This small radio station was
designed and constructed by a man known as the Mystery Announcer who was a
popular announcer at the mediumwave station WPEN, on 1500 kHz in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania back in 1931. The technical
equipment in the little model was constructed by Radio Engineer John
Boyle. It took this two-man team team of
co-operating radio personnel 10 months to construct their miniature radio
station.
The transmitter in this mini radio
station emitted 4/100th of a watt and the propagation coverage area was
over a radius of just 200 feet. At least
two operating frequencies are shown for station WEE, both 900 kHz and 1300 kHz,
and this would seem to indicate that the active on air frequency could be tuned
to another channel if there was interference from another station.
At one stage, it is stated that the
owners were considering installing a mini shortwave transmitter in their little
radio station for a wider coverage area.
This little radio broadcasting
station was owned, it is said, by the Tiny Broadcasting Company and it was on
display initially in the foyer of the Mastbaum Theatre in Philadelphia. It was subsequently taken on a tour of
regional cities in Pennsylvania, and for example it was on display in Feinberg’s Store at the
corner of 5th & Egmont Streets in Chester, a few miles along the
river, west from Philadelphia. Visitors were invited to speak over this model
radio station. This neat little model was also on display during the same year,
1933, at Easton, between Philadelphia and New York City.
When this radio model was four years
old, it was taken over by the giant super power mediumwave station WLW in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where it made a remarkable contrast; mini-WEE and mighty
WLW. During the year 1936, it is reported,
mini WEE was on display at an Electronics Exhibition in Baltimore
Maryland. And that is the last that we
have heard about this fascinating little radio broadcasting station, the world’s smallest.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 307)