It’s been seventy five years since
RCA introduced the BP-10 radio. At the
time some at RCA thought that the radio would not go over with the public. It was expensive and would only run from a
unique high voltage battery. On top of
that, the BP-10 sensitivity and audio performance were not up to the standards
of console radios.
RCA had invested a lot in the
design and manufacture of the BP-10 and was not about to waste what RCA upper management
believed was a great product. So, they
promoted the BP-10 radio in every media available. Media outlets from Broadway plays to
newspaper columnist were awash with continuous mention of the “new personal
radio”. And the public responded. During 1940 and 1941 more than a quarter of a
million BP-10 radios were made and sold.
With its ties to RKO Pictures, RCA was able to get many celebrity
endorsements for the new personal portable.
RCA went so far as to stage demonstration of the BP-10 at various public
locations.
When radio production resumed after
WWII the BP-10 personal portable concept was again promoted not only by RCA,
but Emerson, Motorola, and many other manufactures. Unfortunately, the public interest was no
longer on radios. It was on television. Portable radios were still selling, but not
like the before the war. Not until
transistor radios hit the market in late 1954 would the public again be
fascinated with the small personal portable radio concept. And technology kept the pace up, introducing
portable AM/FM radios, tape players, then CD players, followed by digital
players. Today it’s smart phones. By the early twenty first century the BP-10
was technological ancient history.
Looking back at the last seventy
five years, a lot has happened in portable technology, entertainment, and
communications. When the BP-10 is viewed
in its place in that history it’s obvious that the BP-10 was a seminal force in
the social imperative toward personal electronics of all types. In the
1940’s it wasn’t apparent that the public infatuation with the BP-10 and other
personal radios would lead to an ever expanding list of personnel
electronics.
Today, the BP-10 is respected by the radio
collecting community as one of the first personal radios. Here are a few aspects of the BP-10 acknowledged
by radio historians:
-
The first truly
personal radio.
- A radio envisioned and commissioned by
RCA
- RCA’s first commercial use of its new
miniature tubes.
- Introduced at the legendary 1939 New York World’s Fair
- An excellent example of art deco styling
- The only radio placed in the cornerstone
of the RCA R & D Center.
- A radio in use prior to WWII and carried
to war postings by many servicemen
- Appeared in several plays and films
New radio collectors and people unfamiliar
with radio history rarely heard of the RCA BP-10. But if they research the history of portable
radios, they eventually rediscover the BP-10.
Despite the technological pace since 1940, the appearance and
performance of the BP-10 radio still surprises people.
Some of the comments of this new
generation of BP-10 rediscoverers can be found on the web. The Antique Radio Forum started a new topic
on May 2, 2015 entitled “RCA Victor BP10”.
It can be found at:
