[IRCA] Bellingham Museum Tunes In and Turns On

["Eric Floden" <ericf@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

an article from MY favourite Vancouver newspaper, the Georgia Straight is 
at:  http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=7014
about The American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, Washington 

excerpt follows 

Over in the Marconi wireless room, the story of the Titanic is told. Built 
around an original Marconi wireless set, the display is an exact replica of 
the Titanic's radio room. It's eerie to hear a description of the Titanic's 
last moments as it clipped an iceberg and sank into the icy North Atlantic. 
(Don't worry, Celine Dion doesn't sing!) 

If design is your thing, the collection of radios from the last century will 
have you spellbound. Some of the radios don't even look like radios; they're 
cleverly disguised as statues and vases. 

Turn the corner and suddenly you're sitting in a 1930s living room, staring 
at the radio and visualizing the adventures of the Lone Ranger. A special 
system of internal broadcasting lets Winter and Jenkins feed six different 
stations through the electrical wires. Each broadcasts different vintage 
content, so when visitors twirl the tuning knob on the big radio, they surf 
though the stations and programs just like in the old days. 

Education is a priority at the museum. "One of the things we're trying to do 
is expose the process of discovery," Jenkins says. "One of the ways of 
getting kids interested in science is to help them understand that 
inventions don't just happen in a single eureka moment. It's a lot of trial 
and error and a lot of hard work." The hands-on approach means that 
kids--and adults--can learn by doing. 

Winter points out some of what he calls the holy grails of the collection: 
unique and extremely rare pieces, like the Collins Wireless Telephone. Built 
in 1909, it was billed as the first device to transmit sounds without wires. 
After the invention of the telegraph and the telephone, radio was touted as 
the next big thing, and investors were looking to get in on the ground 
floor. Collins went on the road with his device, saying it was the future of 
communication. In demonstrations, the wireless telephone worked wonders. 
Conversations seemed to be taking place across great distances. In reality, 
the other party was six inches away in the next room. The wireless telephone 
was just a scam used to sucker investors. 

In January, the museum will become a radio station when KMRE signs on, 
featuring vintage newscasts, plays, and music, along with some original 
programming. The low-power FM station will also stream to the world via the 
Internet (www.americanradiomuseum.org/site/). Not bad for what started as a 
little collection in a small city off the interstate, and much more 
interesting than buying socks at Target. 


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