Judge, 1929-09-28 · page 11 of 36
Judge — September 28, 1929 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: "How's Your Reception?" This page satirizes the early radio craze and inconsiderate radio owners of the 1920s-30s. The main text is a humorous questionnaire from a neighbor with an extremely loud radio receiver, sarcastically "asking" neighbors about interference—implying he knows full well he's disrupting them but frames it as seeking their "intelligent expression." The cartoons illustrate the chaos: miniature toy cars equipped with radios (suggesting radio's pervasive intrusion into daily life), a man trying to fish while radio interference disrupts him, and a family being driven from their home by an adding machine that won't stop (bottom cartoon, mocking efficiency experts). The satire targets both radio owners' obliviousness and the era's broader obsession with new technology. The joke: a wealthy owner bothers neighbors with his "high-powered" set while pretending politeness, yet his questions—asking if neighbors have abandoned their own radios, if their electric bills dropped, if they've moved—reveal he's fully aware of his annoying impact.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
How’s Your Reception? The Owner of a Super-Syn- chronous Receiver Submits a Questionnaire to the Neighbors. Having had my high-powered radio receiver in service for sev- eral months, I would appreciate some intelligent expression from the neighbors regarding their reception, Occasionally I have rd violent lang across the k fences. However, unless I the conerete facts, I cannot pe to serve the neighborhood so ficiently as I desire; hence this questionnaire. Please use en- closed envelope. Do not call in person, (1) Does my radio come through clearly and distinct all times when your own set is operating? (2) Is it your experience that my set plays better between 5 and 6 A. M. or between cleven o'clock and midnight? (3) Have you noticed that my radio is any louder on Sundays and holidays? (4) Does shutting your doors and windows in hot weather tend to reduce the volume of my loud speaker? Have you tried any of the advertised sound insulating materials such as fiber board, balsam felt, ¢ (5) Have your bills for clec- tric current been lowered substan- tially since you have given up using your own set? (6) Is much static manifest when I am fishing for distance in the early morning hours? (7) Do you share the popular prejudice against women's voices over the r: (8) Would you say that my programs come through any clearer now that some of the other neighbors have moved a any echo perceptible? (9) Do you get my time sig- nals clearly (10) I hear that your property has been put up for sale at a ice. It might be cheaper for you to buy mine. What am I offered? —Don Kaun Or Any At All, In Fact Give a Scotchman enough rope and he'll hang on to it. JUDGE - NEWS ITEM- MINIATURE AUTOS oO BE SOLD BY — MAIL ORDER, \A HOUSES CHECK IT ay IN THE aes ee YOURE MEA THOSE EQUIPPED WITH RADIO CAN BE WHEELED INTO THE HOME PARK BABY CARIIAGES, AND AUTOS eRe Voniae MO WAITING. FoR. FERRIES The efficiency expert who has difficulty falling asleep, brings his adding machine home to help him count sheep.