The Mississippi Historical Radio
and Broadcasting Society

Vol 6 #1 January 23, 1998

News Letter


Wow! How time does fly - especially when you're not having fun. I'm not going to waste time and space here talking about the past - just suffice it to say that I am really glad to be out of the situation I found myself in. Thanks to the many club members who have been so very supportive. I appreciate you all- Thanks - it's good to be back!
On to more important stuff!!! In spite of all that's happened - the club is doing very nicely, thank you very much! We are suffering some of the same maladies that are affecting clubs everywhere - instant trades on the internet - couch potato-itis -- so many people just aren't getting out and "participating" like they used to. It's not just radio clubs either - PTAs, Civic Clubs, and many organizations are all noting that people are just doing "other things".
On the other hand -- the club has many things of which it can be very proud: The virtual museum on the WWWeb has had over 1800 visitors since it opened last summer... I have a strong hunch that a "real" museum here in Meridian wouldn't have done nearly so well. Besides the good attendance numbers the Virtual Museum has won six awards - including a Yahoo featured site! It would be nice to get some more radios in the museum - right now there are radios from Sherry and my collections, John Culpepper, and a couple of others. If you have a radio with some "history" let's get a good picture of it (if it's small - bring it to the next meet and we'll snap one) and get it into the museum! It's a nice way to display your stuff - without risking damage that happens in more "traditional" settings.
Speaking of the "Next Meet"...

The Mississippi Historical Radio & Broadcasting Society


is pleased to announce it's

1998 Annual Member's Meeting Show and SwapMeet
To be held
APRIL11, 1998 8AM until...
At Meridian's beautiful Highland Park

We have the largest shelter for the day (shelter #4); the very large BBQ pit will be fired and available for cooking - soft drinks will be available - bring your own burgers, hot dogs and fixin's - and be prepared to have a great day.
The "Plan of the Day"
As you locals know - the Park is wonderful for families - A large, clean well equipped playground, baseball, footBall, soccer fields and tennis courts --- The Dentzel Carousel will be open from 1pm to 5pm and the Jimmie Rogers Museum will be open 1PM to 5PM.
We've made arrangements for those coming in (or locals if you just want to) -- there are 30+ RV / Camping Trailer hook-ups available --- so you can come in Friday night & sleep easy and be 50 ft. or so from all the action first thing in the morning! The fee for the night is $10 (includes space, water and power) and goes to the City of Meridian Parks and Recreation (You could stay Saturday night if you want to... - same deal!).
So what's all this going to cost you say? Well - here is some good news ---
Admission: FREE
Sellers table fees: FREE
Parking: FREE
Cokes are 50&CENT a can
Auction sellers fee: 10% sales price
And - of course - any and all contributions to the club are gratefully accepted!!!
On the Business agenda is the election of officers for the coming year... and we probably need to talk about monthly meetings - attendance has been - ah- well let's just say we haven't had to look for extra chairs!!!
Radio Collecting Today
Topic for this month is: "Now What?"
Over the past ten or so years - the hobby has seen several hot areas come and go - Cathedrals - Catalins - Early Crystal Sets - Deco - Transistors - so what is the "hot"area now? With all the changes going on in the hobby - trends seem to become clouded - hot items can come and go in a couple of days - rather than a season - or even years as in the past. With ideas being transmitted by the internet in milliseconds - and to a huge audience - trends are more like an event than a period of time. For instance - a radio can sell for a "higher than anticipated" price - word gets spread - and within hours - dozen of Like - almost like - nearly like - and sorta likes pour out of hiding and appear like magic on e-Bay. The result is a surge of interest - some high priced deals - the market gets almost immediately saturated - and interest dies almost as fast as it rose. The Hot trend Transistors were enjoying has cooled to some degree - mostly thanks to zillions showing up on eBay. Somebody sold a few rarer type tubes for a good price - now people are trying to sell 1B3s and the like. So is there a new trend coming - one that eBay won't have such an influence on? Could be... - it was funny a few weeks ago when Marty Bunis advertised for some small screen TV's - there was a minor surge on those! Some even speculated that mini-TVs would be the next "hot" item. Actually - it seems TVs in general are likely to become the next "Hot Item" - at a recent auction - a predicta brought $700 (!) and a "nice" TV/Radio/Phono console brought"an amazing" $450... I think that tells a story. Port Holes - Ion Traps - Safety Glass - these are going to be slipping into your vocabulary - and the attached boat anchor - into your collections. Maybe Marty IS on to something!!! At least the minis don't weigh a ton! And because of the size of traditional TV's - eBay won't be much of a factor - just too hard to ship. And that leaves the more traditional channels - Shows, Swap Meets - and Live (on site)Auctions.
Mini and portables (Transistor and IC TVs) will likely still be found in great abundance on eBay - but not the older Tube sets. So in the tradition of past Hot Trends - Tube TV's look like the latest - and maybe last - hot "new" collecting trend left in the hobby.