While a high school student, Noel S. Ilg collaborated with one of his instructors in the design of a successful radio repair course. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy as a radio technician, and soon became one of the Navy's electronics instructors. Upon returning home, Noel opened his own business in September 1946 where he sold and repaired television sets, radios, stereos, and hi-fi's, and grew his company to employ a staff of twenty-three. By the mid-1970s the consumer electronics industry was becoming extremely competitive and Noel sold his shop in 1979 and turned his full-time attention to church music. Throughout the following years, although, he found he missed fixing old radios, so in 1992 Noel founded Ye Olde Radio Shoppe in Avon Lake, Ohio. We visited with Noel recently, and listened as he provided this overview of Ye Olde Radio Shoppe's services and offerings;

Ye Olde Radio Shoppe specializes in repairing and selling parts for tube-type home and car radios, record changers, and phonographs. I maintain a large parts inventory that enables me to repair 98% of the items that come into the shop which includes items ranging from the 1920s through the early 1960s. My inventory includes well over 1,000 phonograph needles and over 15,000 tubes, in addition to misc. capacitors, resistors, speakers, phonograph needles (stylus), and transformer parts.

I have repaired thousands of old radios, and all of the labor and parts I supply are guaranteed for one full year. I not only check each radio's circuits, alignment, station settings, and performance, but I also check for distortion that can affect the quality of the sound. The parts in an older radio can fail due to age, temperature, and humidity, and some models are known for having a particular problem with the chassis or other parts. With my experience in radio repair, I am familiar with the characteristics of most models and strive to detect potential points of failure before each radio leaves the shop. After making the needed repairs, I air test every unit for at least three days to ensure all issues have been resolved and it is operating properly.

Most of my customers bring their radios, record changers, and phonographs to the shop to be repaired, although I do make house calls when people have consoles which are too large to transport. Most of the house calls I place on consoles are due to difficulties with the record changers, so I disconnect and remove the record changer and bring it back to the shop for repair. After testing and repairing the unit, I take it back and re-install it in the customer's console and they are ready to go.

I originally began collecting old radios with the intention of repairing them as a hobby, but as people discovered I could fix old radios I became too busy to focus on my own. Today I have about five shelves of old radios I have collected over the years, and when a customer spots one they would like to buy, I take it off the shelf and restore and refinish it for the customer to inspect before they decide to buy it.

My wife and I have been married since 1952 and have raised seven children, all who have become musicians who sing and play multiple instruments. We have been blessed with twenty-two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who are also very musical, with three who teach or perform music professionally. We are a very close family that has made music an integral part of our family get-togethers.

Ye Olde Radio Shoppe specializes in repairing and selling parts for tube-type home and car radios, record changers, and phonographs. Call Ye Olde Radio Shoppe today, and don't forget to tell them The Westlake, Ohio Community Advocate sent you!

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