Dance band music for one of America’s leading radio manufacturers in 1930 features on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, presented by Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer since 1985.

On air every Tuesday, live from 107.3 2SER Sydney from 12:04-2pm, the Phantom Dancer is recorded for re-broadcast over 23 radio stations and online.

You can hear all Phantom Dancer episodes online now at 2ser.com.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX

– has a set of 1930s Western swing records, a set of Louis Armstrong of 1950s radio, a set of Lester Young from 1956 radio and this week’s feature – ‘The Philco Hour’ from 1930-31.

See the full mix play list below…

RISE AND FALL

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we hear the ‘Philco Orchestra’ from the ‘Philco Hour’ radio series of 1930- 31.

Beginning as a battery manufacturer, then as a battery supplier for radios, then as a power unit supplier for radio, by the mid 1920s Philco was building its own radios.

Its research and development department made many improvements in radio home receiver technology throughout the 1930s. These improvemnts in combination with aggressive advertising in print and sponsored radio programming such as the ‘Philco Hour’, made Philco rise from third most popular U.S radio brand in 1929 to number one 1939.

Philco developments improving on sound quality and the aesthetic appeal of each radio unit included:
– 1930: superheterodyne tubes for clearer reception
– 1930: tone control. A listener could change their radio sound to brilliant, bright, mellow, or deep frequencies.
– 1930: smaller, cheaper car radios
– 1934: the first true high fidelity radio receiver on the market
– 1936: automatic tuning – listeners could assign their favorite stations to presets.
– 1939: mystery control, the first wireless remote control made for radios.

Philco was also a pioneer in television broadcasting. It launched experimental station W3XE in 1932 and was selling Philco TVs in 1939.

But in 1960, it filed for bankruptcy.

You can hear more of the 1930s ‘Philco Hour’ here as your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week:

3 JULY PLAY LIST