Restoring the sentimental sound of time-treasured vintage radio

- by Shelly Bucksot

Mike Urban remembers his first radio like it was yesterday. “It was a Crystal Pocket Rocket, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. ” That was in the early ’60s and Urban went on to become an electrical engineer, living the corporate lifestyle, until being laid off repeatedly during the technology bust of the ’90s. It was then his wife recommended a home business built around what he’d always loved — vintage radios.

“I’d been a collector, but I started researching the market and found it to be enormous, especially with the advent of eBay,” says Urban, who in 2000 hung up his shingle, launched a website and began fielding calls from people across the globe with radios in need of repair.

Today, Urban Radio & Vintage Hi-Fi has customers from as far away as South Korea and Spain and throughout the United States. “I have customers who remember their dads listening to President Roosevelt report the bombing of Pearl Harbor,” Urban says. “They want [their radio] restored for sentimental reasons, not financial value.”

Robert Pienkowski of Stratford, Conn., has sent several vintage radios and hi-fi amplifiers from the early ’60s to Urban and says he has great knowledge of all aspects of the medium and very reasonable prices. “He brings the beauty back and upgrades components with modern fixtures that will withstand the rigors of daily use,” Pienkowski says. In the beginning, Urban was repairing an average of six radios a week. Now it’s more like a dozen, and he says the work is half repairs and half restoration of personal finds that he then sells. In all, he has upward of 500 vintage radios in his personal collection but says it’s a revolving door of new finds and profitable sales.

In 2002, Urban moved the business to a storefront in Milford, Conn. “We feel like we’re providing a really good service,” Urban says. “And we know we’re doing a good job because we either never hear from our customers because the radio is working as it should, or we hear from them in the way of repeat business as they spread the word of their restored treasures.”

Unlike the radios of today, which are cheaper to replace, original radios from he ’20s, ’30s and ’40s were made for repairing. But doing so requires real expertise and education. Repairs can cost anywhere from $50 to $500 or more. It can take just one to two hours to fix a faulty capacitor on a small table-top radio, but weeks for the woodworking, restoration and component repair involved with large floor models. “Vintage radio repair is a real niche business — you can’t just take these pieces down to Circuit City,” Urban says.

	For Pienkowski, the money invested to repair the relics is more than worth it. “A radio that might have cost $400 or $500 in the ’50s and ’60s will easily go for between $1,500 and $2,000 today,” he says. Plus, he loves the harmonic distortion produced by the old vacuum tubes and says the sound is far superior to the “put your hands over your ears,” grating noise produced by today’s transistors. Regardless of the state of disrepair, odds are Urban can return any radio to its original form and sound. Ideally, it was put away covered and in good condition and kept in a dry place with moderate temperatures. If the radio hasn’t been turned on in 40 or 50 years, power needs to be introduced gradually; you shouldn’t just plug it in to the nearest wall socket. “That much power that quickly will shock the system,” Urban says. “I suggest bringing it to a technician who can use a variable transformer to bring it up to full power slowly. Otherwise, the radio might start smoking, and you’ll do further damage.”



Like any collectible, there are the favorites that command a hefty price tag. For radios, it’s the Zenith Black Dial, because of its high profile on the set of “The Waltons,” and the Philco Cathedral Radio, with its receiver, speaker and AC power supply all housed in an attractive wood cabinet. Both can fetch between $1,000 and $3,000. “Sometimes I have to fight between being a good businessman and feeding my passion for collection,” Urban says. “But at the end of the day, it’s very rewarding to return the radios to their owners and experience the excitement over a sound they haven’t heard in years.” If you have used Urban Radio & Vintage Hi-Fi’s services, please get in touch with us to submit a report.
contact information Urban Radio & Vintage Hi-Fi 800-594-4359 mike@urban-antiqueradio.com

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