Collector tuned in at home with hundreds of radios

By LARRY GIERER

Knight Ridder News Service

Sunday, June 16, 2002

The Vietnam War veteran pulls the pin from the grenade in his hand and those nearby step back.

"See," he says, laughing. "It's a cigarette lighter."

But, it's more. Like just about everything in Ray Weaver's living room, it's a radio.

The telephone has never received a call, the guitar never strummed, the football helmet never worn, the roulette wheel never spun. You can find your favorite station using the clock on the wall or by adjusting the pair of binoculars with which you're spying on the neighbors. If nature calls and you must leave for a moment, that's OK -- the toilet paper holder is AM-FM.

"I just love radios that look like something else," Weaver, 69, says.

He must. He has 825 of them in his condominium in Columbia, Ga.

"I've never really been a collector," he says. "I can't remember the first radio I got or how this all got started, but the collection has grown and done so quite quickly."

The radios fill several curio cabinets and a pair of huge bookshelves. Using a small studio he's put together in his bedroom, he's photographed each radio and recorded the pictures alphabetically in a computer file. His screensaver reads: "The Novelty Radio Nut."

"And that's what I am," says Weaver, who served his country in the Navy, Air Force and Army, retiring as a chief warrant officer before working civil service in communications at Fort Benning until 1987.

"I especially enjoy the radios which serve another purpose," he says. He picks up a small sewing machine. "See, it really sews."

Weaver, raised in Mangum, Okla., is especially proud of a miniature microphone his daughter Sandy gave him that reads: "Makes My Heart Sing."

Weaver's also fond of some Raggedy Ann figures. "They were Eileen's favorites," he says of his wife of 41 years who died in 1998.

There are shelves filled with antique car models. Another is taken up with a foot-long replica of the "Star Trek" ship Enterprise.

"I have radios with batteries in them and batteries with radios in them," he says, laughing, as he holds up the replica of a car battery.

With all the food products on his shelves the room resembles a mini grocery store. There's a can of Planter's Peanuts, a bottle of Hershey's Syrup, a box of Special K and a container of Spam, as well as cleaning detergents such as Ajax and Tide. All radios.

The same goes for the numerous cans of Coca-Cola and Pepsi there. He has a brewery full of beer cans including that once-upon-a-time Georgia favorite, Billy Beer. "One Coors is AM-FM but another is just AM," he says.

Figurines such as John Wayne and Elvis Presley contain radios. The Statue of Liberty, too. He especially likes a model of a dollar bill. George Washington's mouth moves as the radio plays. Weaver has some "adult only" models, too, which he keeps hidden away.

Snoopy and his cartoon characters are well represented, as are numerous Walt Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and the Little Mermaid.

"When my grandchildren come over -- I have six of them -- they know they can look but they can't touch," Weaver says, laughing. "They learn that at an early age."

Besides his daughter, his sons Ed and Ken and their families have for years contributed to the collection.

"It was an easy Christmas gift at first," he says, "but now it's gotten more difficult because they can't keep track of what I have."

On the other hand, they are likely to receive one from grandpa come yule time.

All of the radios are transistor models dating no further back than the mid-1950s. Some are promotional items which were never for sale in stores.

Not all of the radios work when Weaver gets them but he's able to fix many.

He checks catalogs to find what's available, but most of the radios he gets he finds at flea markets and yard sales. He also trades with other collectors via the Internet.

He's especially eager to get two items. One is a Shell logo and the other is the final piece to a series of ball and chain radios. He needs the purple-colored one.

So what does the owner of probably more radios than anyone in town listen to on the radio?

"I rarely listen to radio," he says. "I get bored with what's on."

Copyright 2002 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.