This East Village resident is bringing a classic 82-year-old radio back to broadcasting life

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

I first stumbled across the radio — Zenith Radio Corp. 1941 Model 10-H-573 — in the old Babel Hookah and Lounge spot on Avenue C near Eighth Street, where superintendent Joey Oskowitz had stored it after rescuing it from the street several years prior. 

Joey was looking for someone who loved old radios (and this early 1940s era model indeed counted!) to take it off his hands. After EVG published this story last month about the radio needing a new home, several suitors, including Pete Margolis of the nearby Pete's Amp Shop, stepped forward. 

Pete and Joey met, and they agreed on a price... Pete then took the radio to his shop for restoration.

To repair the Zenith, he needed to source a new dial belt, a replacement cord, 50 new capacitors, and a new power supply. Pete fixed the circuits, cleaned the unit, and rearranged the tubes (a few were in the wrong spot).

Pete, originally from Connecticut, moved to the East Village 42 years ago. Pete, a musician himself, has been on Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D for more than 20 years. He's got an amp repair workshop inside the unit that he shares with his girlfriend, Francine. 

During the repair process, he heard from LUNGS founder and president Charles Krezell, who told him that he was the previous owner of the piece, and later confirmed to me that he'd had the working radio in his apartment on Eighth Street from 1991 to 2015. 

When he moved, there wasn't any room for the radio cabinet, so he put it on the street, where, presumably, Joey found it.

So far, Pete has gotten the AM stations to work ...  and since there's no real FM in the dial, it's pretty much in working order. You can even pick up some local (New Jersey!) police scanner stations. 

Next, he's considering doing some restoration work on the cabinet, and it may be available for sale once it's completed to his satisfaction. 

Here, Pete provides a radio tour... don't touch that dial!

 

Radio daze: This 1941 Zenith — featuring microstatic FM reception — needs a home

Photos by Stacie Joy

A building super rescued this Zenith Radio Corp. 1941 Model 10-H-573 from a basement on Avenue C.

It still works, and receives broadcast AM, "microstatic FM reception," and two shortwave bands all in an attractive spinet cabinet. But there's a but: it "smokes when you turn it on." (Who doesn't tbh?)

Take a look at this beauty ... and imagine cranking up the Glenn Miller... 

It's currently sitting in a bar on Avenue C while looking for a new home... drop us a line if you have a (serious) interest... 

P.S. 

Found this...

 

New York commercial radio to somehow manage to become even suckier

Ben Sisario has the story at the Times:

Making its third identity change since Howard Stern left for satellite radio three years ago, WXRK in New York, better known as K-Rock, will switch to a Top 40 format, the station’s parent company, CBS Radio, announced on Monday.

Instead of the “active rock” K-Rock has been playing — mostly classic rock, with some harder-edged current rock in light rotation — the station, to be known as Now FM (92.3), will play music from acts like “Kanye West, Beyoncé, Pink, Flo Rida, Akon, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake,” according to the announcement. The change will be made at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.