Radio-Newspaper Receiver for Home Use (1939)
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 11:10PM 
With so much talk of late about how old media outlets are dying, it may be time to look at past visions of the media future. Not that they worked. Don't get any crazy ideas guys.
The image above is from the excellent blog Modern Mechanix and was featured in the May, 1939 issue of Popular Science.
Designed to fit the top of a commercial table receiver which it matches in cabinet style, a complete radio-newspaper receiver for home use has just been placed on the market. All necessary apparatus for receiving and printing news bulletins and pictures transmitted over the air are contained in the unit. The news is automatically printed on a continuous sheet of paper that unwinds from a roll as it is received. The instrument can be used in conjunction with any radio receiver, the manufacturer declares, provided it has an output of at least five watts.
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- Tablet Newspaper (1994)
- The Electronic Newspaper (1978)
- Future Newspapers Written by Advertisers (1912)
Reader Comments (4)
Hmm, looks like a wireless fax machine/stock ticker, that gives you little to no control over what it wastes your paper on. Not to mention, without some sort of subscription+scrambler system, they're giving away their content for free, which means half the paper would have to be advertising.
Could it get pictures to, like a Fultograph?
According to the picture on this website (http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/crosley_reado_printer_118.html) the device is called a Crossley Reado Printer 118 and was made in the US.
Hey! I have one of those!