My grandfather was a radio preacher from the 1930's through the early 1980's. When I was a kid (1960's) I used to go with him to deliver his taped sermons to the old big-signal radios stations throughout the south (LA,MS,AR,TN). He would record a couple of months of Sunday sermons and a whole bunch of weekday morning "5 Gospel Minutes" programs. Sometimes he mailed them, but I think he just liked to drive his big ol' white Lincoln on a weeklong road trip a couple of times a year, anyway, this photo brings back the smell of those 50,000 watt stations in Shreveport, Memphis, Little Rock etc. - burned coffee, cigarette smoke, warm ionized "electric air", mildewed wool carpets, stale air and a big backlit "ON THE AIR" sign outside the control rooms. Thanks for the memory, Shorpy.

Goober Pea

I've operated boards in radio stations that were built from the 50's thru the turn of the century and the funny thing is, they look remarkably similar....the free standing panels on each side are very similar to todays and the only really big difference in the board itself is the tall portion above the big dials is now about 1/3 that size and is digital readouts....amazing, and the photograph is incredibly sharp and clear.

I wonder what the size of a comparable piece of equipment is today

Note the modern classic Breuer Chair. Designed in 1928 & still in production.

Exceptional technology for that year.

[Not really. 1939 was a landmark year for television in the United States. - Dave]