[Ron Ramirez]

Based on other smaller Philco speakers I've seen, I suspect the field is welded in.

I'll remove the speaker this weekend and take a good look at it (and post photos here).

While it's out, I should connect it to my signal tracer, using its Test Speaker function (in other words, using the signal tracer's speaker as a test speaker) and see if the radio will play. The radio does not need a field coil for anything other than to energize the speaker, so if the radio works, the test speaker will let me know...and if not, I can continue troubleshooting...