In the late 1800s the vacuum tube revolutionized the harnessing of electricity for practical uses, and by 1914 the technology was mature enough that AT&T bought the rights to manufacture vacuum tube radios from innovator Lee DeForest.

Most radios were made with tubes up through the early 1960s, when transistors displaced them. The vacuum tube was a necessary part of early radios, used to create and amplify the electric signals. Companies like Philco, Sylvania, Westinghouse, and RCA were some of the bigger tube makers. Collectors today look for tubes in working condition, as well as those made by the more famous companies.