William M. ANDERSON

                   Pearl passed away at the age of only 24 yrs following the birth of her
dau ghter Helen.  Helen was raised by her grandparents William and Nina
alo ng withher cousin Floyd.
                  

                   Floyd took a radio correspondence course to learn how to repair and bui
ld radios.   He assembled a radio in his ESSUX(sp) cope (car).   Jerry
And erson said he can still see the crowd - standing around the car listi
ng to the radio and remarking "what did anybody in his right mind want a
r adio in a car -you couldn't concentrate on your driving or nothing
else"
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Tom Sr. remembers when his dad, Floyd, got the first television set in
Eag le Grove.  He went to the bar next to his radio shop and bought sever
al of the "regulars" a round of drinks so they would come over and help h
im hoist up the massive t.v. antennawith guy wires and ropes.  Then he
sa id he couldn't get rid of them.  They came over everday to hang out
and wa tch the television
Tom also remembers the other kids from school following him to his dad's
s hop after school to watch the t.v. with him.
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Front page "Headlines" from
t he November 17, 1949
Eagle Grove
Ea gle Newspaper
Yes Television has come to Eagle Grove.  That funny looking pole with a
ll the points sticking out on top of Anderson's Radio Shopis a televisi
on receiving antenna.
Floyd Anderson, the proprietor of the radio shop is setup to  receive
tele vision broadcasts and at certain hours ofthe
day he is getting reception of sorts from four stations. Two stations in
M inneapolis and two in Omaha come in equally well.
He has only had the setupworking for five days so he does not know the
ho urs at which these stationsare broadcasting.  he
said that he has had a football game and a Prize fightprogram that were
v ery satisfactory to watch. At other times he is able
tobring in the audio part of the broadcast fairly well but the pictu re
is so blurred with interference that it is impossible
to recognize what it is.
Outside Fringe Territory,  Eagle Grove is many miles outside of the frin
ge territory for good television reception and if Floyd didn't
all kinds of boosters and extra accessories to aid the reception he
probab ly wouldn't be able to getanything.  As Gerhard "Gizy" Hanson
puts it, t he television was coming 50 miles on it's own power and Floyd
was draggi ng it in the other 100 miles
Television's extreme range is supposed to be in the neighborho od of 40
to 50 miles.   Minneapolis and Omaha are
both over 150 miles from Eagle Grove.  Thereare no stations in Iowa as
ye t.  Iowa State college at Ames is scheduled tohave
the first television broadcasting in the state and the go on air, Floyd
wi ll he able to get much better reception.
Floyd said he started to collectthe necessary equipment to set up a
telev ision receiving set in order to understand more about
the new type of broadcasting when and if it becomes popular here in this
p art of the state.
Television is new and someone is going tohave to have the knowledge abo
ut it when and if it becomes popular.
Floydsaid the big trouble now is that he enjoys working with his
televisi on so much and he has had so many people coming in
to see if anything is on that he has had a hard time keeping up with his
r egular radio work.
Floyd's receivingset is a Skyrider made by Hallicrafter with a 10 inch
pi cture tube.  He hasa Workshop antenna 64 feet in the
air.  He also has an antenna rotator and reception booster.   The anten
na will rotate in a complete 360 degree turn toface the
receiving points broadside to tile direction from which the receptionis
c oming.  The antenna rotator will turn this
antenna for him.
Did you ask about the cost of the equipment?  That's where the rub comes
a nd for thatreason, it doesn't appear as if
television in Eagle Grove would be popular for some time.  The equipment
F loyd has would cost about $500 and he wants toadd
one or two more items, one of which would  b