Hello,

We are trying to find out more information about this radio in our collection, it is badged as "Airzone", however I cant find anything that looks like it. I feel like I have exhausted web searches so thought I would try to find help here. If anyone knows anything about it we would love to hear from you.

Regards

Erika

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Erika Taylor. Managing collections at the Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah, NSW.

I am guessing that you've emailed a photo or two to Brad?

It often helps to let us know the valve "line-up" in the set in question, that is, the type numbers (not brands names) on the valves it contains.

If you have to remove the valves to see those numbers be careful to do so by the bakelite bases where applicable, not by the glass envelopes, lest you break them.

If any of the valves have top cap connections, be careful with those too. Ease them of carefully in case the connectors are corroded to the valve caps.

Erika,

Welcome to the forums.

If you have a photo of the radio you can e-mail it to me and I will upload it to your post. As GTC said, a photo will definitely help. You can grab my e-mail address from my profile page (click on my username).

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I have emailed you a picture Brad, and I will explore looking at the valves tomorrow and pop back with some more info! You guys were quick to respond! thank you.

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Erika Taylor. Managing collections at the Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah, NSW.

Okay, yes and no.

When I first looked at it I thought 'AWA or STC' due to the styling of the front panel.

It is in fact a badge-engineered AWA Radiola 686MA 586MA. How far the badge engineering went will depend on what is moulded into the back or bottom of the cabinet. It may say the radio was made by AWA or made for Email Ltd, which was Airzone's parent company.

It is definitely 1960s though I cant yet find the exact year of manufacture. It would come close to being one of AWA's last valve models though, and indeed Airzone's.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Here's an AWA badged version:

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/5/7/1/3/3/3/webimg/755677116_o.jpg.

Its it a rebadged AWA 586-MA, not 686-MA, unless a typo was made. It is the big brother of the 4 valve 495-MA. There was also a 6 valve version, the 690-MA, "Pressmatic", that had 5 push-buttons much like a continental radio. These were the second last styling of plastic mains-powered valve mantles made by AWA. The last is the B15 "Wave".

Radiomuseum has this dated as 1958, which seems a bit early to me for such case styling, although it's close enough to 1960 I guess.

The 495-MA & 586-MA were released in 1958. The "Pressmatic" came out in 1959. I stand corrected about the Pressmatic having push-buttons like a Continental set. They are in fact press-buttons based on the AWA Pressmatic car radios.

Thank you all! It was driving me crazy. It definitely now looks like a rebadged 586. Why do people re badge radios?

I have a few more mysteries I would love help with that I may post today. We are getting ready to open a renovated museum (social history not specifically radios) and we have over 50 mantel and portable radios going back on display but don't have much information about them.

Thanks again for your help.

Erika

edited for spelling

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Erika Taylor. Managing collections at the Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah, NSW.

Why do people re badge radios?

I suppose the quick answer is "to sell more of them and to grow the market".

In the case of AWA, it was a huge manufacturer with a huge capability and it supplied the industry with lots of components and full sets as required. In fact AWA had a division called Manufacturers Special Products (branded "MSP") which made speakers and other components for its competitors.

Back in the heyday, other large manufacturers did likewise. Some provided the chassis or the entire radio for retailers house brands, like "St James" for David Jones.

This practice, also called badge engineering, still occurs today in numerous industries, especially with goods coming out of China.

PS: It's mantel, like mantelpiece.

Not a typo, well, not mine anyway. I got the model number from the Ebay post that GTC linked to - perhaps the seller mistyped the model number. To be honest I was wondering why none of the search engines had a reference to the 686. Glad it is cleared up though.

Why do people re badge radios?

A lot of appliances were rebadged right through the valve era and it still exists today. DSE-branded televisions sold at Dick Smith are badged as AWA and sold by Big W. JVC, Technics and Panasonic are all owned by the same parent company. HTC used to make smartphones for Hewlett Packard, Compaq and O2 - same phone but the badge and colour of the phone were different in each case. Kelvinator and Westinghouse fridges are exactly the same apart from door mouldings and the badges.

AWA, Astor and Airzone made radios for about twelve other brands all up. Monarch, Peal, Malvern Star, Howard, Aristone, Elizabeth, Kingsley, Australian General Electric, Australian Electrical Industries, Peter Pan, Westinghouse and Mullard were amongst these.

Economies of scale were probably the main reasons, same has happened in the motor industry in the past. The Holden-Toyota and Ford-Nissan partnerships under the horrendous Button Car Plan of the 1980s is a case in point though in that case, rather than protect jobs all it did was erode them. Rover and Honda were known for sharing models in Great Britain at the same time. These days, Subaru and Toyota share a sportscar and Mercedes and Volkswagen share a large van, larger than but similar to the ones used by the NSW Ambulance Service.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Thanks for the insight. I didn't think to even make the connection to modern rebadging practices.

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Erika Taylor. Managing collections at the Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah, NSW.

Mullard? I thought Mullard was owned by/connected to/made by Philips?

I have a Philips 123L and it has a common cabinet to a Mullard Philips bought Mullard.

Badge engineering is not new, or modern it has been going on for decades. I had a Philips Microwave: Sharp; AWA Thorn TV: Mitsubishi; The larger part of several of the small Ford cars are Mazda;

I have a genuine Festo industrial VAC: Stihl sold it as a SE 100 or Turbo something, so I can buy bags through them. and some of their current models are Nilfisk re-branded.

As said, Many house brands were the same, eg. all that was different with some Holden, Ford, Honda, etc, radios was the fascia panel, or the dial glass.