About the Company
Radione was a short‑lived Austrian brand of reel‑to‑reel tape recorders produced in the early era of magnetic audio recording just after World War II. Its activity predates many of the more familiar consumer audio brands that emerged in the mid‑1950s and later.
Brand: Radione
Country of Manufacture: Austria
Production Era: Circa 1949–1951
Market Focus: Consumer audio
Electronics: Vacuum tube (valve) technology — typical for the earliest reel‑to‑reel decks before solid‑state designs became widespread.
Production History & Context
Origins in the Early Tape Era (Late 1940s)
Radione began making reel‑to‑reel tape recorders at a very early stage of civilian magnetic recording technology, shortly after reel tape systems first began to be sold commercially. Its period of activity — around 1949 to 1951 — places it among the earliest European makers of consumer tape decks following the professional Magnetophon and Ampex developments of the 1930–40s.
These early units were relatively primitive by later standards — generally mono, full‑track machines with simple mechanical transports — and were aimed at home users rather than broadcast or studio markets.
Known Radione Products
Radione “No Model” (c. 1949–1951)
Brand: Radione
Country: Austria
Production: ~1949–1951
Category: Vintage consumer reel‑to‑reel tape recorder
Electronics: Tube (valve)
Track Format: Full‑track mono (1/1 record/playback)
Tape Speed: Around 10 ips (inches per second) — somewhat atypical but used on this machine
Reel Size: 7″ maximum
Head: Permalloy magnetic head
Voltage: 220–240 V (European mains)
Notes: Early Radione recorders could require an external amplifier for playback and were relatively simple compared with later hi‑fi decks.
This unnamed Radione deck represents the core surviving example of the brand’s reel‑to‑reel lineup. It’s unusual in that it was built very early in the consumer tape era and had features like an infinite variable speed and a right‑to‑left tape direction — quirks which now make it a collector curiosity rather than a mainstream collectible.
Technology and Features (Typical of Early Units)
Valve Electronics: Like most tape recorders of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Radione machines relied on vacuum tubes (valves) for amplification and tape biasing. Solid‑state electronics did not appear in consumer recorders until the late 1950s.
Full‑Track Mono: These early machines often recorded a single full track across the tape width, maximizing signal level but limiting stereo capability — stereo recording wouldn’t become common until the late 1950s.
Large Reel Sizes: A 7″ maximum reel was typical for early decks and suited home recording of ambient music, radio broadcasts, or spoken word.
External Amplification: Many early systems, including Radione’s, required external power amplifiers or speakers for playback because built‑in amplification was minimal.
Brand Duration & Legacy
Radione’s presence in the reel‑to‑reel market was short and limited, active for only a few years around 1950. Several factors contributed to its limited footprint:
Nascent Consumer Market: The late 1940s and early 1950s were a transitional period in tape technology, with few manufacturers and scattered demand among electronics hobbyists and early adopters.
Rapid Technological Change: As solid‑state electronics and stereo recording emerged in the mid‑1950s, many early tube‑based brands either evolved or were replaced by better‑documented makers, leaving Radione as a short‑lived early participant.
Sparse Records: Unlike larger brands, there is very limited surviving documentation about Radione’s corporate history or a full model lineup beyond the few early recorders still referenced by collectors.
Today, Radione reel‑to‑reel recorders are rare vintage artifacts representing the earliest consumer tape recorder era in Europe, and they are mainly of interest to collectors and historians rather than general vintage hi‑fi enthusiasts.