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By Briar Suzanne Bogin
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Rappahannock resident Paul Farmer has tuned his interest to vintage radios, radio history and radio collecting.
“It started when I was in high school studying for my amateur radio license,” he said. “I used to do the audio for the school dances and such, and I really enjoyed it.”
Time passed however, and college and family life became Farmer’s focus. Then in 1995, he said, “I realized thousands of other people across the country had an interest in saving and restoring these artifacts. I just dove right in.”
Since that time, Farmer has joined several clubs that specialize in the collection and restoration of vintage radios, and he opened his own business as well. He runs Time out of Mind Radio, a leading vendor of vintage radios, vintage electronic equipment, and radio collector books. As part of his business efforts, he offers restoration work through The Radio Workbench, and appraisals through Time out of Mind Appraisers.
“I maintain a diverse inventory of antique radios and a large library relating to vintage radio history and equipment,” said Farmer. “I recently renewed my interest in restoration as well. I want to help people learn about grandma’s radio so they understand the history behind it and want to keep it rather than get rid of it.”
Farmer was recently the lead author in the Antique Wireless Association’s 17th annual review publication. His piece, entitled “The Regional TR-1: 50 years later,” was a 30-page story of the first transistor radio ever built. “It’s one of the most important radios to collectors today,” he said.
Farmer noted that the collecting community surrounding vintage radio is not as big as stamp or coin collecting, but numbers in the tens of thousands and boasts about 40 clubs nationwide. “The vintage radio community is very active,” he said.
Of course, Farmer hopes interest in vintage radio will rub off on others. “Lots of people have memories of old radios,” he said, “and when you bring them out in a public venue and talk about the history behind them, people are impressed and want to learn more. That’s important to me.”
See RADIOS, Page B2
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