA was very much associated with Victor, especially after its absorbsion by RCA. I'm sure that the OLA rubbed off. Even before RCA owned Victor, Victor used RCA (or whoever made the radios) and Westinghouse radios in their sets.

I'm not sure where the OLA comes from, though. That's about as much info as I can give. Perhaps the OLA also rubbed off on Rock Ola and Shineola and all of the other OLAs. It would be interesting to know the origins of the ending.

T.

:Radiola came from Victrola, as did Motorola. A long time ago when I was in high school, I read a big book about a lot of different companies and inventions and things regarding recordings. It was long, and was almost on par to how I write, so it was kind of hard to follow. I don't remember details, but the guy who developed Motorola owned or worked for a coil manufacturing company that became Motorola. I think that he owned it or something. It was quite small. He had an idea to install radios in cars. A banker was thrilled with the idea. He asked the guy to have a radio installed in his car. While the two were at lunch, a workman installed the radio. However, the workman got some wires crossed or something, and burned the car. The banker loved the idea so much that he funded it anyway, which gave a start to Motorola (the funding allowed the company to expand). The guy who owned the company knew about Victrolas and such, and decided that he should come up with a name similar to that. Motorola, being a maker of auto radios, made perfect sense (though to me it's kind of like naming a restaurant after a street...boring).
:
:Regarding Radiolas, RCA was very much associated with Victor, especially after its absorbsion by RCA. I'm sure that the OLA rubbed off. Even before RCA owned Victor, Victor used RCA (or whoever made the radios) and Westinghouse radios in their sets.
:
:I'm not sure where the OLA comes from, though. That's about as much info as I can give. Perhaps the OLA also rubbed off on Rock Ola and Shineola and all of the other OLAs. It would be interesting to know the origins of the ending.
:
:T.

The esrliest Ola came from Pianola, a type of player piano. By the way, Rockola did not come from this craze. The founder was actually named David C. Rockola who originally made coin operated scales and games in 1920s. After prohibition ended in 1934, he followed Wurlitzer, J.P. Seeburg, and National Piano Company (which became Automatic Music INC - later AMI) and entered the coin phonograph business in 1935. He died at age 96 in 1993. Here is an article about him.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE3DD123AF93AA15752C0A965958260

Fred

Another 'ola' fun fact; The RCA Victor Talking Machine Company's combination Radiola/Victrola console was called the Electrola!

: Another 'ola' fun fact; The RCA Victor Talking Machine Company's combination Radiola/Victrola console was called the Electrola!

Not to forget the Westinghouse "Aeriola"
Jim

this site is AWESOME ! One can get technical help, free advice, and history "fun facts" all in one stop!!

Dave

:: Another 'ola' fun fact; The RCA Victor Talking Machine Company's combination Radiola/Victrola console was called the Electrola!
:
:Not to forget the Westinghouse "Aeriola"
:Jim

:this site is AWESOME ! One can get technical help, free advice, and history "fun facts" all in one stop!!
:
:Dave
:
::: Another 'ola' fun fact; The RCA Victor Talking Machine Company's combination Radiola/Victrola console was called the Electrola!
::
::Not to forget the Westinghouse "Aeriola"
::Jim

And don't forget "Phonola" made by Dominion Electrohome Industries, Kitchener,Ontario,Canada
Andy

OK, I broke down and Googled "ola suffix". It seems that "Pianola" was a trademark for a player piano, late in the 19th century. And Victrola came out of that.

http://www.intertique.com/WhoPutTheOla.htm

By the way, when I Googled "ola suffix," a link to this thread was listed.
Doug

Doug,
I've even found my own name when I Googled a subject in which I had posted here on NA.

marv

:OK, I broke down and Googled "ola suffix". It seems that "Pianola" was a trademark for a player piano, late in the 19th century. And Victrola came out of that.
:
:http://www.intertique.com/WhoPutTheOla.htm
:
:By the way, when I Googled "ola suffix," a link to this thread was listed.
:Doug
:

:Doug,
:I've even found my own name when I Googled a subject in which I had posted here on NA.
:
:marv
:
::OK, I broke down and Googled "ola suffix". It seems that "Pianola" was a trademark for a player piano, late in the 19th century. And Victrola came out of that.
::
::http://www.intertique.com/WhoPutTheOla.htm
::
::By the way, when I Googled "ola suffix," a link to this thread was listed.
::Doug
::
Okay, I think I may have a good answer for this. In the mid 1890's, the first "complete" player piano was referred to as the "Aeriol Piano", as the mechanism which played the piano was pneumatic. Eventually this led to a slightly different design that was marketed by the Aeolian company as the "Pianola"...which kind of makes sense to me if you juxtapose Aeriol and Aelioan, well, more sense than Wikipedia's explanation that the suffix -ola came from Viola, simply because it is a string instrument. Anyway, the Pianola advertising campaign was so successful that the name had a number of spin-offs, including the Victrola, Radiola, Motorola, etc. That being said, the name of the spin-off's are fitting in restrospect, seeing that the sound waves do travel through the air. Incidentally Doug, ola is spanish for wave, albeit the type that travels through liquid.