In a Nutshell
The second Christmas Story radio, again shortly before Christmas. The movie is coming soon to your TV screen

Introduction:
This is the second Westinghouse 780 console that I came to restore, exactly one year after my first one (ref.1). Historian, graphic designer and radio enthusiast Jeremy Hopkin has written a lovely story about the authentic Westinghouse 780X Christmas Story radio (ref.2), comparing it to stills from the original movie. Nine year old boy Ralphie Parker 's life is dominated by his one wish, to get a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass for Christmas. He uses various tricks to convince his parents to get him this gift, steadfastly ignoring the stereotype "You'll shoot your eye out". He is listening on this very Westinghouse radio to a show "Little Orphan Annie" and waiting for his Secret Society Decoder Pin, not knowing that the message would be deciphered as "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine", since the show was sponsored since 1934 by the Ovaltine company. Another famous prop in this movie is a gorgeous lamp shaped as a lady's leg with fishnet-stocking that his father had won. The movie, directed by Bob Clark, was first released exactly 31 years ago (Nov.18, 1983) and has since become a holiday classic and is shown numerous times on television during the Christmas season. Two years ago the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Both radio models 780X and 780Y were only produced by Westinghouse Canada for the Canadian market of 1940/41, and differ not only by the number of bars over the speaker grille (4 vs. 3), but also in the frequency range of the top band. Model X has 4 spread-bands on short-wave, whereas my model Y has the 49m band replaced by a full SW band. According to the radio museum (ref.4) there are 3 more table-top versions (A, B, C) with the same chassis', a C waiting in my basement for restoration. The radios are very beautiful with their many left-right matched veneer selections, and slanted control section, the radio in the movie, however, is in terrible condition, with non-authentic knobs, and a missing tuning eye (they replaced it with a red lamp). Technically the radio is a superb performer, with an extra RF amplifier stage at the front, slug (permeability) - tuned IF filters, 6 automatic tuning push-buttons made from real tortoise catalin, a tuning eye (mine refurbished with a NOS/NIB Westinghouse 6U5) a large 12" field coil speaker, and a factory installed switchable Phono input, that can be used to connect cellphones, mp3 players, etc.

Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.radio-antiks.com/IndexRadio-Antiks_Westinghouse_780.htm
ref.2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyhopkin/sets/72157601071442935/
ref.3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story
ref.4: http://www.radiomuseum.org/m/canadwest_cdn_en_3~model.html
ref.5: http://youtu.be/3MgwX_FrHis

About my Radio:
My radio is in near-mint condition, with original finish and decals, very few unoffending scratches, original knobs, original speaker and speaker cloth, no replacement parts (except all non-electrolytic caps), and 7 tubes selected from my stock, including a new old stock unused magic eye tube 6U5. The chassis has been thoroughly cleaned and moveable parts treated with contact spray. Unlike the first one (serial A76870) this earlier version (serial A55819) was using capacitors, that all were leaky and had to be replaced, but like the first one also this one had very good filter caps, that did not need replacement. A youtube video showing the radio playing various devices is available by clicking on thumbnail 44 or by going directly to ref.5. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

For the techies only:
No techies this time, it just works fine

Here are the specifications:

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