TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Yogyakarta Old and Tube Radio Collector Community (Padmaditya) is holding exhibition of their radio collections at Soedjatmoko Cultural Center, Solo. Tens of antique radios from the old times, mostly still have wooden cases, are displayed until September 25. Some of them are still functioning well.

The Philips Tobstone radio, which was made in Netherlands, is one among others. The radio, made around 1930s to 1940s, was made of brown oak wood. It has half-round shape and some ornaments on the front casing made it looked classy. On the lower part of the radio, there were needle and several tuners.

The community also exhibits Ralin collections. Ralin stands for ‘Radio Listrik Indonesia’ (Indonesian Electric Radio) that was produced in 1950s. The radio is of rectangular shape and have wooden case.

The Bence radio that was made in Surabaya around 1956, is also seen on the exhibition rack. Truth be told, Bence radio is the first radio produced by Indonesia. Its compartment was made of wood, and the prism shape gives the radio an artistic look.

The 1956 Philips radio that uses tube also exhibited there. This type of radio was already able to receive Short Wave (SW), Medium Wave (MW) and Frequency Modulation (FM) broadcast at that time.

“The FM broadcast had not even been known in Indonesia at the time,” said one of the collectors and a teacher in Indonesian Institute of Art (ISI), Edy Sunaryo.

AHMAD RAFIQ