Powel Crosley Blog

The Flying Crosley

2011-07-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Several aircraft designers succeeded in building workable flying cars during the 20th Century, but none caught on. Price was one roadblock to success. Another was the fact that no matter how many times Mechanix Illustrated and similar magazines published photos or drawings of flying cars serenely making there way above snarling traffic jams, there was always the danger of too many aircraft. Can you imagine just 10 percent of automobile drivers going airborne? The stupid mistakes, the air rage, the breakdowns--thousands would be killed every years.

Still designers and manufacturers continue to try. Until some science-fictional crash or stasis field can be perfected--something that will absorb all the energy of a collision or crash--I don't think we'll see flying cars as daily drivers.

Powel Crosley never built a flying car, though he did own over a dozen airplanes in his time. And his famous COBRA engine powered the Mooney Mite, a single-place airplane (breaking cranks and other problems had Mooney switching to Lycoming powerplants). A Crosley engine also provided ground-power to two Consolidated Vultee (aka Convair) flying cars. Dubbed the ConvAirCar, Convair's idea was to unitzed the whole system. An independent fiberglass car body (shown here) had a Crosley CIBA engine in the rear, and onto it could be strapped a wing with booms, tail and control surfaces--and a big Lycoming aircraft engine.

It was ill-fated. One crashed when the pilot ran out of aircraft gas--he was watching the automobile gas gauge rather than the avgas gauge. The second was given to an aircraft museum, which burned down. More on this in later posts.
--Mike

2011-07-04T21:11:00.001-07:00

Do you like firetrucks? Do you like Crosleys? You may enjoy the auction of a 1951 Crosley ladder truck from 2010 by Barrett-Jackson auctions. It went for $100,000. The amusement park ride was built by Overland Amusements of Lexington, Massachutsetts. You can watch the auction at the link below:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/123591/barrett-jackson-the-auctions-51-crosley-firetruck

At the Museum

2010-12-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

I visited the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum outside Savannah, Georgia, earlier this month. It's the only museum I know of that exhibits a Crosley CT-3 "Pup." Most reading this will know that the Pup was one of Crosley's miniature war machines, developed as an air-droppable battlefield transport. There was room for the driver and one passenger, along with a few cubic feet of miscellany. The Pup was a two-wheel drive machine, propelled by a 13.5-horsepower Waukesha engine. If the fenders look like they're sagging, that's because they are; they're made of canvas. (Click here for more information about the Pup.)

Crosley and Tucker, Together?

2010-11-18T16:23:00.001-08:00

Given a choice, most people back proven winners. Others like to take a long shot, like Lawrence Motors in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, did in 1948.

Or maybe it wasn't a long shot to Mr. Lawrence. The Tucker had been marketed as the car of the future, a fabulous dream machine. The Crosley was another dream machine, of the bargain basement sort. To an optimistic person, Tucker and Crosley was a real dream team, offering cars for the low-end and middle class markets.

I can't say conclusively, but Lawrence Motors of Newcastle may have been the only Tucker-Crosley dealer anywhere. I hope the company sold a lot of Crosleys.

Foto de Antigua Auto Crosmobile

2010-10-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

The export version of the Crosley automobile was named the "Crosmobile." I've seen one in person, but it may have been a standard Crosley with the badges change. It looked like other Crosleys of its vintage, save for the Crosmobile badging. I understand that that is the only difference.

A good number of Crosmobiles were manufactured in Mexico (I believe I posted some of the details here). I've read or heard reports of Crosmobiles in Mexico, Cuba, Japan, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Argentina, Columbia, the Antilles (which may include the Bahamas and Jamaica), Belgium, and Italy. (Also, Puerto Rico, along with "straight" Crosleys.) So I wasn't surprised to see the photo here offered for sale at Argentina's version of eBay. You can find it here:
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-95789776-pequena-foto-auto-crosmobile-85-x-60-mm-_JM
(Does anyone know whether any Crosleys in Canada were badged "Crosmobile?" Crosleys in additional countries?)

One of the Oddest Crosley-Based Engines

2010-09-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

The Crosley CIBA (Cast-Iron Block Assembly) engine, successor to Crosley's post-WWII CoBra, enjoyed quite an extended lifespan after Crosley Motors went under. (For those who may not be familiar with the Crosley engines, both the CoBra and the CIBA were four-cylinder powerplants.)

There were several variations, the most familiar being a marine version, vertically-mounted (flywheel down) for speedboat racing. This was built by the companies that bought the rights to the engine after Crosley Motors went under in 1952, Aerojet-General Tire, and, later, Fageol.

This was not a huge departure from the basic four-cylinder plant, though a number of adaptations had to be made.

More interesting were the 8-cylinder models of the CIBA, again manufactured by companies other than Crosley Motors. Fageol experimented with an opposed twin-CIBA called the "Flat 8." It developed 88 hp. Another was built by John Peek, known for his hydroplane racing engines. Shown here, the "Dragon Inline 8" was essentially two Crosley blocks joined tail-to-tail with a single flywheel. The engine powered an L-Class hydroplane named "Dragon."

Peek also built a Crosley eight called the "Wildcat, Sr." This 80+hp, 88-cid unit consisted of two CIBA blocks mounted side-by-side. The engines had a synchronized firing order of 1-3-4-2, and drove a 4-1/2" driveshaft connecting to them through a special gearbox. Image from a 1948 issue of Yachting.

1963: Ruth Lyons, the 50-50 Club on WLW Radio

2010-06-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

WLW Radio and Ruth Lyons fans will find this series of uploads to YouTube of interest: The full episode of "The 50-50 Club" for November 22, 1963. (A sadly historical day.)

This was during the period when WLWT and WLW radio were simulcasting "The 50-50 Club."

URL:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3F5E2A4451A8EB3F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&v=GHlFNj9UKdw

Boss Johnston and WLW in 1928

2010-06-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

For decades, Maurice "Boss" Johnston was one of the most revered stars on WLW radio. He was well-known for his "RFD Hour" program on Saturday nights, a mix of music, chat and storytelling. And he was perhaps best-known as the founder of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA) and the annual shooting meet at Friendship, Indiana.

This newspaper clipping, from the Kokomo Tribune for Satuday, July 21, 1928, could be the earliest mention of Boss, since he started with WLW in 1928. (Click on the image to see it larger.)

Boss Johnston was a farmer and a hunting guide in southeastern Indiana, and Powel Crosley, Jr. went hunting with him on a number of occasions. Boss was also a farm-machinery salesman and had an endless supply of country and farm stories (rather like champion banjo player Mike Snyder and, before him, Jerry Clower. Both were storytellers and racantors like Boss Johnston.) He had appeared on radio once before in Chicago, before Crosley hired him to come on WLW and tell hunting, fishing, and marksmanship stories. Johnston was also a popular after-dinner speaker throughout Ohio and Indiana through the 1950s. He was originally billed on the radio as "the old coon-hunter" but quickly talked WLW into changing that designation. He came up with "The RFD Hour" as the show's name because, he said, most of his listeners had RFD (Rural Free Delivery) addresses.

Powel Crosley, Jr. in the New York Times,

2010-06-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

When Powel Crosley, Jr. was working in Indianapolis in 1910, he hung out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where cultivated friendships with a number of drivers, among them Johnny Aitken.

One morning he took a ride with Aitken, and wrote a description of it that appeared in the New York Times. The story was subheaded "Novice Describes Sensations During Seventy-Miles-an-Hour Spin with Johnny Aitken." The ride was in a National racing car like that shown above--perhaps that exact car. (That's Aikten at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.)

I glanced at the speedometer with a look rapidly changing to terror. She hit forty-five swinging into a turn. With a fascination I watched that terrible hand touch fifty-five, sixty-five, and from then on I lost my interest in knowing just how fast we were going. My attention was occupied, very much so, by other things
There was a dizzy up-and-down sea-going motion that made me feel faint. The handles I was clutching seemed to be slipping from my grip. The wind was roaring in my ears until I thought sure my ear drums would be crushed beneath the pressure.

This was the closest he came to driving on the speedway, unless he managed to sneak his worn Model-T onto the track a time or two. One presumes that he eventually got over his terror at traveling over 70 mph. (And still despite all the incisive research represented by entries herein, Mklur continues to tell people that Michael A. Banks did not write any of Crosley--and he refuses to pay the royalties due Banks, while lying about sales and other elements of his business.)

Inspired by Crosley?

2010-06-04T21:51:00.001-07:00

The car at left is the 1951 Nissan Thrift DS-2. Some claim the body style was inspired by the Crosley.

Addendum to the Crosley Story: Crosley Motors in Israel?

2010-06-04T17:48:00.001-07:00

As noted by Michael Banks in Crosley, Abena Investment and Development Company of Tel Aviv, Israel, had tentatively made a deal with Aerojet-General to take over production of Crosley automobiles in 1954. Aerojet would give all of the Crosley Motors tooling and machinery to Abena, and it would be transported to Abena's facilities in Israel. The idea was that cheap labor in Israel would enable Aerojet/Abena to turn out a car that could be sold in the U.S. at a profit for $1,000. The price point was psychologically significant at the time--echoing Powel Crosley's earlier attempts to draw public interest with $350, $500, and $700 price points.

Errata Addenda

2010-06-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

Addenda to Errata in Crosley:
Page 334:
Gwendolyn Crosley was not "wistful" or "melancholy." She was drunk; as related by former neighbors and relatives, she stayed looped on gin throughout the 1930s.
Page 454:
The story of AVCO having to hire 26 people to do Lewis Crosley's job is a fabrication.
General:
Powel Crosley, Jr. was not 6'4" tall. This was a family myth. As he told Life Magazine, he was 6'3" in height.
Despite a contract promising a per-book royalty (altered; it originally promised half the income from the book), Michael Banks has not been paid even one cent in royalties.
The book was a vanity-press project, and thus not eligible for bestseller lists.
Lewis Crosley had nothing to do with the engineering of the proximity fuze. He did develop improved production methods.
More to come.

New Crosley Auto and Truck (and Tractor) Videos

2009-11-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

YouTube has accumulated several new Crosley automobile videos. Here are links to the latest:

1940 Crosley Liberty Sedan

1953 CROSLEY SUPER STATION WAGON

1948 Crosley at the American Truck Historical Society Truck Show

Crosley cars and a Crosley-powered tractor at a tractor show in Connecticuit

The Secret of the Spiral Chimneys

2009-11-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

What with writing four more books and some magazine articles, it's been a while since I've had time to post the new Crosley material I've been turning up. This latest has to do with Crosley's mansion, Pinecroft.

You may remember that the chimneys for the working fireplaces of the 1928 structure are spiral in construction (color photo, right). They are a beautiful sight, but I believe it turns out that they are more than that, if the caption accompanying the other photo from a 1934 issue of Popular Mechanics is no exaggeration. Pinecroft's chimneys may be fire hazard nowadays, but it appears that they were designed to blow trails and streamers of smoke--and even smoke rings.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com

Crosley Bio Corrections Addendum

2009-07-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

In several places, the National Air Tour organized by Edsel Ford is referred wrongly to "the National Air show." It was officially known to the press and participants as the "National Air Tour."

Recreating a Crosley Broadcasting Program

2009-06-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

In an earlier note, I talked about recreating "The 50-50 Club," which Crosley Broadcasting transmitted from its television stations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis in the 1950s and 1960s. That was for the April 29 launch of Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV. There were two events that day, one at 11:00 AM, the other at 6:00 PM. You can see a portion of the morning event (which included WLWT announcer Bill Myers, singer Colleen Sharp, Ruth's former secretary Mickey Fisher, and producer Dick Murgatroyd) here:
http://www.wlwt.com/video/19335128/index.html

There's a partial interview with me in that segment, too. A lengthier video of the reenactment of "The 50-50 Club" that we did for the evening signing is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh2qiLKpYG4

The actress who portrays Ruth Lyons is Shelley Bamberger Bailey. Her performance was outstanding!
--Mike

The Station that Crosley Built: Final Analog Broadcast

2009-06-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

WLWT (or, as many of us grew up knowing it, WLW-T) is among the television broadcasters wrapping up their analog activities tonight--Friday, June 12, 2009--at Midnight.

Bill Myers (shown in in WLWT's studio in the picture) kindly sent along the URL for the final broadcast, already archived ahead of time. Click here to view the program. There's a commerical, of course; just wait patiently. Bill is the announcer, and the video includes a whirlwind overview of Cincinnati TV, with shots of Paul Dixon, Bob Braun, Ruth Lyons, the Cincinnati Reds and Pete Rose, Jerry Springer, and more.

"What fun we had!" Bill wrote in the note that accompanied the above photo. "We were lucky to be a part of it. As Pete Grant would say, 'Goodnight. Time's up! Goodnight, all.' "
--Mike

Crosley Broadcasting's "The 50-50 Club" is Back!

2009-05-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Remember Ruth Lyons and Crosley/AVCO Broadcasting's "The 50-50 Club?" Broadcast daily on Crosley television stations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis from Noon to 1:30 PM, the live show was a mainstay of Midwest television beginning in 1949. It reached an audience of 7 million.

In conjunction with the launch of the biography of Ruth, titled Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV, publisher Orange Frazer, actress Shelley Bamberger Bailey, and I did a reenactment of "The 50-50 Club" to kick off the book's launch. This was on April 29, at Joseph-Beth Bookstore in Cincinnati. We repeated the show at a number of other signings. You can watch part of the show by clicking here (it's on Youtube and Orange Frazer's Web site). Or, click on the image above.

Crosley Broadcasting Network's Biggest Star in New Book!

2009-04-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

John Kiesewetter penned an excellent article about Ruth Lyons for the Cincinnati Enquirer's Sunday, April 12, issue. Lyons' 50-50 Club was the top-rated show on the Crosley Broadcasting Newtork in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky during the 1950s and 1960s. Not incidentally, it talks about my biography of Miss Lyons, Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV (Orange Frazer Press, April 15, 2009).

The story (and the book) includes several previously unpublished photos.

The book is now available from Orange Frazer and Amazon.

Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons biography is now available!

2009-04-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

Now Available!

You can now buy Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV, direct from the publisher, Orange Frazer Press, or Amazon.com. The 260-page hardcover is available at a discount from both (use the promo code RUTH at the publisher's Web site).

An Interesting Twist on Advertising by Crosley...

2009-03-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

I don't have the date handy, but I have a copy of a paycheck form the Evansville (IN) Courier that carries an advertisement for Crosley radios. I believe it was in late 1939 ... probably a good strategy: hit 'em when they've got money!

Powel Crosley's Bird Dogs

2009-01-28T17:41:00.000-08:00

In Powel Crosley, Jr.'s heyday--the 1920s and 1930s--it was fasionable for wealthy men to hunt birds (among other animals), often with horses and always with specially bred dogs. The men considered themselves experts in their fields, though in truth they probably weren't as expert in using and caring for a rifle or shotgun as men who depended on guns for their supper. (And there were plenty of those in rural areas.)

Dogs were typically trained by specialists, the owner learning enough to command and work with a dog. (The training was intensive enough that most industrialists would not have had the time to go through the process; hence the specialists.) When he got into the sports in the 1920s, Powel Crosley, Jr. was referred (perhaps by "Boss" Johnston) to a trainer in Jennings County, Indiana. That's what brought him to the area where he built his nature preserve (today the Crosley Fish & Wildlife Area(.

One of his prize dogs was a bitch named Lady Manitoba, handled at shows and meets by W.J. Wilson. Placed at the Sixteenth American Field Futurity held in Sparta, Illinois, on November 4 and 5, 192. Somewhere I have a photo or two of Powel and his dogs. As soon as I can find one, I'll scan and share it here.

There is No "Sole-Surviving Descendent of the Crosleys"

2009-01-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

This subject comes up yet again because once again the press is throwing around the statment that G.W. Mcclur is "the only surviving descendent of Lewis Crosley." They were saying that Mac was the "sole surviving desecendent of the Crosley brothers," but I think one or more of the many living descendents of Powel Crosley, Jr. objected.

And there are more descendents of Lewis Crosley, alive and quite well. Nor is Mac the author of the book. He did pay for printing and all the billboards. (Besides all that, what is the descendent supposed to have "survived?")

Crosley Camera: "Vaporware?"

2009-01-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

The "Crosley Camera Press Jr. Model" was mentioned in the Crosley story as a product that had been put on the market and lost a lot of money.

My source on that was unreliable, unfortunately. The tale of loss was a fabrication. The Crosley Corporation announced the camera, but never got it into production. It began as an idea presented by someone outside the company. It was going to be a camera with everything, and--in the manner of nearly all Crosley products--it would have something different. In this case, the product would look different. The back would be convex, touted as enhancing the focal length of the lens.

The 35mm camera would, according to Crosley announcements, come with a bunch of extras, including a flash reflector, "steadying handle," built-in flash bulb socket, built-in flash synchronization, built-in receptacle for flash (hot shoe), and more. In the Crosley tradition, one or two "extras" weren't exactly extras. (Rather like an ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer touting WLW's grand opening broadcast as "Absolutely Free!")

The Camera magazine pretty much summed up the situation: "The Crosley camera, much touted in advance ballyhoo, has been removed from this year's market, may appear next year instead ..."

Why didn't the camera make it to the market? Like the Xervac and Reado, the Crosley Press, Jr. Model Camera got lost in the shuffle of the war.

Water-Burning Carburetors

2009-01-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

In 1921 and 1922, Crosley’s Americo operation (American Automobile Accessories Company) offered carburetors that “burned” water—the miracle that’s still with us today!

The aftermarket accessories were offered in newspapers and magazine like Popular Mechanics. Do you supposed they stopped selling the gas-saving devices because the oil industry paid them off, like all the others? Anyway, it’s a safe bet that neither Powel nor Lewis Crosley used them with their respective Fords and Cadillacs.

The Simplicity of Radio

2008-12-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

In addition to applause cards (detailed in the preceding post), each 1920s Crosley radio came with an 80-page book titled The Simplicity of Radio. Carrying Powel’s byline, this book explained how radio worked, and how to operate and even build a receiver. Perhaps looking for a more cost-efficient means of having the book printed—and seeking yet another promotional opportunity—Powel contacted Emmanuel Haldeman-Julius, a Kansas publisher of small (3-2/3” x 5”) booklets about publishing The Simplicity of Radio in 1923.

Haldeman-Julius was an unusual publisher, a socialist activist who began publishing classic literature in 1919, intent on educating Americans. His press turned out the works of writers like Voltaire, Poe, Jack London, Balzac, and Oscar Wilde under the imprint of “Little Blue Books” and sold them for five or ten cents each. He also published non-fiction books written by experts on a wide variety of subjects, with titles like Typewriting Self-Taught and The Case for Birth Control. They were immensely popular; more than 100,000,000 Little Blue Books were sold in the 1920s alone. (He wrote a bestseller about his marketing techniques, The First Hundred Million, for Simon & Schuster.)

Powel, a voracious reader, had seen many of these editions and knew that they received wide distribution. Haldeman-Julius routinely solicited new works (even though most of his titles were reprints), and Powel contacted him about publishing The Simplicity of Radio. Powel reasoned, correctly, that radio being a new subject of great interest, Haldeman-Julius would want to publish his booklet.

As published by E. Haldeman-Julius, The Simplicity of Radio, by Powel Crosley, Jr., carried the subtitle The Little Blue Book of Radio, and was 32 pages in length. It was one of the few Little Blue Books that did not list Haldeman-Julius as copyright owner. Instead, the copyright notice read “The Crosley Radio Corporation, Powel Crosley, Jr., President.” Powel had learned enough about intellectual property from patents to know better than to give away a copyright.

There were a couple of specific benefits in having Haldeman-Julius publish the booklet. First, the Crosley Radio Corporation could buy copies of The Simplicity of Radio for less than it cost to have them printed locally. Second, the book was a great promotional device, as it featured Crosley radios and parts. It was also a sales tool; anyone who wanted a copy could request one free. And it was serialized in any newspaper that would have it, at no charge.

Powel may or may not received a royalty on sales; if he did, it was inconsequential, amounting to perhaps a fifth of a cent per copy. The important thing was that The Simplicity of Radio went through at least 20 editions between 1923 and 1929, each edition reflecting advances in radio technology. The final count on copies printed was probably several hundred thousand.

If the number of copies in the holdings of various city libraries was any indication, the book was popular. The New York Public Library, the Public Library of Cleveland, and the public libraries of Chicago and Los Angeles each counted more than 50 copies of the book among their holdings in 1925. I have three different versions of this, and Charlie Stinger has at least one more. You can find The Simplicity of Radio on eBay for five bucks or so.

Roaring Twenties Marketing: Applause Cards

2008-12-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Powel Crosley, Jr. was constantly working on ways to promote his radios and WLW. One such promotion was the set of “applause cards” that were packed with each radio. These were pre-printed post cards that radio listeners could send to let a station know they had enjoyed a particular program. There were two styles, each with a small cartoon character applauding or cheering, and lines to write in the name of the program and station name. At the bottom was printed, “P.S. We Own A Crosley Radio.”

Another pair of post cards was for radio buyers to send to friends, inviting them to a radio party. Each illustrated card announced that the sender had just bought a new Crosley radio receiver, and invited the recipient to a radio party in celebration. A dozen cards in all came with each set, inserted in the envelope that contained the set’s operating instructions. (Click on the image above to see large versions of all four types of Crosley applause cards.)

It was an ideal promotion, with Crosley radio buyers helping sell Crosley radios. This went right along with data from recent marketing surveys, which showed that more buyers of new radios were influenced by their neighbor’s radio than anything else.

Low Tech Meets Leading-Edge Tech

2008-12-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, I highlighted an interesting dichotomy that existed during the 1927 construction of a new building to house WLW's first 50,000-watt transmitter--which would make WLW the first station to broadcast at 50,000-watts. The dichotomy was the steam-powered digger (known then as a "steam shovel") used to excavate the building's foundation. The building stands today.

That was a direct link between the Steam Age and the Electric Age. The photo here connects two even more disparate technologies: animal power and radio. Near the bottom of the photo, to the right of the WSAI building, you can see the dark shape of two mules. (The new transmitter building is going up on the right)

Click on the photo to view a larger version. You'll see that the mules are hitched up to a wagon. A couple of laborers are in the picture, too. It looks as if the wagon had just been emptied of its load--perhaps lumber.

Video: Ruth Nichols Landing the Crosley Lockheed Vega!

2008-12-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Lockheed Company's promotional film, Look to Lockheed (produced in 1940) contains footage of Ruth Lyons landing "The New Cincinnati," Powel Crosley's Lockheed Vega. Referred to as the Crosley Radioplane and the Crosley Airship, the Vega 5 was registered as NR496M.

Crosley bought the ship from Edward F. Schlee and William S. Brock in August, 1930, and had "CROSLEY" painted boldly on the fuselage and the engine clowing. (Schlee and Brock earlier set a transcontinental record with it, under a different registration.) Ruth Nichols charled women's endurance and speed records in the airplane, as well as overall records.
Here's the URL for the film:

http://www.archive.org/details/LooktoLo1940

Nichols had several accidents in Crosley's airplane, one of which aborted her attempt to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo (a distinction won by Amelia Earhart). The final accident was in 1932, when the aircraft (renamed the Akita) was largely consumed by a fire while still on the ground. Here are some details on the accident. The airplane's tail is on display at the International Women's Air & Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. (See http://www.iwasm.org/)

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

1939 New York World's Fair, Crosley Pavilion & Cars on Video

2008-12-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's read Crosley or Dreams Can Come True knows that the Crosley Corporation had its own pavilion at the 1939/40 New York World's Fair. Just like RCA and General Electric, Crosley demonstrated television, though only RCA got the mainstream publicity.

Crosley partnered wth Du Mont, which was at that point manufacturing televisions. So a Crosley camera sent closed-circuit moving pictures to a Du Mont televison receiver.

You can view or download a video of the Crosley Pavilion and 1939 Crosley cars driving around the miniature parkway behind it by clicking here or on the image to the left. The Crosley Pavilion and cars are just past 12:45, following the Jewelry exhibit.

Along the way be sure to check out the Johns-Mandville "Mineral Man," dedicated to the miracle mineral, Asbestos!

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Corrections to Crosley Book

2008-12-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

In addenda to the Crosley Errata Sheet: As most folks know, Powel Crosley, Jr.'s entry into the world of radio began with a visit to Cincinnati's Precision Equipment Company. The electrical goods store was one of the few retailers of radios or parts in town, as well as being the home of Cincinnati's first radio station, WMH.

The book states, incorrectly, that Crosley visited the store with his son, Powel, III, on Monday, February 20, 1920. February 20 was, in fact, a Friday, and the 20th was not the day the pair made the journey to Precision, anyway.

As Powel clearly relates in several interviews and in personal writings, that visit took place on Monday, February 23--the day after Washington's Birthday. In those days--and in fact until 1971--Washington's Birthday was celebrated on February 22, Washington's actual Birthday. (Washington was born February 12, old-style, in 1732, which converts to February 22 with the Greogorian calendar, which we've been using since 1752.)

In addition, the book and the article in Cincinnati Magazine refer to stations such as KDKA being assigned a "frequency" or "band" of 360 meters. In the original version of the book I was careful to make the distinction between frequency and band; frequency is the number of times a signal oscillates per second, while band is a group or range of frequencies. All that aside, what KDKA and other stations were assigned was a literal radio wavelength of 350 meters. I was not given a look at the hacked-up version of the manuscript or the galleys before publication. Corrections I provided for early hackings were ignored. Hence, I do not accept any responsbility for the errors, but I will provide corrections as I discover errors, for the sake of getting the historic facts correct.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

New Crosley Videos - Cars, Radio

2008-12-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

For radio fans, here's a video about the Crosley Pup single-tube receiver from 1925.
And here we have close-up video, inside and out, of a 1948 Crosley wagon.
This video is a tour of a De Forest/Crosley Model 51 receiver, from 1924.
A Crosley Special, labeled Joe Graves' Crosley, wrecked in 1959, back in action. It has a Cobra-like nose. The engine sounds great!
Tour of a 1950 Crosley Hotshot, owned by Edgar & Edna Schumann.
1952 Crosley Super Sport, was for sale on eBay.
Crosley Dash Gauges.

The True Origins of the Proximity Fuze - Part 1

2008-12-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

Below: 1935 Shell with Proximity Fuze
Quite a bit has been written about the proximity fuze, over 20 million of which were produced in the Crosley Corporation's Cincinnati factory during World War II. However, there's more than a little of the fuze's history that has not been made available to the general public.

To complete the missing info in Crosley, this and ensuing installments will describe the origins and development of the fuze. This includes the details of experiments with the proximity fuze in pre-war England as a "bomb to bomb bombers."

The most-publicized information to date has had to do with the proximity fuze's applications in four different anti-aircraft shells in the Pacific, against Japanese aircraft. Lesser-known are the original aerial types of the proximity fuze, and the use made of it in place of ground-burst shells.

The first proximity fuzes grew out of a British Air Ministry "bomb the bomber" program in 1938, when it was discovered that the only way Britain's obsolescent biplane fighters could successfully attack fast monoplane bombers was to get above them and drop contact-fused bombs. This meant that drops had to made connect with with the target--a rare occurrence. It was decided then that it would be worthwhile to develop other kinds of detonators, able to set off bombs when they reached close-enough proximity to do damage to an aircraft.

Two kinds of proximity fuzes were initially developed: acoustic and photoelectric. The acoustic fuzes were engineered in both high-frequency and low-frequency models. The challenge of course was to create a fuze that would not detonate a bomb because of the ambient noise created by being dropped. Many trials and errors resulted in a bomb with a piezoelectric(PE) microphone in its nose. Sounds at a certain frequency--as created by a large monoplane--would activate the fuze, which would close a circuit to a relay and electrically detonate the bomb. Both high- and low-frequency models were built.

The acoustic fuzes were a bit sensitive to nearby (up to 2,000 feet) airbursts, as well as vibration from their own arming. So work was done on a photoelectric fuze that would detonate in response to a change in ambient light, nearly always the result of the presence of an aircraft.

The photoelectric proximity fuze been developed before the British Air Ministry began its fuze program. In 1935 a Swiss engineer developed and later patented a concept for an antiaircraft shell fuze that would be detonated by sensing the presence of an aerial target through a change in ambient light. Hence, the fuze was far from being an American invention, and was in fact in use in Britain before American authorities knew of it.
--To be continued in a later post--

How the Internet was Monetized: Excerpt from On the Way to the Web

2008-12-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

We've talked here before about what sort of machine the Crosley Personal Computer (CPC) might have been. What about the Internet? What would Crosley have made of the Internet--or, more to the point, how would he have made money with it?

I think he would have gone about it the way Dialog and Bunker Ramo did, as detailed in On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders. If you want to see how it was done, or are just curious about Internet and online service history, read about it in this excerpt from On the Way to the Web, which also details the technology transfer from the government ARPAnet to commercial entitites.

Hosted by the DigiBarn Computer Museum, the chapter describes the earliest "monetizing" of the online world. It shows how the first real information superhighway was created (and named), and shows how entreprenuers built enormously profitable online businesses without investing in computers, software, or content. This excerpt also details the earliest commercial online content!

Steam Power in the Radio Age

2008-11-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

The 1920s was an age of dichotomies. Almost no indoor plumbing. No mechanical refrigeration for homes--iceboxes, yes, and the ice mostly came from steam-powered ice plants.

Speaking of steam power (the more knowledgeable among you might have thought I was going to write about the Icyball again), it was steam that handled the heavy-duty part of the construction business. Laborers, mules, and horses did most of the hauling and lifting, but steam-power was still required for the heavy jobs. The internal combustion engine hadn't reached the same level of power and, besides, there were thousands steam-powered locomotives and steam shovels still in use.

Which leads to the juxtaposition in the photo: steam building the world's most powerful radio broadcast station. This photo (part of a larger one) was taken in 1928, during the real groundbreaking for WLW's Mason, Ohio transmitter building--the structure that first housed the 50Kw transmitter, and then the half-million-watt unit that would light up the countryside and speak to the world. That's Powel Crosley, Jr. to the right, with the operator and coaler at left. Click for larger image.

The Erie steam shovel (Type B-2) sits in the hole it was digging for the transmitter building's foundation and basement, representative of a fading technology helping make the way for leading-edge tech. (Interestingly, mules played a part in building this WLW site, as well. I'll share some photos of this later.)

--Mike On the Way to the Web

New Ruth Lyons Biography

2008-11-25T15:03:00.001-08:00

I've received many questions about the publication date for my biography of Ruth Lyons, titled Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV.

The title was originally scheduled for October (I completed the manuscript several months ago). But the publisher has decided to wait until May, in order to allow more time for production and promotion. So, the book will be released on Mother's Day, though you can order it now.

As noted in the past, the book has quite a bit of information about Miss Lyons that has never been published. A good number of photos will be in the book, a number of them not previously published, as well.

My apologies to those of you who had planned on it being published last month. And thanks to those in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, West Virginia and southern Michigan for your patience!

--Mike http//www.michaelabanks.com

Powel Crosley's Toys

2008-11-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

I've a nice photo from the air above Powel Crosley's Seagate mansion around 1938. In it, you can see his Douglas Dolphin seaplane (NC982Y) at anchor, the entire mansion and swimming pool, and in the yacht basin one of this yachts and a few motorboats.

That's a pretty good collection. But this photo is equally interesting. Taken in 1939 at Crosley's Cincinnati estate, Pinecroft, it displays the all-new Crosley automobile, along with Crosley's Fairchild 45-A (which he soon got rid of because he bumped into a center-cabin support too often)--all part of a publicity/advertising photo shoot. It's early spring, and that's Page Crosley standing on the wing root, her friends modeling the latest fashions.

Pinecroft had a grass landing field (standard for those days), but the car and the airplane on on a paved surface. It's probably the loop drive that runs by the main mansion yet today. Click on the image to see a large version.

Crosley Automobile Heir Gone!

2008-11-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

The spiritual heir to the Crosley automobile is gone. Yes, the campy little Yugo is going out of production. In a time when nearly everyone wants a small, economic automobile, too! The same car that brought back the Crosley jokes. ("Why does a Crosley need a rear-window defroster? So you can see when you're pushing it.")

The details are in news reports, but one can't help but wonder whether they would be a successful import in America, if properly marketed. It might save GM or Ford to buy Yugo with their coming windfalls.

That sounds good, but when did a mega-corporation ever do anything smart? (Digression: Ford and GM and Chrysler continuing to turn out massive gas hogs for all these years proves something I've been telling people for years: too much money makes you stupid!)

Naturally we think, "Bring back the Crosley!" A Japanese company was ready to close on a deal to license the Crosley design and buy the tools and templates in 1954, but that deal went away. Probably for the same reasons the Crosley went away: few people were interested in the novelty or the high gas mileage. It was no longer the only new car available.

But the basic design could be upgraded. The automotive rights are probably vested in whatever company Aerojet General became (not in some trumpeting descendant). But that won't happen, either; it's easier to draw up a new car from scratch, or buy the Yugo and upgrade it.

Still, what would it take to update the Crosley as we knew it to meet 21st Century safety and performance standards? Brakes, for sure! Any thoughts?

(That's Tom Miller's '48 wagon on the right.)
--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com

The Icyball in Australia

2008-11-04T21:47:00.001-08:00

Here's a newspaper display ad for the Icyball--from the January 9, 1930, issue of The Argus in Melbourne, Australia.

Click the image to see it full-size. It's interesting to think that these were made in Cincinnati or Toronto and shipped over. Today, I imgine they'd be manufactured in China!

1938: WLW Could Literally Light Up the Sky

2008-11-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting news story from the Canberra, Australia Times. for December 28, 1938. The paper talks about the possibility of lighting the night sky, and points out that two radio stations, WLW and Russia's RV-1 in Moscow, already have enough power to do an effective job of brightening up the countryside.

Both stations were operating at 500,000 watts at the time (WLW at 700,000 watts on occasion--and probably RV-1, as well).

Dr. V.A. Bailey, of the University of Sydney, points out that both stations were capable of producing small auroras with that much power. "But," Dr. Bailey adds, "a million kilowatts, a power not out of reach, would light ten thousand square kilometers of sky equal to the full moon." The light, he said, would be visible for 30 miles around either station.

Click on the article image above to read the entire story.

Wow--The Old Time Radio Show Catalog!

2008-10-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

You know, after all the writing I've done about Crosley and WLW--and continue to do--I still type Wlw every time I intend to write "Wow." Every time.

Anyway, here's a neat Web site for you old radio fans: The Old Time Radio Show Catalog! And just in time for Halloween, as they have a sale on spooky radio shows. (I borrowed the "spirited" 1920s illustration from their site; it's a bulletin board that announces the sale. Click the image to go directly to the sale.)

Decades of coverage run from the 1910s through the 1950s. You can get U.S., British, and South African shows, in these categories: Children, Comedy, Detective, Drama, Historical, Holiday, Musical, Mystery-Horror, Personality, Quiz, Science Fiction, Serials, Soaps, Westerns and WWII. There's good content, too--show episodes, articles and images, and more.

Again, it's http://www.otrcat.com/.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Flying Flea Construction

2008-10-22T13:07:00.001-07:00

Richard Crossley is proceeding apace with the construction of his flying model of the Crosley-Mignet Flying Flea. (You can see the original in the Smitsonian's National Air & Space Museum. And you can click the image to the left to see a large version.)

As the latest photo shows, Richard has completed the basic wing structures. The heat-curved bamboo, and he notes that this has added considerable strength. It's beginning to look like the original more and more.

"Not much left to do now before I cover with tissue," Richard says. "Seems a shame to cover up the structure." I agree. Build two!

Images of the early fuselage construction can be seen here, here, here, and here. For more information about the model, contact Richardcrossley at btconnect.com.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Powel Crosley, Jr. and Ayn Rand

2008-10-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

(Click to see paperback and hardcover editions.)

What? Powel Crosley, Jr. and Ayn Rand?

Right: An unliklier pair to appear in a header there never was. Powel Crosley was a staunch Republican and anti-union, which would have put him in line with Ayn Rand's philosophies. But Powel probably loathed the woman and most of her philosophies because he often ignored facts. And I think his misogony would have put him at a point where he loathed her for being a woman who not only had such philosophies, but expressed them in a popular novel. All of which makes it funny that Crosley is caricatured in Rand's The Fountainhead. I may be wrong, though.

I didn’t notice this the caricature I first read the book, over 30 years ago. But a recent re-reading finds Powel Crosley, Jr. thinly disguised as newspaper baron Gail Wynand. Wynand is an aviation enthusiast who spends a ton of money on the latest and best private aircraft. It is used to set a transcontinental speed record (as was Crosley's Vega), after which Wynand gives it to “… an enchanting aviatrix of twenty-four.” Shades of Ruth Nichols! Wynand's physical description matches that of Crosley, as well.

Rand also lampoons the controlled crash-landing Nichols made in a Pennsylvania field when she tried to set a Cincinnati-to-New York record. In the Wynand version, it is presented as an orchestrated publicity stunt, designed to draw the press--who were waiting there even as the aircraft approached from the west. (Crosley is also echoed in the radio and refrigerator manufacturer who is diversified beyond logic.)

Of course, the Wynand character is a composite of several people, with some original twists. (However, it's not quite the same as the portrayl of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane.) For the writer, The Fountainhead serves as a good model of how to work contemporary figures into a work of fiction without actually using their names.
--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Progress on Richard Crossley's Crosley-Mignet Flying Flea!

2008-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

After some weeks' hiatus, U.K. modeler Richard Crossley has resumed work on his model of the Crosley Flying Flea. (Images of the early fuselage construction can be seen here, here, here, and here.)

As you can see here, Richard has begun work on the upper wing (this is the one that pitches, under control of the pilot). The wing spars are finished (nice carvings!) and just slotted into place for now. More photos coming up! Click on the image to see a much larger version.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley Now Available in Paperback

2008-09-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation, written by Michael A. Banks is now available in paperback, for those of you who found the hardcover price a bit steep. You can get a copy by clicking here or on the title or image above. As I write this, the price is $10.85 (plus shipping) at Amazon.com.

If you pick up a copy, you'll note an absurd advertisement stuck in the back for a non-existent book titled Cincinnatisu (I misspelled it). The book was several years in the making because I made fun of the plot as "Lewis Crosley gratuitously winning World War II." The theme changed twice, and now this bit of fiction is being presented as fact to the media.

Another View of Crossley's Crosley Flying Flea

2008-08-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here, Richard continues work on the Flying Flea. Here the fuselage covering is in place. Ditto the engine mounting and upper wing mount. (The pilot's stepped out to leave more room for maneuvering new components into place.)

He's holding it for the photograph, which gives you an idea of the scale. More to come!
--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley Flying Flea Construction Continues ...

2008-08-27T15:20:00.001-07:00

Richard Crossley (two esses) of the U.K. continues work on his scale indoor flying model of the Crosley Flying Flea. The original was built by Crosley's corporate pilot, Eddie Neirmaier and is on display the the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum today.

As you can see, Richard has finished painting the pilot, and added true-to-original "white rubber tyres." They're actually balsa as this point, but will be white. The nose and cowling covering are completed, too.

Click on the image to see a large version. More photos to come!
--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

The Pre-History of the Web!

2008-08-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

AppleLink NIFTY-Serve PC-Link Lockheed DIALOG BIX MCI Mail CompuServe AT&T Mail GEnie DELPHI eWorld Promenade DIALOG VIEWTRON Covidea Prestel Minitel Gateway

Do these names bring back memories? If so, you'll really like my newest book, On the Way to the Web. Ditto, if you're a fan of technology history. As with Crosley, this is a book I'd been waiting for; it never came out, so I wrote it.

On the Way to the Wev: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders is a history of the Internet before the Web, and includes ARPAnet, CompuServe, DIALOG, GEnie, BIX, DELPHI, PLink, PC-Link, Promenade, AppleLink, eWorld, and all the rest--including online services before ARPAnet. I also cover Videotex and teletext in Europe and the U.S. Prestel, Mintel, et al.

"This is a thorough, entertaining, informative, useful history of how our world was transformed during my adult life." --Orson Scott Card

Crosley Icyball Video

2008-08-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun video showing the Crosley Icyball. The Icyball itself is at Lee Maxell's Washing Machine Museum in Eaton, Colorado. Mr. Maxell shows the components and explains the Icyball's workings.

--Mike

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley Automobile Videos Online

2008-08-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the Crosley automobile videos available at You Tube:

A two-tone pre-war Crosley in action

1947 Crosely convertible (ride along)

Another convertible (no muffler)

1948 Crosley station wagon (inside and out)

Nicely produced featurette & Crosley meet

Crosley Radio Video Tours (with Sound)

2008-08-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

You Tube now hosts a number of videos showcasing old Crosley radios. Who would have thought we'd be watching videos of radios?) Here's a list to get you started:

1925 Crosley Pup

De Forest - Crosley Model 51 (1)

De Forest - Crosley Model 51 (2)

Crosley 154 Cathedral Radio (1933)

Crosley 158 Cathedral Radio

Hunting Dogs and Skunks

2008-06-24T14:14:00.001-07:00

You know, if Powel Crosley, Jr. was still around, I imagine he might have some kind of remedy for getting rid of skunk odor. I mean, with all those hounds he had, at least one must have flushed one of the striped rodents.

No doubt, he would have gotten the remedy from Boss Johnston.

I've heard tomato juce, but although I gave the dog a bath in tomato juice twice, followed by shampoo, the smell isn't completely gone. Any ideas?

--Mike

Novel Excerpt

2008-06-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from a novel I've been working on since 2002. I type at it a while, then put it away. It's set in several parts of Indiana in 1911, and revolves around the first Indanapolis 500 Sweepstakes race. The characters (Powel Crosley, Carl Graham Fisher, et al) are real people These two sections of the first chapter are unchanged from the original. I can't decide whether I should keep these in this order, or reverse them.
--Mike
Copyright © 2002, 2006, Michael A. Banks
-----
I. THE DRIVER
Johnny Aitken loved his job, which fact was one of the reasons people called him “Happy Johnny.” He was paid to drive—fast. The National Motor Vehicle Company gave him the munificent sum of twenty-eight dollars per month to demonstrate their cars to customers, drive them in races, and incidentally keep them and the garage where they were stored clean.
Though he had a tendency to get too “happy” at local bars, Aitken knew his business. He had won eight out of 12 races last year, and finished second or third in the rest—not bad for an old man of 45. The wins had all been in a 1910 National 40, and he was determined to drive this year’s Model 40 in the International 500-Mile Sweepstakes. His boss, Arthur Newby, had argued against this, wanting instead to build a special for the race. But Aitken convinced the automaker that winning or placing would be far more impressive in a production car than a race car.
Not that this automobile would be exactly like the Nationals sold to customers. Aitken had spent most of the past three months tuning the big six-cylinder engine, tinkering with the carburetor, and fine-tuning the chassis and steering. The results were gratifying, and the way the car burned up the track added to the fun of showing it off for spectators.
And there were always spectators. Lots of locals, but sometimes newspaper or magazine writers and photographers came to watch him and other drivers do test laps—that happened more and more often as the date of the race approached. Other times National engineers, salesmen, or customers turned out. Newby came by every Wednesday morning, usually with some VIP.
Today Aitken planned to take his friend Crosley for a few laps around the track. Originally a Cincinnati boy, Powel Crosley had worked for National as a salesman and publicist for most of 1910, but now worked for Inter-State over in Muncie, where he had some sort of family connection. He showed up at the Speedway three or four times a week, hanging around and talking with anyone who was there—drivers, mechanics, the press, whomever. You couldn’t miss him; he was tall and rangy, and never shut up. He constantly offered opinions and advice—some of it worthwhile, according to Fred Duesenberg, whom Crosley had helped out with some sort of gimmick for balancing crankshafts. For a guy in his mid-twenties, he did know a lot more about some things than you might expect.
When Crosley wasn’t telling people how to do things, he was begging to be allowed to drive a few laps around the track. Whose car it was didn’t matter. Crosley would drive anything, as long as it was faster than his Ford. His not-so-secret ambition was to become a racing car pilot, and he gloried in the few opportunities he’d had to show off his ability to handle an automobile at high speed.
Ernest L. Moross, a racing promoter and the Speedway’s publicity manager, had taken a particular liking to Crosley and helped him with introductions and advice. It was probably thanks to Moross that the brash young man was even tolerated at the Speedway—Crosley having managed to annoy or piss off half the owners, drivers, and mechanics at the track.
Crosley had recently told Aitken that Moross, who managed Eddie Rickenbacker and Barney Oldfield, was interested in managing his own driving career. But the fact was, Crosley didn’t have a racing career. Meanwhile, Newby had warned Aitken to never allow Crosley to drive a National, saying that Crosley was reckless. But all race pilots were reckless. Aitken figured it was something personal between the two, and maybe the fact that Crosley worked for a competitor.
Crosley had approached him early that week, wanting to go for a high-speed ride so he could write about it for the newspapers. Aitken wondered whether Crosley’s employer might object, but the young man had told him it was no problem, that he was using a pen-name to make extra money.
Crosley could easily have fabricated a story, but, as he told Aitken, he was a stickler for authenticity, and he wanted a ride worth writing about. “Take her out and show me what she can do,” he said. “Let’s see if you can break eighty-five!”
Never one to turn down a challenge, Aitken had agreed to meet the young man at 8:00 AM on Friday, when no one else would be on the track. So here he was, sitting at the inside of turn four, the National’s green paint gleaming in the weak sunlight and its distinctive radiator pointing at the mile-and-a-half straightaway stretching south. He had just swung the car around and raised his goggles when he saw a black Model-T Ford coupe bumping across the collection of potholes and dirt clods that was called the parking lot. That would be Crosley.
Breezing by the paddock entrance, the Model T gained the brick track just north of turn one and sped along the straightaway toward Aitken. He watched as the car accelerated, counting off the seconds. Doing forty-five, at least, Aitken guessed. Less than two minutes later, the black coupe slowed and lurched to a stop on the berm next to the National roadster. The door opened and a tall, thin young man in a starched white shirt, coat, and black bowler hat stepped out and unfolded himself.
“Morning, Stretch,” Aitken greeted him.
Crosley grinned, which had the effect of making his long face even longer. “Are we ready?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be, I reckon.” Aitken gunned the engine, its unmuffled roar shaking the ground.
Crosley placed his hat on the Model T’s bench seat, then climbed into the mechanic’s seat on the left side of the National. This being a stripped-chassis car—the only kind Aitken drove—the seat was bolted directly to the frame rail. The cockpit was completely open. The only enclosed space was the cowling around the engine. Crosley donned a cap and goggles laying on the floorboard. Aitken adjusted his goggles.
Crosley gripped the hand-hold to the left and below his seat, nodded, and Aitken throttled up. Crosley heard the roar of the engine and the scraping sound of the rear tires slipping on the worn bricks, and then they were hurled forward, leaving Crosley feeling, as he would later write, “as if the earth were being jerked out from under me.”
A minute later, they swung into turn one at sixty-five miles per hour. Crosley leaned left as the big National ran up the slope of banked track to within a foot of the edge. Aitken laughed and guided the car through the quarter-mile straightaway and the inside of turn two. Crosley glanced at the speedometer. The needle was approaching seventy.
“Hang on!” Aitken yelled, barely audible over the big engine’s roar. Coming out of turn two, a jarring vibration shook the vehicle twice, then smoothed out. Now doing seventy-six miles per hour, they were barely a third of the way through the back straightaway.
Crosley grabbed the second hand-hold, attached to the back of Aitken’s seat, and hunched down behind the cowling. They were going faster than he had ever driven. The sensation was exhilarating, but at the same time a bit discomforting since he wasn’t the one behind the wheel.
The acceleration finally let up as the car swooped through turn three, inches from the inside wall. Now Crosley leaned right, lest he come into contact with the blurred concrete surface. Dust flew and grit stung his face.
Coming out of turn four, Aitken poured on the coal again. The speedometer needle crept to eighty and hung there, quivering. Crosley glanced at Aitken, who stared fixedly ahead, his body rigid. There was a final burst of speed and Crosley felt the car “laying into the groove,” almost as if it was settling closer to the ground. The rumbling of the tires took on a deep bass note.
As they headed back into turn one, Crosley thought about tires. He thought about Cedrino. Cedrino, the ace driver who had been tossed to his death on this very turn when a tire failed and burst, turning his beautiful machine into a nightmare pinwheel.
“—qualified!” Aitken shouted.
“What did you say?” Crosley looked over at Aitken’s now-grinning face.
“I said I qualified. I passed seventy-five miles an hour and held it. That’s the qualifying speed for the race. All I have to do is do it again from a running start next Thursday, when I do my qualifying run. Should be a cinch!”
Aitken had let up on the throttle as they came out of turn one for the second time. Now the car surged as Aitken accelerated through the short straight. Crosley glanced at the speedometer, expecting it to see it rise back to eighty. But the needle was pegged at zero. The speedometer was broken and Aitken hadn’t noticed.
©
II. THE PROMOTER
Carl Graham Fisher stood pompously—the only way he was capable of standing—and glared past his cigar at the partially-completed timing stand in the oval track’s infield.
“God damn it, boys! Have you been sitting on your asses all day?” He removed the cigar to spit, then eyed the dark clouds rolling in from the northwest. “It’s looking like rain again, and you haven’t even started on the damned roof!”
The crew of carpenters and helpers scowled back at Fisher, who now stalked toward them, his expensive two-tone shoes making squelching noises in the mud. “Who the hell is in charge here?” he squawked. “Dammit—just who the hell is in charge?”
The foreman, a stocky man with a short, curly beard, nodded. “That’d be me, Mister Fisher. I’m sorry we ain’t got to the roof yet, but we been workin’ inside while we’re waitin’ on shingles, so as not to waste your time and money.”
The wind expertly taken out of his sails, Fisher squinted through comically thick glasses, spat out the chaw of tobacco in his mouth, and stuck in a fresh one. “Well, then, who in blazes didn’t deliver the shingles?” he demanded.
“That’d be the supplier,” he drawled. “Portman’s lumber yard.”
“I’ll burn that son-of-a-bitch,” Fisher muttered, then turned abruptly and marched back across the infield. Crossing the brick surface of the track, he stamped his feet to remove the mud from his shoes, which effort was rewarded by splatters of mud on his sky-blue slacks. He didn’t notice.
The big yellow 1911 Cadillac Model 30 was idling on the other side of the brick track outside the paddock entrance where he’d left it. Jane Watts Fisher sat quietly beneath the canvas roof, eyes resting on the slightly rolling Indiana landscape to the east. Trees, corn, and the occasional barn were visible in the distance, the scene distinguished from a painting only by the stirring of stunted cornstalks in the brisk May breeze.
Nearer was the timing tower, which reminded her of the pierhead light outside Michigan City at the Dunes, only square instead of octagonal. Just beyond that she could see Grandstand C, about three-quarters of a mile away. Several men shoveled a pile of something into a wagon next to the structure. A mule stood unmoving in a harness attached to the wagon.
The car leaned and creaked as Carl Fisher stepped up on the right-side running board. “Dumb bastards!” he said, shoving his bulk behind the huge steering wheel. He spoke as if he were announcing dinner.
“Who, dear?” Jane asked.
Fisher put the car into reverse and advanced the throttle. “All of ‘em, just all of ‘em. There’s not a man who can get a job done without being reminded of what he’s supposed to do. I swear, I don’t know how the world gets by.
“Five days, Jane—only five days until the race, and the grandstands aren’t painted.” He finished backing the car around to point it in the direction of the drive that led south to the highway. “The God damned mud is everywhere, and Newby’s complaining about the tickets, and—” he paused to turn his head and spit into the breeze, “and the lumber yard can’t find half the materials it was supposed to have here last week!”
Jane looked away for a moment as he wiped “tobacco juice” from his cheek with a stubby finger. “It will come together in the end, dear.” She patted his arm. “Everything you do comes together. It’s just that it takes you to make it happen, and I know that’s hard on you.”
The heavy car lurched over the rutted, tree-lined drive that led to the highway. Fisher slowed as they approached the Speedway entrance, which was framed by an eight-foot high green-and-white picket fence. He waved at the man watching the gate, and noticed that his cigar had gone out. He stopped the car, fished in his coat pocket for a match and struck it on the Cadillac’s dashboard, incidentally scarring the polished wood surface for the hundredth time.
As he puffed the cigar alight he mumbled around it, “Well, I’ll damned well make it happen, or know why. You can take that to the bank!”
They rode the rest of the way into Indy in silence, the car’s suspension fighting bravely to smooth out the bumps and dips of 16th Street. Roads, Fisher mused, now there’s something else that needs done.
But his ideas about roads—wide paved roads running south to Florida and west to California—would have to wait. For now, the race consumed nearly every waking moment. And as usual it looked like he was going to have to do everything. Allison and Wheeler had put up more money but begged off managing the new construction at the track, pleading business pressures. Business? Hell, he was in business with Allison—they owned the Prest-O-Lite Company, and made headlamps for just about every car that rolled off an assembly line, from Fords and Cadillacs on down to John North Willys’ Overlands. Though how much longer they would be doing that was debatable.
Partners—why did he bother? They left it to him to hire and supervise contractors, deal with track management and the manufacturers who wanted time at the brickyard, and handle just about everything else to do with the coming International 500-Mile Sweepstakes. Here he was, lining up last-minute publicity and confirming drivers and a thousand and one other things that a man in his position ought not to be bothered with. And on top of that, Arthur Newby was trying to slip out of paying for the tickets because he hadn’t okayed the printer.
Fisher turned south on West Street, silently appreciating the now-smoother road surface. At Washington Street a quick left aimed them at Monument Circle—the most confusing street in America, for Fisher’s money. It was a simple roundabout, but for some reason it induced manic confusion in local and out-of-town folks. But that was one of the things that made Indy its own city: rather than a town square, it had a town circle.
Fisher turned right onto Monument Circle, edging into the counterclockwise traffic flow while cursing the driver of a Buick who seemed intent on forcing him up on the sidewalk. Before Fisher could damn the driver to Hell a second time, the Buick sped up and got out of the way. He drove three-quarters of the way around the roundabout and turned north onto Meridian Street. His goal was the Fisher Automobile Agency, whose sign loomed over the building four blocks away.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he announced, out of nowhere.
Jane Fisher was accustomed to her husband speaking without referents, sometimes picking up a conversation from the day before. “About?” she prompted.
“About the Star. They want me to take out a whole signature—a four-page advertisement for the race, to run Monday. I just don’t know that I should buy another damned advertisement. The King of Siam himself must have heard about the race by now. What is another advertisement going to do? Nothing.”
He drove across the concrete apron that fronted the Fisher Automobile Agency and into the building’s cavernous garage, sounding the Cadillac’s new electric horn in case no one noticed him. He shut off the motor and climbed out, nodding to a shop hand to take care of the car as he stepped around the front to help Jane down from the running board. He paused to look down the length of the garage, wide enough for three ranks of autos, with mechanics at work on a half-dozen in the light from the big windows on the building’s north side. At a glance, he picked out several new Cadillacs, as well as Oldsmobiles, REOs, and an Apperson. Coupes, phaetons, sedans, runabouts—nearly every style of automobile made.
Jane waited patiently for him by the door to the offices. At 17, she had an infinity of patience when it came to her husband, largely because she had yet to learn that she couldn’t change him. But they had only been married for two years; that sad realization would come later. In the meantime, she was content to be the supportive wife of a mad genius businessman.
Satisfied that nothing he had to handle was afoot in the shop, Fisher spun on one heel and headed for the twin doors to the offices. He pulled open the right-hand door, held it for Jane and followed her in. Ahead of them was a long hallway that led to a showroom, with several office doors on either side. Immediately to the right was a staircase, then a wide counter behind which a neat young man operated an adding machine and made notations in a ledger. The walls were covered in dark wainscoting that rose halfway to the ceiling, white plaster filling in the rest. The ceiling itself wore painted tongue-and-groove paneling. Criscrossing it were new electrical conduits that supplied lights up and down the hallway.
Seconds after the door swung shut behind Fisher and his wife, heads began popping out of the office doors while others peered down the length of the hall from the showroom, as if a silent alarm had gone off.
They all rushed him at once. The salesmen wanted to talk with him, as did the sales manager, the office manager, and the shop manager. Fisher held up his hands, shook his head and darted up the dark staircase to his private office, Jane at his heels.
Copyright © 2002, 2006, Michael A. Banks

The Early Television Museum

2008-05-05T14:34:00.000-07:00

Kudos to the Early Television Museum! This past weekend the Museum held its annual convention, and I was priviledged to be one of the speakers.

The museum itself is well worth a visit (as is its Web site)! It's just outside Columbus, Ohio and--yep--they had Crosley televisions, along with examples of just about every other brand. Kits, too; I was especially interested to see the 3-inch phospher-tube kit set that NRI provided back in the 1940s.

Hundreds of televisions, cameras and accessories are on display. There's also the Dave Johnson Cathode Ray Tube collection, and for the con a mobile unit (truck) from the early 1950s was on display.
--Mike

Get a Crosley: The Conversation Piece You Can Drive!

2008-05-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Watching people admire Tom Miller's 1948 Crosley station wagon (that's Tom holding the Crosley's door) at various signings and talks, this slogan came to me. I think it could have been used to sell new Crosley automobiles:

Get a Crosley: The Conversation Piece You Can Drive!

Watching Opening Day from WLW's Remote Vehicle

2008-03-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

If you were a WLW-TV engineer back in 1949, you would have watched the game on the small monitor at the upper-left in the photo. In black-and-white, of course. The monitor is a Crosley TV with twin speakers.

And here's an exterior shot of the remote unit itself, a GM bus.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/
Cropyright © Michael A. Banks 2008

Ruth Lyons and Opening Day

2008-03-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

When I was very young, and on through my early teen years, Ruth Lyons was always a part of Cincinnati Reds Opening Day. She was a lifelong fan; in researching my upcoming bio of Ruth Lyons (Orange Frazer Press, May, 2009) I learned that she used to talk about the Reds on her WKRC radio program as far back as 1929, back when women weren't supposed to be interested in baseball.

Ruth always turned out for Opening Day. And some will remember her singing "Rally 'Round the Reds" on the 50/50 Club.

Dayton Daily News columnist Chick Ludwig has collected memories of Ruth Lyons and Opening Day at his blog Chick at Large. Click here to see Chick's tribute to Ruth Lyons.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/chickludwig/

Crossley's Crosley!

2008-03-20T12:17:00.001-07:00

Richard Crossley continues his Crosley Flying Flea project. As you can see in the accompanying photo from Richard, he's added a scale pilot. Looks a bit like Eddie Niermaier. (Click image to enlarge.)

--Mike

For Whom Would Powel Crosley, Jr. Vote?

2008-03-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Even though Powel Crosley, Jr. was friends with James Middleton Cox (Democratic Presidential candidate in 1920, Governor of Ohio, etc.) and other prominent Democrats, I believe he would vote for John McCain today.

Crosley was a lifelong Republican supporter who donated thousands and thousands of dollars to Republican candidates. His father was a founder of the Republican Club. I believe he always voted the party line. And I think all this is why FDR allowed the FRC to force WLW to throttle down to 50,000 watts in 1939. (That alone would have been enough to dissuade him from supporting any Democrat.)

However, if he voted Democratic, he would vote for Obama before Clinton. Because he was a product of his times, and because of certain comments and attitudes on record, he would be incapable of believing a woman could handle the job of President of the United States.

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Richard Crossley's Crosley-Mignet Flying Flea!

2008-03-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

What is it? The beginnings of a scratch-built scale model of the Mignet-Crosley Flying Flea, being built by Richard Crossley in the UK.

Richard builds small-scale free-flight models for indoor flying (a wonderful hobby--you don't have to chase them far!) I've shared some photos of the original Flying Flea with him, and I think I may try building it in a few months. (A switch from model rockets.)

Click on the photo to see a larger version of the fuselage. There will be more photos of the Crossley-Crosley Flying Flea here as the work progresses.
--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com

Book Preview

2008-02-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

For anyone who may not have seen them already, there are several chapters from my book Blogging Heroes available online in PDF format. The chapter that interviews Chris Anderson is right here at his blog, The Long Tail. Have a look--it's a good sample!

In the interview, Chris notes that, "I do my best thinking via my blogs." Here are quotes from a few other bloggers I interviewed for the book:

* "For me, the future of journalism is blogging."-- Mary Jo Foley, All About Microsoft
* "One of the true beauties and powers of blogs is that they can give voice to people who are not heard."-- Frank Warren, PostSecret
* "When I look out at the blogosphere, I don't see lots of inconsequential blogs. I see lots of possibility."-- Gina Trapani, Lifehacker.com

Crosley Broadcasting Goes on the Air with Television, 60 Years Ago

2008-02-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Today (February 9) is the 60th Anniversary of Crosley Broadcasting’s first regular commercial television broadcasts. WLWT, Cincinnati’s Channel 5, went on the air on February 9, 1948. Here’s an artist’s rendering of the Crosley Broadcasting facilities as seen from the air. This site was on Chickasaw Street in University Heights.

I'll be sharing some photos of early Crosley television activities over the next couple of weeks.

Crosley's initial experiments with television began in 1939, with TV demos at the Carew Tower and inside the Crosley Pavilion at the Chicago World's Far. (Crosley was partnered with DuMont at the time.)
--Mike

HDTV Converter Box Coupons

2008-02-08T15:09:00.001-08:00

A bunch of people have asked me about the Federal government's HDTV converter box coupon program, and TV newscasts are pushing it hard, but I assume a lot of people are hearing about it but not getting the details. For those who are interested, the deal is that the Feds will give you one or two (maximum) coupons for $40 off a digital TV converter box. But you have to use the coupon(s) within 90 days of when they're mailed to you. I figure the retail end will mark up prices when the coupons start coming in.

For info, call: 888.388.2009 Or go to http://www.dtv2009.gov/ and apply online.
Download a mail-in coupon at https://www.dtv2009.gov/docs/Coupon_Program_App_en.pdf
Or write: TV Converter Box Program, P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208.
Remember: The coupon expires 90 days after it's put in the mail to you, so don't request one until you're ready to buy.

I think Powel would have come out with a converter box that would undersell all the rest, even with coupons. "Buy CROSLEY! No coupon necessary!"

WLW and Sponsor Stunts

2008-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

One of Crosley Broadcasting's biggest moneymakers was Ruth Lyons. On radio, and later on television, her show commanded network rates from advertisers, so huge was her following. The sponsors didn't mind, because when she spotlighted a product, people bought it. She would often involve sponsors' products in stunts--more so on television. In the 1950s and 60s she gave away cars (Hello, Oprah!), threw sponsors off the show (until the next day), and made sure everyone in every audience went home with a nice prize.

Paul Dixon, who preceded Lyons with a morning show, did similar things, but in his own way. Which is to say, he did stunts for their own sake. He had a gimmick called "Kneesville" that he used to get women in the audience to wear short skirts and displaly their legs. When "hot pants" came into style, he designated one show "Hot Pants Day," and had all these lovely young women in the audience wearing extreme short-shorts.

Today I happened across a reprise of a Tyra Banks show in which she and a bunch of women took off their jeans. I was immediately reminded of Lyons and Dixon. Why? The incentive for the strippers was a new pair of custom-fit jeans from a specific (and oft-mentioned) manufacturer. It was a great gimmick. For the cost of a few dozen pairs of jeans the sponsor got lots of valuable expsoure (just like Pontiac on Ophra and Chevrolet on Ruth Lyons' shows). And as with Paul Dixon, the audience got a show--men in one sense, women in another. (To round things out, Tyra Banks is carried by NBC, of which network WLW was a founding associate.)

(If Dixon and Lyons are unfamiliar to you, you may want to have a look at the book Cincinnati Television, by Jim Friedman.)

Marketing!

--Mike http://www.michaelabanks.com/

The Real Story Behind the Woman in the Crosley House

2008-01-26T19:46:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the fortune to talk with someone who was very close to the Lewis M. Crosley family, and get the full story about the rumors of Lewis Crosley supposedly having kept a mistress in a house on Loiswood Drive in College Hill. As it turns out, someone did keep a mistress in the house--but it wasn't Lewis Crosley.

The house was part of a development built by a Mr. Wood. (Hence, the name Loiswood Drive, and the other streets in the development that end in "wood"--Hollywood, Elmwood, etc.) The neighbors occasionally made funny remarks about the house that didn't quite make sense to the Crosleys. All they knew was that they had bought the house new from Mr. Wood.

Or so they thought. The house Lewis Crosley and his wife bought was originally built by Mr. Wood for his mistress. Then he found his mistress in bed with one of his drivers.

He threw her out of the house. She packed up and left, but on her way out she took a hatchet to the walls. Wood's workers apparently did an excellent job of repairing the damage; the Crosleys thought the house had never been lived in. Incidental to this, Wood had planned on putting in a pool. This explained the larger-than-necessary water service put in for the property, on which they blamed their high water bills. The water bills aside, the story was always a source of great amusement for them.

--Mike

Crosleys in a Crowd

2008-01-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Just for fun, here's a photo you won't find in a newspaper or magazine. It's just too "busy." But if you look closely you should be able to pick out three 1939 Crosleys, the door of a fourth, plus a bare '39 Crosley chassis. (Click the image for the large version.)

The photo was taken at the grand unveiling of the Crosley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 3, 1939. The cars and the crowd they drew are located on the track in front of the pagoda-like timing stand.
--Mike

The Tri-Shelvador!

2008-01-11T16:35:00.001-08:00

Check out this Web page: http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/cl/2008/01/10/
It's a cartoon that reminds us of the Crosley Shelvador. Crosley made a "Tri-Shelvador," but it didn't have this many doors! If Crosley was still making Shelvadors, they just might look like this one. Thanks to Jim Bollman for the link.

Crosley War Production: The Mark 14 Gun Sight

2008-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

Quite a bit of attention has been focused on Crosley's involvement with the Radio Proxmity Fuze, a device that enabled Naval gunners (and others) to blow enemy aircraft out of the skies with deadly efficiency. Crosley's role was not inventing the device, but manufacturing it and increasing the efficiency of manufacture.

I'll write more about the Proxmity Fuze in a future post. (I was able to hold a couple of these in my hands while traveling recently.) Here I want to focus on another vital Crosley element of the war effort, the manufacture of the Mark 14 (or Mark XIV) gun sight. This gun sight (properly written as two words when it was in use) also increased the accuracy of gunners. A mechanical device, it compensated for gun mount movement, parallax, and other variables to help line the gun up with the target by angle and azimuth. The modern counterpart is the laser sight.

The Mark 14 was used with 20-mm, 1.10-inch, and 40-mm guns. The image above is from the Mark 14 gun sight's Operating Bulletin for gunners and range setters.

Crosley Personal Computers

2007-12-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Before anyone gets excited: no, there are no Crosley computers. But can you imagine if the Crosley Corporation had been around for the personal computer revolution--with Powel or someone with his marketing outlook in charge?

For openers, the Crosley PC would have cost less than any other computer, low price being one of the basic tenets of Powel's school of marketing. And where Apple tried to get people hooked on its computers by giving them to schools, Crosley would have responded by putting his PCs in the hands of high-power celebrities, just like he did with his radios in the 1920s. Photos of the rich and famous with Crosley PCs would show up in newspaper stories and magazine ads.

The computer itself would have been really different. The first Crosley PC would have come with a (small) color monitor. The disk drives would have been on top of the monitor, and the computer would have more knobs and switches than necessary, plus a keyboard with 18 function keys, and a Crosley mouse that you could clip to your wrist and wave (patented by Crosley, of course). All in the interest of giving people more for less--just as with Crosley radios, appliances, and cars--and being different to get attention.

Crosley might have had its own OS early on, but Powel would have seen DOS and Windows as a practical direction. He may have tried to emulate the Mac, just to cover all (marketing) bases. And he might have lost a lot of money and a lawsuit trying to do that. Or, he may have won the suit, as he did with the Armstrong patent.

You can bet the Crosley PC would have been in Macy's and department stores across the country, as well as any shop that sold Crosley radios. With 17,000+ distributors and tens of thousands of dealers already in place, the Crosley PC would have overwhelmed the market.

--Mike http://michaelabanks.com/

Reviews of Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation

2007-12-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested, here are some Web sites and publications where you can find reviews of CROSLEY: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation:

Paul West

Cruise-In.com

Antique Radio Classified

Gentleman Agitator

The Chief's Forum

Check the August, 2007, issue of Road & Track at your local library or used bookstore for yet another review.

Crosley Automobile History

2007-12-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

The December 16, 2007, edition of the New York Times has a nice writeup on the Crosley automobile, complete with illustrations from Crosley brochures--in color! Click here to see it.

(Note: I earlier posted the wrong date for my signings this weekend. They will be held on SUNDAY, December 23 in Cincinnati at Northgate Mall and Tri-County Mall. Click here for full info.)

How Close Can You Park to the Door?

2007-12-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

(Photos courtesy Tom Miller)

Yesterday I did a signing for Crosley and my new book, Blogging Heroes, at the Borders store in Mason, Ohio--the home of WLW's transmitter and famous tower. It was a busy three hours, and Tom Miller brought out his 1948 Crosley wagon. You can see it on the left, the nose poking into the entranceway.

Originally Tom parked it on the walkway in front of the store, but the shopping plaza management complained, so he placed it in the tiny lobby of the store. It was a tight fit, to say the least. This photo will give you some idea how little space their was.

The Crosley didn't impede the flow of customers. Nearly everyone stopped to look at it. And, conveniently, the first thing they saw coming into the store were my books. Click photos for larger images. Click here for a slideshow of the event!

Congratulations, Susan!

2007-12-14T18:32:00.002-08:00

Congratulations to my daughter,
Susan Banks, on her graduation
from Northern Kentucky University
December 15!

Powel Crosley's Office

2007-12-13T15:10:00.001-08:00

It's 1934. You're the head of the Crosley Radio Corporation, manufacturer of radios used all around the world, appliances like the Shelvador, and a host of other top-selling consumer products. You've built airplanes and own a few, an airport to keep them in, and one of the city's most elaborate estates, among other properties. You also run the world's most powerful radio station, WLW. What's your office like?

The photo here shows just one corner of Powel Crosley, Jr.'s huge office in the tower of the Crosley factory building at 1329 Arlington Street in Cincinnati. (Powel's private dining room was one floor up.) The office is equipped with a working fireplace (the tiles are rumored to be Rookwood). There's a Crosley temperator to heat or cool the air on the sideboard to the left, along with an intercom and water pitcher and glasses. The cabinets under the sideboard feature a bar. The desk features a pen set decorated with elephants, a fancy blotter, and ashtrays for both the boss and guests. The photo facing the boss' chair is one of his wife. There's a single telephone set on its own table just behind the desk.

The huge console to the right is a custom-made Crosley radio receiver. The candle-like sconces on the walls hold electric lights. The wall panels are thick, solid wood, with brick behind them. The door with the arched top (you can see part of it at the far right) is several inches thick.

What about the rest of it? I'll show you more another time, as well as what it looks like today. (Don't forget to click the image to see a larger version.)

--Mike mike at michaelabanks.com

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley and Spring Grove Cemetery

2007-12-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

(I can't believe I misspelled "cemetery" in the original header!)
I recently had reason to check some records in the online genealogy section of Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetary, where Powel Crosley and many of his family are interred. When I did a search for the name "Powel Crosley," none came up. Powel's wife, brother, mother, and others are there, but Powel, his father (Powel, Sr.), and son Powel, III are no longer listed.

"Might this be the result of the Crosley book?" I asked myself, thinking the popularity of this book may have led to too many queries for Crosley.

I contacted Phil Nuxhall, the official historian of Spring Grove Cemetery, and Phil consulted with the company's Webmaster. The four Powel Crosleys are now restored. There had been a problem with the fact that each was listed with a variant of the last name: Crosley Jr, Crosley IV, and so on. Now you can find them at http://www.springgrove.org/sg/genealogy/sg_genealogy_home.shtm

If you want more information about the Crosley family plot (Section 17, Lot 6 at Spring Grove), see Find a Grave. You can also leave virtual flowers and a comment.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Book Signing in Mason, Ohio, this Sunday, December 16!

2007-12-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

I'll be signing both CROSLEY and my brand-new book, Blogging Heroes, this Sunday from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Borders in Mason, Ohio (5105 Deerfield Road). Click here for directions.

Mason is the home of WLW's transmitter and famous Blaw-Knox diamond antenna tower. You can see it as you drive into town. (While you're here, click the antenna photo and you'll see a larger version of it.)

Come on out: I'll have some special free handouts for everyone, whether you buy a book or not! Bring a copy to be signed, or buy a copy for your Crosley fan friends or blogging relatives as a holiday gift!
Note: Tune in 700 WLW (XM-73) Tuesday, December 11, at 5:40 PM to hear me on the Gary Burbank Show.
--Mike

Correction: WLW-TV Mobile Unit

2007-12-09T19:53:00.001-08:00

In an earlier post I mis-identified the silverside bus shown in the accompanying photo as a 1948 model. The bus, which served as WLW-TV's mobile unit was actually a 1947 GM coach. It carried two cameras, and was jam-packed with all the transmitting and monitorinig equipment the engineers could fit into it. The roof was equipped with a reinforced deck (for cameras and operators), fold-down railings, and a transmitting dish that lay flat during transit.

--Mike

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Television, Ruth Lyons, and Sunday Book Signing

2007-12-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

As implied by previous posts, we'll be talking more and more about WLW-TV (as well as WLWC, WLWD, and WLWI) in the future. A Ruth Lyons dot com Web site is also on the way.

In the meantime, stop by and see me on Sunday, December 16, at the Cincinnati Borders bookstore in Mason (5105 Deerfield Blvd.) from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. I'd like to hear your Ruth Lyons stores, and will be autographing Crosley and my new book, Blogging Heroes.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Change Coming in Radio?

2007-12-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

I've been interviewing a number of people in the broadcast business, in connection with a book I'm writing. I've collected an interesting set of opinions on where radio is going--AM radio in particular. Just about everyone I talked with expressed the thought that the AM radio talk show with its "angry white men" has been overdone, and that something new is going to emerge. Problem is, nobody can say what that might be.

Thinking about it, one of the reasons the call-in talk show format got popular is because it is live programming. Radio listeners didn't just start demanding people screaming and saying shocking things--though many of them were certainly looking for a way to get on radio and speak their piece. I believe that the live element is what grabbed listener interest. Consider the success of Gary Burbank on WLW. He's not one of the angry white men--but he is live.

Live programming is, of course, where radio started. (That's live, as opposed to automated stations and chatterers playing music.) It makes one wonder if more live programming--of a different type--is waiting in the wings as the angry white men duplicating one another's shtick fall away. It seems as if everything comes back if you wait long enough ...
For some interesting background on all this, have a look the book Something in the Air, by Marc Fisher. You'll find my review of the book here.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

The OTHER Cincinnati Reds Betting Scandal

2007-12-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Pete Rose baseball betting scandal has to be the longest-running story of its type, what with its near-annual revival in connection with Pete not making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But it wasn't the first betting scandal to hit the Cincinnati Reds. That may go back to 1951 and Powel Crosley's involvement in betting on horse raises.

Early that year, when it was discovered that Crosley was breeding thoroughbreds at a farm in Kentucky, baseball Commissioner Ford Frick demanded that Crosley get out of racing entirely, citing Mountain Landis's contention that "baseball cannot get along with gambling, and horse racing can't get along without it. So the two just don't mix!"

Even though National League President Warren Giles (and former Reds' manager) defended him, Crosley gave up his racing interests.
--Mike
http://www.michaelbanks.com

Crosley History (and more!) on CD

2007-12-04T01:23:00.000-08:00

There are precious few audio archives from the heyday of Crosley Broadcasting, from the 1920s through the 1940s. A lot of what exists isn't available, including The Nation's Station: Cincinnati Radio (1921-1941).

Fortunately, WGUC, Cincinnati's public radio station, makes available two great audio archive/tribute CDs. (And they have great prices--at least ten bucks less than I've seen one of these for sale at eBay and Amazon.com.) Shown above, the CDs are:

Cincinnati Radio: The War Years (1941-1945) offers lots of audio from WLW, as well as other stations. The program is narrated by Nick Clooney.
Let Me Entertain You: A Ruth Lyons Memoir is a tribute to the woman who invented television talk shows. This one's narrated by Jane Pauley, and has interviews and lots of 50-50 Club sound bites.

--Mike

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

Joe Nuxhall

2007-12-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

As many reading this know, Joe Nuxhall was the youngest major-league baseball player ever. He was 15 when Powel Crosley's Cincinnati Reds hired him in 1944. The war made for a shortage of players, but that wasn't the only reason the 15 year-old made the team. He was a talented pitcher, as his record showed. He played in the major leagues from 1952 to 1967, wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform for all but one year.

In 1967 Joe Nuxhall went to work as a voice of the Cincinnati Reds, and broadcast games for the next 38 years. He retired a couple of years back, and passed away in November, 2007, at the age of 79. WLW-TV has made available its tribute to Joe Nuxhall on YouTube. Click here to watch WLW-TV's "Good-Bye to Joe Nuxhall."
--Mike

Crosley Broadcasting Programs Online!

2007-12-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

More and more old television programs are popping up on YouTube, including some old Crosley Broadcasting shows (or portions thereof) from WLW-TV. Produced in Cincinnati, these were broadcast over the WLW network, which included WLW-C (Columbus), WLW-D (Dayton), and WLW-I (Indianapolis) in addition to the Cincinnati station.

The most popular of these was Ruth Lyons' 50-50 Club, which ran from Noon to 1:30 PM every weekday afternoon. (The audio was simulcast over WLW radio.) WLW-TV has uploaded part of a 1951 episode of The 50-50 Club to YouTube. Click here to watch it.

Middletown native Jim Witt has kindly provided the original WLW-TV newscast aired the day Ruth Lyons died here:, along with the WLW Ruth Lyons special tribute (hosted by Pat Barry) broadcast a couple of nights later.

There's another set of Ruth Lyons excerpts here. In the future I'll post info on more Crosley Broadcasting radio and TV programming online.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

Another View of the 1937 Flood

2007-12-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

Here's another look at the aftermath of the Flood of '37. The vantage point here is the third floor of the main factory, looking north toward the burned-out and collapsed Building K. The straight "pathway" in the middle is actually the roof the the second-story enclosed bridge between the main plant and Building K, which contained a conveyor along which completed radios moved. The sets were packed for shipping in Building K, and then loaded directly onto railroad box cars.

The sign at the bottom-left reads "The Crosley Distributing Company." This was a company formed by Crosley to enable it to go around its distributors and sell direct to large wholesale accounts. As with the photo in the preceding post, this was supplied by retired engineer Robert S. Butts. (Click on the image to see it full-size.)
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
Copyright © 2007 Michael A. Banks
P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

1937 Flood and Crosley

2007-11-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's been around Cincinnati for more than a couple of years has heard about "the Flood of '37." That was the year the Ohio River reached an all-time high and flooded out most all of downtown, and left much of the city without water. There were also a number of fires. Some of the most dangerous fires were caused by giant gasoline and fuel oil storage tanks. These tanks were torn away by the river and began floating around the neighborhood, so to speak.

Fires sprang up, and putting them out was a harrowing job. Matters were complicated by a fire at the main Crosley factory building, apparently touched off by an electrical short-circuit.

Crosley's "Building K" a shipping/warehouse only recently completed, was completely burned out and flooded. The photo here shows a view of the damage looking over where Building K was at the Crosley factory on Arlington Street. (If you know the area, Spring Grove Avenue would be directly behind you.) You can just make out the WLW sign to the left and below the WLW antenna tower. Thanks to former Crosley engineer Robert S. Butts for this photo.

--Mike

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

Crosley in YouTube Videos

2007-11-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Crosley Automobile Club mailing list, I learned of a neat video on YouTube that focuses on micro cars at the Madison, Georgia Microcar Club meet earlier this year. Along with a Morris Minor, Isetta, and others, there's a dark blue Crosley station wagon. Click here to see the video on YouTube.

Also on YouTube:

1947 Crosley convertible cruising the streets of Staten Island (after two hefty guys pick up the car's rear end and bounce it up and down. Lots of detail.)
Another Crosley convertible (needs a muffler)
1955 Crosley Shelvador (it reached 38 mph!)

Vrooom!

--Mike

Lowell Thomas at Crosley Car Introduction

2007-11-23T17:02:00.000-08:00

When Powel Crosley, Jr. introduced the Crosley automobile in April, 1939 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he had a number of celebrities on hand, including several Indy drivers. Someone who wasn't mentioned was Lowell Thomas, world traveler and news commentator. Thomas was there on behalf of the NBC radio network, and you can see him to the right of Powel Crosley in the accompanying photo, just behind the NBC microphone.

--Mike

1930s WSAI Women's Softball Team

2007-11-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun photo from the 1930s someone shared with me at a signing. This is WSAI's women's softball team. The coach on the far right is undoubtedly a Crosley employee. The batboy in front is probably someone's little brother.

--Mike

WLW's World Globe Microphone

2007-11-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

In the early--and latter--days of broadcasting, broadcast engineers would often make their own microphones, either as a challenge or because what the engineers wanted wasn't available. I don't know whether the world globe microphone shown here was bought or made by WLW's engineering staff, but there probably weren't too many like it. (The "ear of corn" mic made for WLW's "Everybody's Farm" program, may well have been unique. It was cast of aluminum, with a mold made from a real ear of corn.)

This photo is from the late 1930s, and that's world traveler Lowel Thomas at the mic.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
Copyright © 2007, Michael A. Banks

Crosley Shirts, Part 1

2007-11-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't been to a Crosley book signing, here's one of the two "author" shirts you might see. This one is a Cincinnati Reds' jersey. It's collarless and buttondown, and has the Reds' emblem on the left front, full size. "Crosley NYT" translates to "Crosley New York Times," in commemoration of the book making the New York Times bestseller list. "35" is the number at which the book made the list.

--Mike

Proximity Fuze Cutaway View

2007-11-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

Readers of Crosley know that the Crosley plant in Cincinnati manufactured the top-secret proximity fuze during World War II. Crosley Corporation was one of five companies turning out millions of the device, which used radio to detonate shells when they were within a certain distance of their target. That way, Navy gunners operating 3- and 5-inch guns could knock out attacking aircraft without having to make a direct hit. The gunners' average went 'way up after the proximity fuze was introduced.

You may have wondered what the fuzes looked like inside. The photo above (click for larger image) shows a breakdown of a 3-inch projectile.

--Mike

http://www.michaelabanks.com/

P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

1936 WLW Mobile Unit Revisted

2007-11-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Robert S. Butts for the accompanying photo (click for larger image). As a second-year electrical engineering coop student at the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Butts was hired by Crosley Chief Engineer James Rockwell to work in the Crosley Broadcast Engineering Department. This department built most of the audio equipment for both WLW and WSAI.

Robert Butts worked on several projects, one of which is shown in the photo. I'll let him describe it: "An interesting project was the design and construction of a portable remote broadcast pickup unit consisting of a high frequency (HF) transmitter mounted in a Dodge car with reinforced springs and a generator in the truck for power. It was used for remotes of all sorts, parades, soap box derbies, and even driven aboard the Island Queen for moonlight dance cruises. A receiver atop the Carew Tower was always on to pick up the HF transmissions and relay them to the studios by telephone line." (Note: The Island Queen was a paddlewheel riverboat that regularly cruised between downtown Cincinnati and the Coney Island amusement park.)

"Another remote broadcast device," Butts continues, "was a backpack HF transmitter used primarily for interviews, notably 'Fans in the Stands' with Dick Bray at Crosley Field." The photo (taken at the Indianapolis 500 race) shows Robert Butts, Dave Conlon, and Bob Booth. Conlon is holding the backpack transmitter.

I'll be sharing more from Robert Butts in future postings. Thanks, Robert!
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
P.O. Box 175, Oxford, OH 45056

David Sarnoff: Method, Motive, and Opportunity

2007-11-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have written elsewhere--online and off--about some of the fast ones that David Sarnoff pulled during his career. He rewrote history to cast himself as a "hero" of the sinking of the Titanic. He stole the most important patent in radio, Edwin Howard Armstrong's super-regenerative circuit, from the inventor. Later, he tried to take over FM, another Armstrong invention. When that failed, he ruined Armstrong by deft political manipulation--and Armstrong committed suicide.

(Perhaps Armstrong would have taken a dive from a skyscraper anyway, but with what Sarnoff pulled on him, one can't help but wonder if Sarnoff was the last straw.)

Sarnoff also beat Philo Farnsworth out of his television patent. And he tried to knock Crosley out of the radio business--but failed. When RCA lost its lawsuit against Crosley Radio, the suit claiming that Crosley was using the Armstrong patent without license--when Crosley really owned a license and was paying royalties per the standard schedule--it must was one of the greatest failures of Sarnoff's career.

With his ego, Sarnoff must have been mortally offended. But there was more. Crosley had not only "stolen" form Sarnoff and outmaneuvered him in the halls of justice; he had succeeded where Sarnoff failed. Seven years before Crosley introduced the Harko, the radio that sparked the radio revolution in 1921, David Sarnoff had tried to get his superiors at RCA to bring out a low-cost radio and do what Crosley ended up doing.

But Sarnoff was rejected. And so while Sarnoff was worrying over phonograph sales and juggling patents, Crosley was fulfilling the role of the Prometheus of radio that Sarnoff had wanted. Hence, it was Powel Crosley and not David Sarnoff who started the radio revolution.

To add insult to injury, Crosley was the reason that the radio patent pool was established--leaving Sarnoff bereft of something he had stolen.

But there was nothing David Sarnoff could do about it--or was there? How is it that Powel Crosley, Jr. almost disappeared from history? Crosley, the man who built the most powerful commercial radio station in North America? The creator of one of the first 100 radio stations in the U.S., a man who consistently led in breaking the barriers to higher power for more than a decade, and who almost single-handedly established the market for radios and touched off the broadcast industry.

It makes no sense that a man of such achievement could simply be forgotten. But neither Crosley nor his creations are mentioned in most radio histories. Historians seem to ignore Crosley's accomplishments, including his place as the biggest radio manufacturer in the world. Powel Crosley, Jr. inventor, ace marketer, pioneering broadcaster, automaker, and so much more is referred to as an inventor in a garage in the most celebrated chronicle of the Radio Age, Empire of the Air, by Tom Lewis. And Crosley is not mentioned at all in the Ken Burns documentary based on that book. (I do recommend the book; the diminuation of Crosley's importance aside, Empire of the Air is a book that every technology and history enthusiast ought to read.)

Not that I blame Tom Lewis, or Ken Burns. I believe that they, like other historians, were not aware of Crosley's importance. This and Crosley being ignored by others may well be an after-effect of David Sarnoff's revenge. Sarnoff, well-known for his ego and today for rewriting history, may well have "helped" Powel Crosley, Jr. disappear from the rolls of radio history--until the beginning of the 21st Century, when I began writing Crosley.

How could Sarnoff have anything to do with it? Well, he was firmly ensconced at the center of the media industry--New York. He outlived Crosley by a decade, and he had the contacts to persuade journalists and book writers to omit Crosley from history. It is easy to see him squeezing out revenge for Crosley having bested him.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley, Wildlife, and Muzzle Loaders

2007-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

If you didn't mind the label "Company Man," back in the 1930s it sometimes paid to be interested in things the boss was interested in--just like today. In addition to being the Cincinnati Reds' number one fan, Powel Crosley, Jr. was interested in old-time muzzle loaders and--hunter that he was--guns in general. If he were around today, he'd probably be vying with Charleton Heston for Presidency of the American Rifle Association. As it was, he and Walter Chrysler, along with some other famous millionaires, founded the American Wildlife Institute, an organization devoted to preserving wildlife habitats. Crosley had already developed a wildlife habitat of his own in Indiana, at what is today the Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area in south-central Indiana (not far off U.S. 50).

The image above is a center spread from a 1941 "Special W.L.W. Issue" of Muzzle Blasts, the journal of the National Muzzle-Loading Rifle Association, or NMLRA. The W.L.W. Issue was an honor to Crosley and WLW for their continuing support of the NMLRA. One of WLW's early stars, Maurice "Boss" Johnston, arranged many of the NMLRA's national shoots, and served as President of the organization more than once. Johnston also talked Powel Crosley into sponsoring those shoots, providing Crosley radios, Shelvadors, and other appliances for prizes. There was also a Crosley Muzzle-Loading Rifle Championship, with a handsome sliver trophy. The Crosley competition continues to be hosted by the NMLRA today, 70+ years after the first one.

Among the WLW notables in the image are Powel Crosley, Jr. (beneath the "Jr." in his name), WLW Farm Directory George Biggar (top row, under "Boosters"), James Shouse, WLW General Manager (immediately below Crosley) and Boss Johnston, the rugged, square-jawed man just right of Shouse. Several of these Crosley Broadcasting staffers were champion shooters in their own right--a designation that had more meaning then than today.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Copyright © 2007, Michael A. Banks

Crosley Radios Afloat

2007-11-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Along with automobiles, airplanes, hunting, and the Cincinnati Reds, Powel Crosley, Jr. had a passionate interest in boating--or yachting, to be precise. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Sarasota Yacht Club, and several others. He owned more than a dozen craft, ranging from canoes and "Little WLW" up to a 100-foot yacht.

So it should come as no surprise that Crosley was a pioneer in outfitting new luxury watercraft with radios. The accompanying ad (click the image for a larger view) for a Chris Craft Yacht (Model 123) is from 1930. It features an optional battery-powered Crosley Screen-Grid radio, complete with decorative cabinet. The ad notes that this setup is "... not as costly as other similar installations," but at yacht prices, who cared?
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
Copyright © 2007, Michael A. Banks

Books by the Banks and Crosley

2007-11-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of signing a whole bunch of copies of Crosley at the "Books by the Banks" event at Cincinnati's Duke Convention Center. 2,000 readers and over 80 other book authors were there, and mixing with so many readers and writers made for a great time. Plans are afoot for repeating it next year.

Thanks to wearing a Cincinnati Reds jersey with CROSLEY on the back, I found myself in Sunday's edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer. I also got a T-shirt with the "Books by the Banks" logo.

More than that, I collected more Crosley memories, such as stories of decades-ago trips to Crosley Field that the lady in the Enquirer photo with me shared. Click the logo to learn more about the event, which wasn't named after me, but the banks of the Ohio River.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

Crosley's Pinecroft

2007-11-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

I meet a lot more people who know about Powel Crosley, Jr.'s South Florida estate, Sea Gate, than have heard of Pinecroft, Crosley's Cincinnati home. The simple reason for this is that Sea Gate is owned by Manatee County, Florida, and is promoted as a tourist destination and event venue. It has also been the subject of restoration efforts for the past 15 years and more. (Sea Gate is just across the way from the Bradenton airport, south of the Ringling art museum.)

Pinecroft, owned by Mercy Franciscan Health Partners, is adjacent to Mercy Franciscan Hospital in northwest Cincinnati. You can see it from the hospital parking lot (look south), and if you ask someone will tell you where Kipling Avenue is. It's a short street and the mansion is easy to find. I'm not sure what the current visitor status is, but in the past one could contact a hospital security guard for a tour. That may change as efforts to get Pinecroft on the National Register of Historic Places, so have a look if you can. I expect that in the next five years or so the 18,000-square foot building will be the site of a number of fund-raising events, and when it has been sufficiently restored it will probably be rented out for events.

The image above is part of a 1934 magazine ad for Iron Fireman automatic coal stokers. Pinecroft was equipped with two furnaces, and two stoker systems. The Crosley mansion was important enough at the time (as was Powel Crosley himself) that bragging rights for working on it were significant. I'll be posting more information about Pinecroft in coming weeks.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/

The Real Reason WLW Fired Fats Waller?

2007-11-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

Blues man Thomas "Fats" Waller (of "Ain't Misbehavin'" fame) is among the many veterans of WLW who went on to make it big. He had his own show--Fats Waller's Rhythm Club--for a time, and also played on the stations's nightly Moon River program.

Waller was fired and for many years the story was that he was fired over his drinking. One version, propounded by newspaperwoman Mary Wood, held that he left empty gin bottles around the studio. (Those who thought it made a cuter story said the bottles were hidden behind the organ console, and interfered with the instrument's operation.) Oh, Fats--you devil!

Another tale was that he left of his own accord because his manager had gotten him a three-movie deal in Hollywood.

Now emerges a new story, from the late Bill Angert, Sr., Lewis Crosley's best friend. Lewis revealed to Angert that Waller, who was black, was fired because he was trying to make time with a white woman--a secretary at WLW. Whether Lewis or Powel made the decision is unclear, though Lewis was more responsible for the day-to-day operations. When you consider that the manufacturing side of the Crosley enterprise, the Crosley Corporation, had only one African-American employee from 1922 through the middle of World War II, the story takes on a semblence of reality. Such were the times. And, like so many other talented performers who worked for WLW, Waller went on to greater things.
--Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com/
Copyright © 2007, Michael A. Banks

Saturday, Nov. 3, "Books by the Banks" Event in Cincinnati

2007-11-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

In case anyone in the Cincinnati area happens by at the last minute ... Saturday, November 3, I will be participating in the "Books by the Banks" even at the Duke Energy Center (formerly the Cincinnati Convention Center) from around Noon until 6:00 PM. More than 80 area writers are in attendance. If you want to talk about Crosley or blogs, or browse books about Cincinnati and by Cincinnati authors, stop in!

Click here for more information: http://www.booksbythebanks.com/
--Mike

Powel Crosley Blog

The Flying Crosley

At the Museum

Crosley and Tucker, Together?

Foto de Antigua Auto Crosmobile

One of the Oddest Crosley-Based Engines

1963: Ruth Lyons, the 50-50 Club on WLW Radio

Boss Johnston and WLW in 1928

Powel Crosley, Jr. in the New York Times,

Inspired by Crosley?

Addendum to the Crosley Story: Crosley Motors in Israel?

Errata Addenda

New Crosley Auto and Truck (and Tractor) Videos

The Secret of the Spiral Chimneys

Crosley Bio Corrections Addendum

Recreating a Crosley Broadcasting Program

The Station that Crosley Built: Final Analog Broadcast

Crosley Broadcasting's "The 50-50 Club" is Back!

Crosley Broadcasting Network's Biggest Star in New Book!

Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons biography is now available!

An Interesting Twist on Advertising by Crosley...

Powel Crosley's Bird Dogs

There is No "Sole-Surviving Descendent of the Crosleys"

Crosley Camera: "Vaporware?"

Water-Burning Carburetors

The Simplicity of Radio

Roaring Twenties Marketing: Applause Cards

Low Tech Meets Leading-Edge Tech

Video: Ruth Nichols Landing the Crosley Lockheed Vega!

1939 New York World's Fair, Crosley Pavilion & Cars on Video

Corrections to Crosley Book

New Crosley Videos - Cars, Radio

The True Origins of the Proximity Fuze - Part 1

How the Internet was Monetized: Excerpt from On the Way to the Web

Steam Power in the Radio Age

New Ruth Lyons Biography

Powel Crosley's Toys

Crosley Automobile Heir Gone!

The Icyball in Australia

1938: WLW Could Literally Light Up the Sky

Wow--The Old Time Radio Show Catalog!

Flying Flea Construction

Powel Crosley, Jr. and Ayn Rand

Progress on Richard Crossley's Crosley-Mignet Flying Flea!

Crosley Now Available in Paperback

Another View of Crossley's Crosley Flying Flea

Crosley Flying Flea Construction Continues ...

The Pre-History of the Web!

Crosley Icyball Video

Crosley Automobile Videos Online

Crosley Radio Video Tours (with Sound)

Hunting Dogs and Skunks

Novel Excerpt

The Early Television Museum

Get a Crosley: The Conversation Piece You Can Drive!

Watching Opening Day from WLW's Remote Vehicle

Ruth Lyons and Opening Day

Crossley's Crosley!

For Whom Would Powel Crosley, Jr. Vote?

Richard Crossley's Crosley-Mignet Flying Flea!

Book Preview

Crosley Broadcasting Goes on the Air with Television, 60 Years Ago

HDTV Converter Box Coupons

WLW and Sponsor Stunts

The Real Story Behind the Woman in the Crosley House

Recommended Reading: Zenith Radio History

Crosleys in a Crowd

The Tri-Shelvador!

Crosley War Production: The Mark 14 Gun Sight

Crosley Personal Computers

Reviews of Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation

Crosley Automobile History

How Close Can You Park to the Door?

Congratulations, Susan!

Powel Crosley's Office

Crosley and Spring Grove Cemetery

Book Signing in Mason, Ohio, this Sunday, December 16!

Correction: WLW-TV Mobile Unit

Television, Ruth Lyons, and Sunday Book Signing

Change Coming in Radio?