The Southern Appalachian Radio Museum
I was watching North Carolina Now the other day on PBS and it reminded me of one of the great treasures here in the Asheville area that, believe it or not, I haven’t YET visited. That’s the Southern Appalachian Radio Museum. Hosted on the campus of AB Tech here in Asheville. They have a collection of vintage and antique radios that is just an amazing trip back in time. The not only have antique radio receivers, the kind that you can imagine your grandparents and great-grandparents tuning in the news of the world to, but they also have amateur radio transmitters, test equipment and morse keys.
Some of the brand names represented in the collection are household names today, and there are some that have faded into the past… Among the collection you’ll see items from Atwater Kent, Philco, Silvertone, Crosley, Hammarlund, Harvey Wells.
The volunteers that staff the museum are radio amateurs and the museum has it’s own amateur radio call sign station W4AFM. The exhibits date from the 1910’s (and the patent date on one item is 1888!). There is also an impressive collection of QSL cards on display.
This is a real gem of an idea. Our area is rich in radio history. (WWNC and the great AM heritage there going back to the world’s first hearing of Bill Munroe on Mountain Music Time…) Radio was such a big part of our culture during it’s early years that today we have a hard time comprehending how a single medium could be so powerful.
See if you can schedule a trip to revisit our past and take a look at the Southern Appalachian Radio Museum. I notice they’re also looking for donations of money and or equipment. I can’t think of a better place for an antique radio than where it can be enjoyed by future generations for the workmanship, creativity and history that it represents.
