CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETY

CHRS is a non-profit, educational 501(c)(3) corporation chartered by the State of California in 1974 to promote the research, restoration, preservation, publication and presentation of early radio and broadcasting. Our goal is to provide a forum for exchanging ideas and information on the history of radio and broadcasting, particularly in the West, with the emphasis on collecting, restoring and displaying vintage equipment, and related materials. We are dedicated to the study of early radio and to the importance of this first wireless medium to the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the early 1970s a group of dedicated people, mostly electronic engineers who were also antique radio collectors, realized that the importance of radio technology and broadcasting history was beginning to fade among the general population. They founded CHRS to preserve and protect the artifacts, ephemera and programs of the radio age. The Society has expanded its AM radio focus to include wireless telegraphy, FM radio, Hi-fi, amateur radio, commercial and military broadcasting, phonographs, television, and other devices used for sound reproduction or transmission. Also, included are the advertising, periodicals and publications relating to radio broadcasting plus the audio air checks and histories of Bay Area radio stations and personalities.

CHRS has nearly 500 members.