06 November 2026: Pilot "Mariner" Radio
This Pilot Mariner Radio was originally built by Brownlee Bros. Ltd. On Molesworth Street in Dublin under licence from Pilot Radio Limited, London, serial number AC 13362, between 1951-1953, this vintage valve radio carries the craftsmanship of mid-century Irish manufacturing. It somehow made its way to Shannon, Co. Clare two decades or so later.
The radio was manufactured for the Medium Wave (MW), Long Wave (LW) and Short Wave (SW) bands which sadly are quieter and quieter as the years pass. Sadly RTE for example shut down its MW service in 2008 and its LW in 2023 and they never maintained a permanent SW service. Even the BBC shut down its LW service in June, 2026 and most of its MW services in 2024 with the one remaining service, BBC Radio 5 due for turn-off in 2027. Even the BBC World Service on SW has been progressively shutdown with services reserved primarily for specific conflict zones or areas with limited digital access.
My mother-in-law, Mrs Hannah Patricia Doody, made a thoughtful gift of her radio for my birthday and I sent it the safe hands of Ryan Murphy in Youghal, Co. Cork. Ryan carried out a restoration that bridges generations in terms of both technology and design. The radio now sports a restored rich, polished wooden cabinet, classic speaker grille fabric, and glowing tuning glass retain all of its original mid-century charm. In terms of technology, the radio today preserves its original Amplitude Modulation (AM) broadcast receiver while introducing modern Frequency Modulation (FM) tuning and even Bluetooth connectivity, letting me stream my Spotify audio through a true vintage loudspeaker setup.
The radio also retains it ambient dial lighting which brings warmth to the room. The radio today is both a functional media hub and a classic radio.
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