Powel Crosley, Jr., the founder of a radio company that became the world's largest manufacturer of receivers within two years, was known as "the Henry Ford of Radio" for his pioneering work in the development and manufacture of inexpensive radio sets that made radio affordable to millions. Cros­ley's sets, some of which sold for under $10, boosted radio's popularity, but because they were equipped with less sophisticated circuits, good reception necessitated stations of greater power. Crosley, the owner of WLW, the most powerful AM radio station ever to operate in the United States, became a promoter of increased power for all stations.

Origins

Crosley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 18 September 1886, and as a child he was fascinated by automobiles. While not yet in his teens, to win a bet offered by his father he built his own small vehicle powered by a washing machine motor and got it to run at least around the block. But he would be frustrated all of his life by his inability to build a commercially successful automobile.

After two years in law school in Cincinnati, he quit to become a chauffeur and work around cars. He later worked for a number of automobile firms in Ohio and Indiana, which, in the early years of the automobile industry, were competing with Michigan in motorcar production. Crosley found success in selling many auto accessories and gadgets. For example, Crosley made a radiator cap to hold an American flag that was a big seller during World War I and a device to keep the front tires of a Model T Ford headed straight before the development of rack-and-pinion steering. Crosley also owned a small manufacturing plant making a number of wood products, including cabinets for phonographs. When he noticed that one of his employees had made a small wooden three-wheeled riding bike for his son from scrap wood, Crosley began making and selling the "Taylor Tot," named for that employee. He pioneered maximizing advertising value by means of market research by carefully tracking response to magazine advertisements and then reducing the size of the display to get the biggest response from the smallest expenditure.

Receiver Manufacturer

  In February 1921 Crosley's nine-year-old son asked for a "radio toy" as a birthday present. By then radio was the rage among boys who liked to build gadgets. Juvenile books and magazines often featured radio stories and radio heroes, along with instructions for making a simple set at home. The story goes that Crosley's son had listened to a radio at a friend's house and wanted one of his own. Crosley went to a store, discovered that the least expensive retail set cost about $130, and instead bought a 25-cent instruction booklet and the parts.

Having learned that a homemade set could be assembled for about $25, Crosley hired two engineering students from the University of Cincinnati (one of whom, Dorman Israel, was later chairman of Emerson Radio and Phonograph). Crosley and the students designed a set they could manufacture on an assembly line in his phonograph cabinet plant and called it the "Harko." The Harko was introduced at about $20, but later the price was reduced to $9, plus batteries. Crosley liked to call this radio's successor, Harko, Jr., the "Model T of radio."

The first large sales campaign for the inexpensive sets was during the Christmas shopping season of December 1921: "It will tune from 200 to 600 meters, bringing in spark, voice and music, with an average amateur aerial." By July 1922, just a year after introducing the Harko, Crosley was producing 500 receivers a day and had become the world's largest.manufac­ turer of radio sets and parts. During the 1930s the Crosley sets were extremely popular, especially the smaller kitchen models-many of which looked like the front grille of a car-made of a pre-plastic material called Bakelite in an art deco style. He purchased other, smaller radio companies, and the Crosley Radio Corporation (the word Radio was later dropped as other appliances were added) was a major business for 30 years.

Crosley remained interested in ideas for new products and improvements on existing appliances; his was the first company to make refrigerators with shelves in the doors-the Shelvador-controlling a patent that made millions. He purchased the Cincinnati Reds baseball team in 19 34 and installed them in the renamed Crosley Field, and founded a professional football team in Cincinnati in the 1930s.

Broadcaster and Manufacturer

  As a radio hobbyist, and to provide programming for purchasers of his sets (and advertising to gain further customers), he started a radio station in his home. This station evolved into WLW, "the Nation's Station." In 1934 the Cincinnati Reds were the first major league team to play a night game under lights, arranged by Crosley from his newly-renamed Crosley Field, so the play-by-play reports could be carried on his station during more popular listening hours. WLW was also a founding station of the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), established in 1934. Crosley was also a co-founder of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), founded in 1923. The Crosley Corporation was an early television manufacturer and owned TV stations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. In 1945 the company was purchased by the Aviation Corporation (later Avco), and in 1954 was still the fifth-largest manufacturer of radio and TV sets. The Crosley line of household appliances, including broadcast receivers, was discontinued in 1956. (While the name is still used by a manufacturing company of appliances, there is no connection to the original firm or family.)

Small Cars

  Crosley had long been fascinated by automobiles, and yearned to produce a popular economy model. In 1939 he introduced a small car intended to sell for about $300 and able to run 50 miles per gallon of gas. Opposition from the big car makers in Detroit, however, kept him from signing up dealers, so he tried to sell the car through department stores, such as Macy's in New York. World War II delayed manufacturing until 1946. In 1947 Crosley sold about 17,000 sedans, station wagons, delivery vans, and roadsters. The company's auto sales peaked the following year, at nearly 47,000. After years of "doing without" during the Depression and the war, Americans wanted bigger, roomier cars, and the appeal of smaller models declined. Because many of the parts for his small cars came from other manufacturers, such as the Willys Jeep, and were produced for bigger vehicles, it was hard to make an inexpensive car with the power Americans wanted for the open road. The Crosley auto plant shut down in July 1952.

When Crosley died in 1961, he left an impressive legacy that included pioneering developments in popularizing radio and television, leadership in the fledgling broadcasting industry, efforts toward production of economy cars, and, not the least of his contributions, nighttime baseball.