Scored a Silvertone!
 

Over the weekend, I picked up a 1940 Silvertone console for $20. Model 5501, to be exact. Haven't had a chance to fully inspect it, but the cabinet has only minor scratches on the lid. All the components appear to be intact, as are the tubes. Naturally, the power cord suffers from dry rot, so that's gotta go. A closer look revealed that the tuning wire will need to be replaced. For reference purposes, here's an identical console.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sears_roeb_r5501.html

The owners manual mentions the availability of an FM/TV audio converter. Doesn't appear that the original owner got around to installing one. I find it interesting that manufacturers were already pushing the new technology, even though their benefits weren't fully realized for several years.

Around this time television was just starting up in a few major cities and people were wary of buying a radio when TV might be just around the corner where they lived. Radio manufacturers put in a phono jack and called it ready for a phono or TV sound: the idea being that if you had a radio you didn't need the audio amplifier in the TV set. It was a way to sell radios to people who were stuck waiting for TV. As it turned out, there were few early TV sets with video only that needed a radio for audio, and the integrated sight-with-sound TV sets quickly took over.