All radios produced during the first half of the 20th century were tube radios, since transistors were not invented until 1947 and did not start to replace tubes in radios until 1954. Which means that whether your antique radio is a cathedral or a console, an Art Deco beauty made of wood or Bakelite, its guts are filled with tubes. The originals of the vacuum tube, or valve as it’s called in the United Kingdom, dates to 1883, when Thomas...Continue Reading