TAKE A RADIO FLYER
June 10th, 2010
When most people think of heading out of Vancouver and down I-5 to Bellingham, they’re either focused on Seattle or have designs on cheap socks at the Bellis Fair Mall.
But there is a not-so-hidden gem of a destination, just off the interstate in Bellingham.
The American Museum of Radio and Electricity is located in the centre of downtown Bellingham. Surrounded by small shops, restaurants and cafes, it makes a great day trip from either Vancouver or Seattle.
Bellingham (pop. 70,000) is a lot livelier than you might think. Improv guru and TV’s “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” funny man Ryan Stiles runs the Upfront Theater and the Boundary Bay Bistro has been brewing great things since 1995. And it’s just an hour from Vancouver, and about ninety minutes from Seattle.
The first thing you notice about Bellingham is the bohemian flavour of the restored downtown core. You see so much long hair and hemp clothing that you’d swear you were in a much larger city.
But the museum stands alone. In fact, it stands out.
The museum seems to take up a full city block. Out front, the art deco design announces the museum and large windows feature examples of the treasures that lie within.
I felt like I was going back to another time from the moment I angle-parked outside and dropped a quarter into the meter for a full hour of parking.
Inside, the history of both radio and electricity are presented as a storyline. As you walk through the museum, you see four centuries of really cool science.
The two driving forces behind the museum share not only a love of radio and electricity – they share the same first name.
Johnathan Winter (L) and John Jenkins (R) of AMRE in Bellingham.
Jonathan Winter and John Jenkins are the museum’s co-curators. Both have been fascinated with radio and electricity since they were kids.
The museum got its start when Winter settled in Bellingham to put down some roots. He decided to take his personal collection of vintage radios public and, in the mid-90s, opened the small Bellingham Antique Radio Museum.
John Jenkins was born Bellingham. He spent many years in the computer field, before retiring from Microsoft in 2001.
Like Jonathan, he spent his childhood playing with radios – ripping them apart and putting them together. He began to collect radios and also pieces from the early days of electricity – another subject that fascinated him.
It wasn’t until about a dozen years ago when Jenkins’ mother told him a shocking secret – there was a small radio museum in Bellingham. He was amazed – how could there be one without his knowledge? He drove from his home in Seattle to Bellingham and met Jonathan.
“We realized that by joining forces with the two collections we could create a world class museum,” Jenkins says.
Bellingham may seem an odd choice for this kind of museum, but to them it made perfect sense. Winter still lives there and Jenkins wanted to give something back to the community he was raised in.
In this case, size does not matter. “It could be a major attraction in any major city in the world, the collection is certainly worthy of that,” Jenkins explains.
True – being located on I-5 is a good place to be: Vancouver just up the road, Seattle just down it. And two blocks away, the Whatcom County Museum gets 100,000 visitors a year. “So there are plenty of visitors,” Jenkins says.
Walking into the 23,000 sq. ft. facility, you’re struck by just how big the collection is.
It is a unique museum, says Jenkins. “The breadth and depth of the collection – there really isn’t anywhere that tells the complete story of the development of radio and electricity from the beginning.”
Hundreds of vintage radios on display, as well as hundreds of artifacts from the early scientific exploration of electricity. Many of the pieces can only be seen elsewhere at places like the Smithsonian. Some are one-of-a-kind.
The Dawn of the Electrical Age features rare items from the 17th and 18th centuries. Much of the equipment comes from the study of electricity, and they’ve recreated the kind of lab that Ben Franklin might have used when he conducted his famous kite experiment.
Over in the Marconi Wireless Room the story of the Titanic is told. Built around an original Marconi wireless set, the display is an exact replica of the Titanic’s radio room.
It’s eerie to hear a description of the Titanic’s last moments as it clipped an iceberg and sank into the icy North Atlantic. Don’t worry, Celine Dion doesn’t sing!
If design is your thing, the collection of radios from the last century will have you spellbound. Some of the radios don’t even look like radios – they’re cleverly disguised as statues and vases.
Turn the corner and suddenly you’re sitting in a 1930s living room, staring at the radio and visualizing the adventures of The Lone Ranger.
The museum takes the experience one step further. They have a special system of internal broadcasting that lets them feed six different stations through the electrical wires. Each station broadcasts different vintage content – so when visitors twirl the tuning knob on the big radio, they surf though the stations and programs just like in the old days.
Education is a priority at the museum. “One of the things we’re trying to do is expose the process of discovery,” Jenkins tells me. “One of the ways of getting kids interested in science is to help them understand that inventions don’t just happen in a single ‘Eureka!’ moment. It’s a lot of trial and error and a lot of hard work.”
The hands-on approach means that kids — and adults — can learn by doing.
Winter points out some of what he calls the ‘Holy Grails’ of the collection: one-of-a-kind and extremely rare pieces – like the Collins Wireless Telephone.
Built in 1909, it was billed as the first device to transmit sounds without wires. After the invention of the telegraph and the telephone, radio was touted as the next big thing and investors were looking to get in on the ground floor. Collins went on the road with his device, saying it was the future of communication.
In demonstrations, the wireless telephone worked wonders. Conversations seemed to be taking place across great distances. In reality, the other party was 6 feet away in the next room. The wireless telephone was just a scam used to sucker investors.
Another bizarre item is the Theremin. It’s the world’s first electronic musical instrument, invented in 1919. It looks like a preachers pulpit with two antennas sticking out. One controls pitch, the other volume.
To play it, you wave your hand over the antennas – this changes the pitch and volume. A lot of skill is needed to be able to play it correctly, otherwise the beautiful music that it produces sounds more like a handheld metal detector. Or Kraftwerk!
The museum is one of the few places that actually allow visitors to play the instrument.
The museum itself is a broadcaster, too. Radio station KMRE-LP signed on couple of years ago (the ‘LP’ stands for ‘low power’), and it features vintage newscasts, plays and music along with some original programming. The station also streams to the world via the Internet.
Not bad for what started as a little collection in a small city off the interstate – and much more interesting than buying socks at Target.
[DCM]
Have you found any travel gems off the beaten track…? Let us know. Comments below.
