08/04/2026
Meet “The Old Fawns.”
This beautiful Farnsworth radio-phonograph, built around 1939, was my dad’s favorite childhood radio. He never called it a Farnsworth, though. To him, it was simply “The Old Fawns.”
Long before it became part of a museum exhibit, it was part of our family’s story. My dad spent countless hours gathered around this radio, listening to music and children’s records like this Peter Pan record from the early 1950s. It’s one of the radios that helped spark a lifelong love of radio, history, and preservation—a passion he eventually shared with so many others.
Today, Alex helped bring “The Old Fawns” back to life once again. Hearing music come through the same speaker that entertained my dad as a little boy nearly nine decades ago is something special. It’s a reminder that these old radios are more than beautiful cabinets filled with tubes and wires—they’re time machines. Every scratch, every record, every warm glow carries a story.
When you visit the Radio Day exhibit at the Keystone Truck & Tractor Museum, take a moment to say hello to “The Old Fawns.” I think my dad would have loved knowing that the radio which meant so much to him as a child is still making people stop, smile, and listen all these years later.
