World Radio put Council Bluffs on the cutting edge of technology

W2STF · Jan 30, 2019

W0PV said: ↑

Back in the late 60's with a group of ham buddies from the Twin Cities area I made a road trip down to visit WRL, the amateur radio enterprise of Leo WØGFQ. The new Galaxy brand rigs were a sight to behold. Opinions may vary on the quality of their later designs and venture into CB, but glad to see such historic pride and fond remembrance still making it into the local press today. Hope you enjoy too.

73, John, WØPV

PS - love that small town newspaper name, "The Daily Nonpareil"

World Radio put Council Bluffs on the cutting edge of technology

“High tech” wasn’t always synonymous with Silicon Valley. For many years, it was Council Bluffs that was home to one of the most innovative electronics companies in the country.

What was most recently known as World Radio, actually traces it’s origin back to one individual. Leo Meyerson (WØGFQ) began tinkering with electronics at the age of 9, turning oatmeal boxes and even toilet paper rolls into radio coils. Meyerson was born in Omaha, but the family moved to Council Bluffs when he was 8 after his father got a job with Peoples Department Store.

Despite his fascination with radio, Meyerson almost embarked on a music career. To earn a little money to support his radio hobby, he started playing the organ to accompany silent films at the Liberty Theater. He found he enjoyed it and was good at it. At the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, he formed a piano duo with friend Leo Skalowski. “Leo and Leo” had their big break when a talent scout lined up an audition for them for the Orpheum circuit. Tragedy struck on the way to the audition when Skalowski died in a car accident. Discouraged, Meyerson left school and returned to Council Bluffs.

Using a $1,000 loan from his father and a budget so tight he slept in his car at night, Meyerson started a radio parts store at Seventh and Broadway in Council Bluffs. He called the store Scientific Radio Products Company. Meyerson expanded the scope of the business by taking old radios as a trade-in and repairing them for resale, as well as soliciting mail orders under the name Wholesale Radio Laboratories.

When World War II broke out, most regional beneficiaries of the government’s war spending were on the Nebraska side of the river, but Meyerson’s company garnered large military contracts for the production of quartz radio crystals.

The wartime demand for radio crystals — the component that communications equipment used to determine operation frequency — was acute. Meyerson changed his focus toward production of quartz crystals to sell to the Signal Corps. Working with his father and others, he was able to devise ways to mass produce the crystals, accelerating what had up to this point been a slow and time consuming process.

The initial order of 10,000 crystals was followed by more orders. The Council Bluffs company met the demand, earning several awards from the U.S. Army and Navy for it’s fine and timely work in the process. At the peak of wartime production, the company employed several hundred people and even had it’s own company newspaper, the Crystal Gazer. William Petersen, a friend of Meyerson, likewise produced crystals locally. Petersen Radio Company was located at 28th and Broadway.

Following the war, Meyerson’s company continued as World Radio Laboratory, focusing on equipment for ham radio operators. They were one of the first to make amateur radio gear available in kit form. The company is also credited as a pioneer of transceivers — a combination transmitter and receiver in one unit.

While working with World Radio, Meyerson also formed several related companies. Globe Electronics introduced one of the first Citizen’s Band radios in the mid-1950s. It’s Globe Scout and Globe King transmitters became ham radio legends. Meyerson also formed the World Radio Export Company and Galaxy Electronics. Under the Galaxy name, Meyerson positioned himself as a technology leader by marketing one of the first single side band transceivers available to radio amateurs.

The company built a large facility in the 3400 block of West Broadway in 1954 to house its manufacturing, local sales and mail order operation. “The House the Hams Built” featured a tall tower of antennas on Broadway connected to a variety of ham radios that were always up and running, with radio amateurs welcome to stop in and chat around the world. The firm offered free Morse code classes for aspiring radio operators and stocked every electronic part and component imaginable for those who wanted to build or repair their own gear.

Just days before the move to the new building, a passerby saw smoke from the old building at 7 a.m. He pounded on doors of the second floor apartments to awaken the residents; the portion of the second floor that had housed Boyle’s Business College was vacant, but there were 11 occupied apartments. Damage was extensive and firemen had to use caution due to toxic gasses produced when heat attacked a 50-gallon drum of carbon tetrachloride in the basement.

Leo Meyerson brought in son Larry, who took over as president of the company. In the 1960’s, consumer electronics came on the scene and World Radio Laboratory — by then known simply as WRL — changed it’s focus to providing the home entertainment gear that was coming into demand. The company did well in the citizens band (CB) radio boom of the 1960s and ‘70s, manufacturing the popular Rustler and Rustler II radios at their Council Bluffs plant and sold nationally at competitive prices.

The company also expanded beyond Council Bluffs, at it’s peak operating 24 stores in four states under the World Radio name. In 1989, sales were estimated at $40 to $45 million dollars, making it at that time one of the largest electronic equipment retail chains.

The Meyersons sold World Radio. Since then, the intense competition of the consumer electronics business caused first the consolidation of the operation into just a few stores and eventually closure of the company entirely.

Leo Meyerson retired to California. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 100.

— The Historical and Preservation Society can be reached at information@TheHistoricalSociety.org.
Click to expand...

W2STF · Jan 30, 2019

Loved my Globe Scout. Finally got the GLOBE VFO after I became WA2GQO.

W0LEN · Jan 31, 2019

Great article, John. Like you, I made the trip to WRL in 1969 with 3 buddies who had also just been licensed. At that time I was living in Moorhead, Minnesota and had call sign WAØZOM. I bought my first rig ... a Galaxy GT-550 complete with all the goodies. I ran that rig for several years, both fixed and mobile. I upgraded to Extra, and my current call is WØLEN (my initials). In the late '70s I relocated to the Chicago area, where I currently reside. The memories of WRL, Galaxy Electronics and Leo and his crew are still with me.

Lyn, WØLEN
St. Charles, IL

KD0QG · Feb 3, 2019

I had a Galaxy V in my Truck for several years and ran 40 meters with a whip And coil on the mirror of the truck. Good Radio.... Finally after 40 years I am not the only ham in the family so I recently handed down the ole Galaxy to him..73 KD0QG..

K4ULP · Feb 12, 2019

W0PV said: ↑

Back in the late 60's with a group of ham buddies from the Twin Cities area I made a road trip down to visit WRL, the amateur radio enterprise of Leo WØGFQ. The new Galaxy brand rigs were a sight to behold. Opinions may vary on the quality of their later designs and venture into CB, but glad to see such historic pride and fond remembrance still making it into the local press today. Hope you enjoy too.

73, John, WØPV

PS - love that small town newspaper name, "The Daily Nonpareil"

World Radio put Council Bluffs on the cutting edge of technology

“High tech” wasn’t always synonymous with Silicon Valley. For many years, it was Council Bluffs that was home to one of the most innovative electronics companies in the country.

What was most recently known as World Radio, actually traces it’s origin back to one individual. Leo Meyerson (WØGFQ) began tinkering with electronics at the age of 9, turning oatmeal boxes and even toilet paper rolls into radio coils. Meyerson was born in Omaha, but the family moved to Council Bluffs when he was 8 after his father got a job with Peoples Department Store.

Despite his fascination with radio, Meyerson almost embarked on a music career. To earn a little money to support his radio hobby, he started playing the organ to accompany silent films at the Liberty Theater. He found he enjoyed it and was good at it. At the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, he formed a piano duo with friend Leo Skalowski. “Leo and Leo” had their big break when a talent scout lined up an audition for them for the Orpheum circuit. Tragedy struck on the way to the audition when Skalowski died in a car accident. Discouraged, Meyerson left school and returned to Council Bluffs.

Using a $1,000 loan from his father and a budget so tight he slept in his car at night, Meyerson started a radio parts store at Seventh and Broadway in Council Bluffs. He called the store Scientific Radio Products Company. Meyerson expanded the scope of the business by taking old radios as a trade-in and repairing them for resale, as well as soliciting mail orders under the name Wholesale Radio Laboratories.

When World War II broke out, most regional beneficiaries of the government’s war spending were on the Nebraska side of the river, but Meyerson’s company garnered large military contracts for the production of quartz radio crystals.

The wartime demand for radio crystals — the component that communications equipment used to determine operation frequency — was acute. Meyerson changed his focus toward production of quartz crystals to sell to the Signal Corps. Working with his father and others, he was able to devise ways to mass produce the crystals, accelerating what had up to this point been a slow and time consuming process.

The initial order of 10,000 crystals was followed by more orders. The Council Bluffs company met the demand, earning several awards from the U.S. Army and Navy for it’s fine and timely work in the process. At the peak of wartime production, the company employed several hundred people and even had it’s own company newspaper, the Crystal Gazer. William Petersen, a friend of Meyerson, likewise produced crystals locally. Petersen Radio Company was located at 28th and Broadway.

Following the war, Meyerson’s company continued as World Radio Laboratory, focusing on equipment for ham radio operators. They were one of the first to make amateur radio gear available in kit form. The company is also credited as a pioneer of transceivers — a combination transmitter and receiver in one unit.

While working with World Radio, Meyerson also formed several related companies. Globe Electronics introduced one of the first Citizen’s Band radios in the mid-1950s. It’s Globe Scout and Globe King transmitters became ham radio legends. Meyerson also formed the World Radio Export Company and Galaxy Electronics. Under the Galaxy name, Meyerson positioned himself as a technology leader by marketing one of the first single side band transceivers available to radio amateurs.

The company built a large facility in the 3400 block of West Broadway in 1954 to house its manufacturing, local sales and mail order operation. “The House the Hams Built” featured a tall tower of antennas on Broadway connected to a variety of ham radios that were always up and running, with radio amateurs welcome to stop in and chat around the world. The firm offered free Morse code classes for aspiring radio operators and stocked every electronic part and component imaginable for those who wanted to build or repair their own gear.

Just days before the move to the new building, a passerby saw smoke from the old building at 7 a.m. He pounded on doors of the second floor apartments to awaken the residents; the portion of the second floor that had housed Boyle’s Business College was vacant, but there were 11 occupied apartments. Damage was extensive and firemen had to use caution due to toxic gasses produced when heat attacked a 50-gallon drum of carbon tetrachloride in the basement.

Leo Meyerson brought in son Larry, who took over as president of the company. In the 1960’s, consumer electronics came on the scene and World Radio Laboratory — by then known simply as WRL — changed it’s focus to providing the home entertainment gear that was coming into demand. The company did well in the citizens band (CB) radio boom of the 1960s and ‘70s, manufacturing the popular Rustler and Rustler II radios at their Council Bluffs plant and sold nationally at competitive prices.

The company also expanded beyond Council Bluffs, at it’s peak operating 24 stores in four states under the World Radio name. In 1989, sales were estimated at $40 to $45 million dollars, making it at that time one of the largest electronic equipment retail chains.

The Meyersons sold World Radio. Since then, the intense competition of the consumer electronics business caused first the consolidation of the operation into just a few stores and eventually closure of the company entirely.

Leo Meyerson retired to California. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 100.

— The Historical and Preservation Society can be reached at information@TheHistoricalSociety.org.
Click to expand...

K4ULP · Feb 12, 2019

I had the great privilege of meeting Leo Meyerson. Actually he attended an organ concert that I was playing in Omaha. When I would play concerts and there would be "blue/grey haired" audiences (HA!) I would send out a CQ de K4ULP from the organ and then go right back into whatever selection I was playing. I tell of this story and the picture of Leo and I at that concert on my QRZ bio. What a wonder fun man Mr. Meyerson was. 73s to all ... Lanny / K4ULP

W0UQJ · Feb 13, 2019

I meet Leo as a young boy. My Grandfather Bob Brenneman w0uqj sk introduced me. Thank you for the great read.

Kelly w0uqj

K3STG · Feb 17, 2019 at 7:02 PM

inventor of the Audion tube also from Council Bluffs ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_de_Forest

KF6YXK · Feb 18, 2019 at 12:26 AM

Great story!

KE0SSM · Feb 20, 2019 at 12:51 AM

Before I was A ham I bought my first Stereo system from World Radio...I still have all the pieces to this day

World Radio put Council Bluffs on the cutting edge of technology

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