About Catalina Radio -- a little history
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My dad, Gus Janossy, passed away in January 2008. He had been in pretty good shape at the age of 93 until July 2007 when he contracted an extremely serious blood infection that doctors predicted would be fatal with seven months. They were right. From July on dad declined quickly in his ability to think clearly, partly due to the medications and the effect of them on his weakened body. We had to quickly find a convalescent home for him that could provide skilled medical care for IVs. We located one that we thought was good but turned out not to be. One negative aspect of the care he received was that the staff simply played modern videos on a TV in the group rec room--but none of the residents could relate to the modern movies that the staff liked to watch. I only later figured out that old radio programs would have been very enjoyable for the residents because it was what they grew up with. Radio shows, unlike television, make you imagine what's happening instead of seeing things shoved in your face. Older people, especially those familiar with the performers of their day and programs like Fibber McGee and Molly, Baby Snooks, the Great Gildersleeve, the Green Hornet, and the scores of other spoken programs, can not only recall the days of their youth, but also reminisce with others about their experiences in those earlier days when they hear these classic programs. (I audio edit them in preparing them for the replica radios, and I really enjoy them too, many are very clever and funny!) I later spent some time figuring out a way to make old time radio shows accessible to older people who aren't adept at computers, mp3 players, or even CD players. I worked out a simple design for replica "radios" that really are not receivers but which contain the circuitry to play "canned" sound files. Thank my time in the Air Force and the electronics school for being able to do that! So I created a small company to manufacture these. "Catalin" radios were colorful vacuum tube radios of the 1930's, a popular focus of Art Deco designers since Catalin was one of the first plastics that could be made in various colors. "Catalina" (island) is a fun place and the name was close to "Catalin" without infringing on any's rights to that trade name. So that's the origin of the company name. I had originally planned to create replica Catalin radios, and I have some designs worked out, but I have focused first on designing and manufacturing more traditional wooden radio replicas with old-time content, specifically for donation to retirement homes. The photo on the first page of this web site shows you what our first production Catalina Radio (replica) looks like. After having sourced all of the parts from the design, we're now in the process of manufacturing the first 50 Catalina Model 700 replica radios. We will be donating these to non-profit retirement homes in memory of dad, who would have really enjoyed listening to the old shows! Here's a card that we designed to memorialize these donations in this way (one of these cards is attached to the back of each donated radio): While our first focus is supplying retirement homes with radios such as this for the enjoyment of the residents, it will be possible to manufacture these for purchase. We'll give priority to orders for radios that will in a similar way be donated by others to retirement homes in their area, perhaps for the same reason as our donations in memory of a loved one, or for the enjoyment of one or more residents. Over 100 old time programs and musical selections are supplied built in to each Model 700 radio. But literally tens of thousands of other episodes, shows, and programs are available and will be the subject of additional program memory "chips" as time goes on. The memory chip that plays can be changed in a slot on the back of the radio. If you would like more information on our Model 700 replica radios or future projects, please contact me (Jim Janossy) at (747) 200-1577, or e-mail jjanossy.sr@gmail.com, or check this web site occasionally for updates. We are located in the Chicago area but we have a "branch office" in Los Angeles.

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