Turns out I had a bad resistor which was cutting off the output tubes.
now I need to clean the volume control and put it back together.
Congratulations, Charles!
Isn't it cool to hear AM over a 1929 Philco? Bear in mind that this was "state of the art" for Philco in '29 - a nine tube set with automatic volume control.
yes and it is amazing how sensitive this dude is with just a 3 foot piece of wire.