[Doug Houston]

I'm not a big fan of Hotwater-Kent sets, but have ended up with quite a few of them. Back in the early seventies, I was in the radiator shop where I dealt a lot. The owner had a bunch of old radios he had accumulated. High on a shelf, was a very impressive radio, like I'd never seen. It had controls all over the panel, and I asked the guy wheat it was. Was it a transmitter, I asked? No, just a radio. Battery set, but I was impressed. He said that some day, somebody is gonna make me an offer on that one, and a little AK (The stove) on the floor beneath the battery set. OK, so I offered him 25 bucks for the two. No, I'd have to go 50 bucks to get them, so heck,I gave him the 50 bucks, and lugged the sets home. The battery set is a Federal 61. The AK is a 52, which is the model 40 chassis with the magnetic speaker in the floor model cabinet. Actually, a decent little set. .

I like phono combinations.AK made only one, which was their 75, with the 70 series chassis, with an RCA motor board. They also made a demonstration record, pressed by Columbiia, and having Graham McNamee with an orchestra, telling the wonders of this fine radio on two 12 inch sides. It's fun to play that disc on the AK 75, and have it tell such nice things about itself.