Philco for 1949

Overview

Philco offered a low­er num­ber of radios for the 1949 sea­son, but this mod­el year includes a few sets that have become high­ly col­lectible in recent years.

The LP record was intro­duced in 1948, and Philco took advan­tage of this by offer­ing a num­ber of radio-phono­graphs that could play the new LPs. They also offered a unit that could be attached to any radio or radio-phono­graph, upon which the new records could be played (Mod­el M-15).

Model Index

Intro­duced June 1948, with changes/additions made Jan­u­ary 1949

Click on a thumb­nail to see infor­ma­tion and pho­tos for each model:

The 1949 Philco Line

49-100 49-101 49-500 49-501 49-503 49-504 49-505
49-506 49-601 49-602 49-603 49-605 49-607 49-900
49-901 49-902 49-904 49-905 49-906 49-909 49-1100 & 49-1101
M-15 49-1401 49-1404 & 49-1405 49-1600 & 49-1601 49-1602 & 49-1603 49-1604 & 49-1605 49-1606
49-1609 49-1611 49-1613 49-1615

Models

The 1949 Philco Line


Model 49-100

Model 49-100

This mod­el oper­at­ed on 4 tubes and received AM only.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-101

Anoth­er four-tube mod­el which receives the AM band only. The cab­i­net is brown.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-500

These two five-tube, AM-only mod­els con­tin­ued from 1948, with new dial scales.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-501

For many years, this Philco Tran­si­tone mod­el has been known as "The Boomerang" in the radio col­lect­ing hob­by because of its dis­tinc­tive shape. This has caused it to be a high­ly sought after mod­el. It uses five tubes and receives the AM band only.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-503

Anoth­er five-tube, AC/DC, AM-only Philco, this mod­el was made of Ther­mo­plas­tic and avail­able in Spruce Green and in Ebony.

This set, along with the 49-506 below, is known as "The Fly­ing Wedge" due to the wedge pat­tern in the face of the radio.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-504

Orig­i­nal­ly issued in 1941 as Mod­els PT-2 and PT-4, respec­tive­ly, the 49-504 and 49-504-I con­tin­ued in the Philco line­up for 1949 most­ly unchanged. They did receive new dial scales this year.

These sets also oper­at­ed on AC or DC cur­rent, using five tubes. AM only.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-505

This is an all-new Philco for the 1949 mod­el year.

It has five tubes and receives the AM band.

It oper­ates on AC or DC current.

It was avail­able in two col­ors - wal­nut and ivory.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-506

Two new "Fly­ing Wedge" Philcos for 1949 with wood­en cab­i­nets and plas­tic grilles.

Five tubes, AC/DC, AM only.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-601

This portable radio receives the AM band and oper­ates on bat­tery pow­er. It uses four tubes.

It was avail­able in the fol­low­ing colors:

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-602

Sim­i­lar to the 49-601 above, the 49-602 not only oper­ates on bat­ter­ies, but also on AC or DC house current.

The 49-602 was avail­able in maroon, tan, or green.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-603

One of Philco's more unusu­al designs, this mod­el could be made to stand on a table by open­ing it up. A met­al cov­er inside kept pry­ing fin­gers from touch­ing the radio circuitry.

The cab­i­net is made of Bake­lite, and has a leather pan­el on front.

It uses five tubes and can oper­ate on AC or DC house current.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-605

Yet anoth­er Philco portable designed to oper­ate on bat­ter­ies or AC or DC house cur­rent. It uses four tubes and a sele­ni­um rec­ti­fi­er, and receives the AM band.

The cab­i­net is made of ebony plastic.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-607

A repeat of the 1948 mod­el 48-360, the 607 fea­tures a sim­u­lat­ed alli­ga­tor cov­er­ing and a small tam­bour door which can be slid down to cov­er the dial and knobs.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-900

The radio known among some col­lec­tors as "The Hip­po" con­tin­ued for 1949. The ebony black cab­i­net was new this year, replac­ing the pre­vi­ous wal­nut Bake­lite version.

This radio uses six tubes, oper­ates on AC or DC house cur­rent, and receives the AM band.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-901

Some col­lec­tors call this "The Sec­re­tary." All of us can call it "very different."

The 49-901 uses one large thumb­wheel for off-on and vol­ume. By press­ing down on this thumb­wheel, its tun­ing can be changed to receive any one of six pre­set AM stations.

The radio receives the AM band only, using five tubes, and oper­ates on AC or DC house current.

It was avail­able in green or in ivory.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-902

This six tube, AC/DC Philco mod­el receives the AM band. It was made in Cocoa Brown plas­tic with an ivory grille.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-904

This is the only radio in Philco's 1949 line to receive short­wave broad­casts (6 to 15.5 mc) in addi­tion to the stan­dard AM band. It has a brown plas­tic cab­i­net with an ivory grille.

It uses six tubes, and oper­ates on AC or DC.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-905

One of only three table mod­el radios in Philco's 1949 line which receives the FM band as well as AM.

Anoth­er AC/DC mod­el, it uses six tubes. The cab­i­net is brown plastic.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-906

This eight tube AM/FM Philco mod­el also oper­ates on AC or DC current.

The cab­i­net is Cocoa Brown plastic.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-909

Here is the only 1949 Philco table mod­el to use a pow­er trans­former, which means it will only oper­ate on AC house­hold current.

It uses eight tubes and receives AM and FM.

It is housed in a wood­en cab­i­net, fin­ished in mahogany.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Models 49-1100 & 49-1101

The 49-1101 is a nine tube Philco which oper­ates on AC cur­rent and receives the AM and FM bands.

Mod­el 49-1100 is in an iden­ti­cal cab­i­net, but receives AM only.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model M-15

Colum­bia Records announced their new 33-1/3 rpm LP (long play) record in 1948. Philco's new 1949 line­up (which was intro­duced in June 1948) includ­ed this acces­so­ry LP record play­er, which could be con­nect­ed to any radio or radio-phono­graph to allow the new LP records to be played.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1401

Iden­ti­cal in appear­ance to the Jan­u­ary 1948 mod­el 48-1401, the 49-1401's styling resem­bles that of mod­el 49-501 (shown above). Because of this, this set is some­times called the "Boomerang Radio-Phono­graph" by collectors.

The set includes a five tube AM radio and a sin­gle play 78 rpm phonograph.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Models 49-1404 & 49-1405

This five tube table mod­el Philco received the AM band and includ­ed an auto­mat­ic record changer.

Mod­el 49-1404 includes a sin­gle speed (78 rpm) record changer.

Mod­el 49-1405 includes a phono­graph with two tone arms, which can play 78 rpm records auto­mat­i­cal­ly or the then-new 33-1/3 rpm LP records manually.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1600 & 49-1601

Even in the ear­ly years of the post­war TV boom, Philco was still mak­ing floor mod­el radio-phonographs.

This was their entry-lev­el mod­el for 1949.

The 1600 uses five tubes and receives the AM band. It includes a sin­gle-speed (78 rpm) record changer.

The 1601 includes a two-speed (33-1/3 and 78 rpm) record play­er with two tone arms (one for LP, one for 78). It is oth­er­wise iden­ti­cal to the 1600.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Models 49-1602 & 49-1603

Mod­el 49-1602 includes an AM radio using five tubes and a 78 rpm auto­mat­ic record changer.

The cab­i­net includes open­ings on the sides for record storage.

At mid-sea­son, the mod­el num­ber was changed to 49-1603. The fea­tures remained the same.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Models 49-1604 & 49-1605

Mod­el 49-1604 also fea­tures an AM radio using five tubes, along with a 78 rpm auto­mat­ic record changer.

At mid-sea­son, the mod­el num­ber was changed to 49-1605.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1606

Iden­ti­cal in appear­ance to mod­els 49-1604 and 49-1605, the 1606 includes an AM-FM radio which uses 7 tubes plus two sele­ni­um rectifiers.

The mahogany cab­i­net has open­ings on either side of the record chang­er, for stor­age of records.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1609

Iden­ti­cal in appear­ance to the Janau­ry 1948 mod­el 48-1284, the 1949 ver­sion fea­tured recep­tion of the AM and FM bands (no short­wave), along with a two-speed phono­graph that played 78 rpm records auto­mat­i­cal­ly and the new 33-1/3 rpm LP records man­u­al­ly using a sep­a­rate ton­earm for the purpose.

The unit uses sev­en tubes plus two sele­ni­um rectifiers.

The cab­i­net includes space for record stor­age on either side of the phonograph.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1611

This is anoth­er AM-FM con­sole cou­pled with a two speed phono­graph with two tone arms; one for the old­er 78 rpm records, plus a light­weight tone arm for the new LP records.

The set uses sev­en tubes plus two sele­ni­um rectifiers.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1613

This mod­el also includes a radio capa­ble of receiv­ing AM and FM sig­nals as well as a two-speed phono­graph which plays 78 rpm records auto­mat­i­cal­ly, and the new LP records manually.

The set uses eleven tubes.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown



Model 49-1615

Philco's top of the line mod­el for 1949 uses eleven tubes and receives the AM and FM bands. The record chang­er can play 78 rpm records auto­mat­i­cal­ly and the new LP records man­u­al­ly with a sep­a­rate light­weight tonearm.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown


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