My Interview with Jason Colombini

In 2004, I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Jason Colombini, a fellow radio collector from California. What's noteworthy about this is that Jason at the time was twelve years old! Even at his young age, Jason is as dedicated and ambitious a radio collector as I've met! I thought you would all be interested in meeting Jason and learning more about him. Here are the details of an interview Jason and I completed recently.
FW: Please tell me about yourself. How old are you? What grade are you in school? Where do you live and go to school?	Jason: I am 13 years old. I am going into the 8th grade at Waterloo Middle School. I live in the small town of Linden, California. Linden lays just east of Stockton and is 60 miles southeast of Sacramento; its population is only about 1,500 people. It is the hometown of the very first mechanical walnut harvester. Linden also has two antique stores. The first is The Old Red Barn Antiques and Collectibles; it is the place I bought my first radio, and I am still finding radios there today. I've gone in every Friday for a little over a year, and the owner and I know each other very well. Of course, everyone knows each other in Linden. The other antique store is JB and Associates, but I've only gotten one radio there.
FW: Tell me about your family.	Jason: My family consists of me, my sister, my Mom, and my Dad. We live on a 160 acre walnut orchard four miles from Linden.
FW: When did you start collecting old radios?	Jason: In March of 2004.
FW: What was your first radio? Why did you like it? How did you get it? How much did it cost? Did it work when you bought it?	Jason: My first radio was a small Arvin portable transistor radio. I used to collect coins and would go into the Old Red Barn to look at coins, but one day I had some extra money and started looking around. I eventually found a small radio on the top shelf of a cabinet. I brought it to the owner and bought it for $5.00. I went home, put batteries in it, but when I turned it on, it didn't work. So, I went on the Internet and spent two hours looking at radios online.
FW: What first got you interested in old radios? [Hint: I really like his answer! -- F.W.]	Jason: Part of why I started collecting radios was because I went on the Radio Attic's Site. I liked the different looks and styles, and decided to start collecting. I bought another radio at The Old Red Barn and then was given one of my family's radios. I still have the Arvin and it works now!
FW: Do you know how to repair radios? If you work on the electronics, do you think you would like to have a job someday in electronics? Does your school have classes in electronics?	Jason: I fix most of my radios and am pretty handy with tubes. There are a few other things that I can fix, but I'm mostly learning. Even if I ever do learn all the ways to fix radios, I won't take a job in electronics. That's not what I want to do unless you can relate electronics to farming or video game programming. It's even harder to learn electronics and fixing old radios because my school doesn't have any classes in it.
FW: Do any of your friends also collect old radios? What do your friends think about your hobby? Do they think it is cool, or what?	Jason: I have had some influence on my friends. My friend Zach started collecting old radios, but stopped; he has five radios and 140 tubes. Another friend of mine, Peter, tried to start collecting but has only one radio. Most of my friends think it's just OK to collect old radios. They're not supportive, but they're not rejective either. My friends sometimes come up with radio jokes, but I don't mind them.
FW: Do you like having your radios on the Internet?	Jason: I enjoy having my radios on the Internet. I like to let people all over the world have access to seeing just a few of my radios.
FW: How many radios do you own?	Jason: I have about 65 radios, about 3/4 of which are fully working.
FW: How many radios do you want to own?	Jason: I would like to own at least one radio model of every radio brand ever opened for business.
FW: Do you have a favorite kind of radio?	Jason: Wooden radios are my favorite. I just bought a tombstone and a cathedral radio.
FW: Fill in the blanks: Radio collecting is more fun than _____. Radio collecting is not as much fun as _____. My idea of a really cool radio is one that _____. I won't buy a radio if ______.	Jason: Radio collecting is more fun than LIFE ITSELF! Just kidding; it's more fun than all the sports I play except for basketball. Radio collecting is not as much fun as hanging out with my friends. My idea of a really cool radio is a plastic model of a wooden console radio from the 1920s. I won't buy a radio if it's being sold for parts.
FW: Do you have a favorite? Tell me about it. What is your oldest radio?	Jason: My favorite radio isn't about the look or value, it's about its family history. It's my great-grandfather's Zenith A510W that's posted in the Radio Attic's Archives. My oldest radio is a 1925 David Grimes model 6D.
FW: Do you have a radio that you think is uglier than your other radios? Why did you get it if it's ugly? Are you going to do anything to it to make it pretty?	Jason: In my collection, I have a huge variety of radios. I have two radios that I think are uglier than all the rest. One is a pink Zenith; it stands out among all the others around it. Since pink is its original color, I don't want to change it. The only reason I bought it was because it was in a set of three radios. My other ugly radio is a General Electric; it's all beat up, has missing chunks of plastic, and is water stained. I really don't want to spend time fixing the outside of the radio (it still works). I only bought it because it was tubed and inexpensive.
FW: What do your parents think about your hobby? Do they help you fix up your radios? Have you trained them to look for old radios when they are out and about? Does either parent actively participate in the hobby with you? Has either one of them ever said, "Jason, if you get one more radio, I swear I am going to go crazy," or anything like that?	Jason: My parents think my hobby is a good one. They don't help me fix my radios because I don't want them to help me. My Mom and Dad help me find radios, though. If an estate sale is going on while I'm in school, my Mom checks it out for me. My Dad uses his pickup to help me get consoles. They also talk to a lot of people that they know to ask them if they see any old radios to tell one of them. Dad says that I have too many radios and that I need to sell some, but I don't, and just buy more. [FW note: I think Jason's parents are VERY cool!]
FW: Where do you keep your radios?	Jason: My radios are all in different places. I have two in our family room, one in the basement, and one temporarily in the garage. All the other radios are in my bedroom--on shelves, the floor, my closet, everywhere.
FW: Do you belong to an old radio club?	Jason: I don't belong to a radio club. If there was one in my area, I might join depending on what time the meetings are.
If anyone would like to contact Jason about his hobby or his collection, please write to him at Jason Colombini P.O. Box 764 Linden, CA 95236