This ad describes the future sales of an amateur radio transmitter which resembles the E. F. Johnson Desk Kilowatt transmitter. It was discovered in my files a number of years ago but I can't remember where I obtained it. It is printed on glossy magazine stock with no printing on the backside. It has been punched for a three ring looseleaf binder.
I can find very little reference to this mystery transmitter on any Internet search engine, other than another copy of this ad that ran in a 1946 issue of Radio. The 1946 date of the advertisement indicates that this unit precedes the introduction of the E. F. Johnson Desk Kilowatt. This lends substance to what Myron E. Kluge said in the ad: "Kluge Electronics was the first to conceive, design, and produce this remarkable contribution to modern radio".
What is the history of Kluge Electronics and Myron E. Kluge? Does a prototype of this transmitter exist?
The slang term "Kluge" also has a mysterious origin. See a discussion of the origin of this slang at Dictionary.com. Could this little known transmitter be the reason that the word "KLUGE" is used to describe a poorly designed piece of hardware? Or was the term already starting to indicate poor design, thereby dooming this equipment even before it was produced?
If anyone can shed any light on this mystery transmitter or the history of Kluge Electronics please email me at
My grandpa invented this. He was really into electronics and radio. His uncle, Arno, was an electronics genius who unfortunately suffered from an electric shock and passed away a while later. He was so good at it when he was a student in college they let him be an instructor of one of the classes. Myron had a son, Myron JR, who carried on Kluge Electronics, which is now run by his son. Electronics must be in the family, as fate has directed me towards a keen interest in composing music with electronics, synthesizers, and hardware. Myron SR also operated some of the first radio stations in Los Angeles (KRKD and KSFG)
And you were wondering about the slang term Kluge. The slang term is pronounced KLOOJ. Our surname is pronounced KLOOG, which is German and means "clever one". I believe the slang term came much later.
He was born in 1913 in Buffalo, Nebraska, and moved to Los Angeles. Myron SR was listed in the 1930 census at the age of 17 as a radio operator.
