Narrative --
We've done a little research and can give you a good estimate. The
1940 population of New York City was 7.5 million, according to the
Encyclopedia Britannica. Family sizes were close to 4 people per
family (they are about 2.5 people per family today), making for about
1.9 million households.
The New York Times, on Dec. 25, 1938 carried a report from the
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) saying that 80%
of the 19.7 million families with incomes above $1,070 had radios.
This would probably match pretty well to New York at the time, as it
was then the metropolitan area with the highest per capita income.
That would put radios in 1.5 million of the estimated 1.9 million
households.
Some other things to note:
* the Federal Reserve reported that radios were the category with the
largest increase in December, 1938 (holiday) sales at department
stores, increasing by 13.8%
* NEMA says that the nationwide market for radios has a potential of
4 million units. The average radio cost $53.
* 35 million phonograph records were sold in 1938
* "Radio vision" was introduced at the 1938 New York World's Fair.
You know it as "television."
* On the eve of Halloween, 1938, Orson Welles, 23 years old, sent the
New York area into a panic with the broadcast of H.G. Wells 'War of
the Worlds' over the CBS radio network. NY Times the next day read,
"Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact."
The Museum of Hoaxes
"The War of the Worlds" (undated)
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/war_worlds.html
Search strategy:
Encyclopedia Britannica; Proquest Historical newspapers for NY Times;
American Almanac.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
