Our name comes from an extremely large garage we do our work in. There are three bays and we do our dirty work in the third one. We came up with the name after we couldn't find a URL that had the word 'radio' in it that wasn't taken. I know it can sound like 'third rate radios' but we kept it because it works and we find that funny. We started four years ago with repairing a Crosley super 11 and we got hooked. Just buying a new radio is just not the same. Since then we can't stop buying old broken down radios and breathing new life into them. We are constantly learning more about these great radios and almost everytime we tear into one we find workmanship that amazes us. Over time we have met more radio addicts like us and consult with each other when we get extremely stuck. The internet has also become useful and is a great resource of knowledge and parts for people like us who were not born in the correct time era.
How did we get started? We started just fixing radios and giving them to friends who liked them. Then they had friends who saw the radios we gave away and wanted one for themselves. That's when we got into the radio hobby/business. The only problem is it takes a good amount of time to get a radio back to working condition and presentable. It cannot be rushed and done in one night. So we take our time, have fun, and make sure it is done right.
Have to ramble a bit on why we do this. A great story I like to tell about why restoring old radios is fun. It's not just the technical side but the gee-whiz factor. Gave a large GE radio, the one featured in the gallery, to a good friend of mine the night of a big house warming party. It was good timing because their regular stereo died earlier and there was no music for the ladies to dance to. So we just plugged a CD player into this 1940 tube radio and went for broke. It kept on getting turned up and bumped into by slightly intoxicated friends all night. At one point we commented on how good the radio was holding up to our abuse. You could smell the tubes cooking in and the top of the radio was nice and warm. The Doors never sounded better than through tubes. At one point I just figured that when it blew I would just fix it again but it never gave up. It played all night without a fault and still works great till this day. Stories like this one are why fixing old radios are fun.
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