JaxRadio.net

By Billy F. Williams, Jr. N4UF

From the post-war 1940s until 1990, Williams Radio & Television Service nee Williams Radio Service progressed from a two-person car radio installation and repair business into one of Jacksonville's largest independent consumer electronic repair shops.

In the mid-70s, Williams Computers opened next door on Liberty St. specializing in sales and service for personal computers made by an obscure outfit called Apple. Many hams also were digital experimenters and clientele included local Amateur Radio operators.

START-UP

With war over, shortages and rationing ended. A pent-up demand for autos exploded and Americans took their radios on the road in a Kerouac-esque frenzy of reaction to wartime deprivations.

After returning from Europe and World War II, uncle Charlie & Dad started Williams Radio Service inside the original Jacksonville Western Auto store #1 at Clay and Adams Sts. downtown.

A major portion of their business came from installing AM radios in cars in their section of Western Auto's large basement garage. 

Following the arrival of television broadcasts in Jacksonville, they bought a building at 2062 Liberty St. between 10th and 11th Sts. on the periphery of the Springfield warehouse district to open a standalone shop. It became Williams Radio & Television Service.

The shop was across from Harry's & Betty's electronic wholesale Bay Company, a landmark widely known by hams and electronic servicers.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE

At its peak, Williams Radio & Television Service employed a dozen or so technicians and support people. TV repair shops were traditionally small businesses operating with minimal regulatory oversight.

Servicers were cast as heavies on crime programs and the general public thought most "TV repairmen" were crooks. It was an insult to used car salesmen and political hacks when detractors compared them to television and consumer electronic servicers.

The main qualification to start a service business was an ability to swap out vacuum tubes. Many TV service businesses were one-man, part-time operations. Few, if any, servicewomen existed.

Williams Radio & Television and Jax Telefix on Ionia St., owned by Dad's longtime friend Charles "Polly" Polytinski, were among the largest consumer electronic repair firms in Jacksonville over several decades.

Polly and Dad were among those promoting high standards of integrity in the repair industry. Along with John Eubanks, owner/operator of Quality TV; Calvin Scott of Monarch TV; Roger Marvin and other members of the Florida Electronic Sales & Service Assn., they made many trips to Tallahassee to advocate fair business practices to legislators considering bills to improve oversight.

CHARLIE WILLIAMS, WA4DWQ/K4LK

Dad was business manager and Charlie Williams was service manager/chief technician. A licensed ham before the war, Charlie regained his license as WA4DWQ, passing his General exam in 1961. A few years later, he passed his Amateur Extra Class test and became K4LK until his death in 1992.

There was no radio or television receiver worth repairing that Charlie couldn't fix! He was always willing to share his knowledge with other hams and electronic service technicians, even competitors.

When stumped, many smaller shop operators and technicians brought their "dogs" to Charlie for repair. His favorite activities included converting WWII war surplus radios for use on Amateur Radio, building & troubleshooting Heathkits and establishing & maintaining a contest station at his waterfront location on a bluff along Big Pottsburg Creek.

Before being swamped with hobbyists, 27 mc. Citizens Band was a principal means of communications for small businesses--a handy way to keep in contact with a half-dozen route technicians running service calls throughout Jacksonville. Williams Radio & Television was an early user of CB in the late 50s before migrating to commercial VHF frequencies when Charlie passed his FCC Radiotelephone exam.

OTHERS AT THE SHOP

After retiring as a long-distance truckdriver for Massey Motors, my grandfather, Charles F. "Big Daddy" Williams Sr. helped process and dispatch television & radio service calls.

Others who assisted at the shop during the 1950s and '60s included longtime secretary Lillian Harden; Ann Williams, my Mom....and after her death, Dad's second wife, Virginia.

Tommy Skinner joined Williams Radio & Television as office manager during the 1970s. Tommy was Dad's and Charlie's brother-in-law and my uncle. The three were also partners in the Jacksonville Beach Western Auto associate store on First Avenue North near Third St. which opened in the mid 1950s. Tommy managed Western Auto until they sold that franchise.

BIG CHANGES IN TELEVISION AND ELECTRONIC SERVICE

In early 1990, Dad, Charlie and Tommy retired. Williams Radio & Television remained in business for several more years under subsequent owners until closing for good, a victim of big changes in consumer electronics service.

The decline started when modules began supplanting individual components during the early 1970s. Remember Motorola Quasar televisions with "the works in a drawer?"

Integrated circuit chips followed. Repair of complex printed circuit boards became difficult and expensive. Manufacturers charged premium prices for proprietary replacement parts and generic substitutes were limited. A repair shop might have to wait weeks or months to receive ordered parts.

Technological breakthroughs led to lower prices for new sets, much better reliability and less need for repair service. Solid state television tuners replaced mechanical rotary assemblies. Vacuum tubes disappeared. Cathode-ray picture tubes gave way to plasma and Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays.

In the 1960s, even low-end, black and white portable TVs sold for $100. Table model color sets started at $200 and consoles cost $300-$400. Big combinations went for $500+.

Multiply these prices by seven or eight to determine the buying power of 1960's dollars today.

As prices of new television sets fell, the incentive to repair evaporated. Set owners chose to dispose and replace instead.

Florida public colleges phased out television repair job training programs. They emphasized electronic communications and industrial electronics. In 1984, the consumer electronic repair program that I directed and taught at Florida Community College closed. I was assigned to develop and teach electronic communications courses, a fast-growing field with the introduction of cellular telephones and trunked radio systems.

By 2000, the few remaining television repair shops struggled. Warranty work on expensive large-screen sets comprised much of their business.

When large-screen technology advanced and prices declined, the end was near for most shops. Today, very few independent television repair businesses survive.

APPLE COMPUTERS

I often get inquiries about Bob Williams and his Apple computer store(s).

Many hams and early computer enthusiasts remember Williams Computers next to Williams Radio & TV on Liberty St.

My brother, Bob Williams started the computer division in the mid-1970s after graduating from the University of Florida.

Bob was a personal computer pioneer in Jacksonville and one of very few Apple dealers in Florida then. Apple was nothing like the ubiquitous giant that it is today.

Bob presented several programs at NOFARS meetings and exhibited for many years at the Bold City/GreaterJacksonville Hamfest.

After Dad and Charlie sold Williams Radio & Television in 1990, Bob relocated his computer store to a strip mall on Baymeadows Rd. near Southside Blvd.

As on Liberty St., Bob's Baymeadows store was a popular hangout for computer enthusiasts and hams. After Windows 95, affordable home internet service & other major advancements came along, personal computers became mainstream. The economics of retail computer marketing and sales shifted.

A decade earlier, W4FWZ's local store, Hollister's Amateur Radio Supply like ham stores in other cities encountered similar shifts. It became difficult for independent local stores to compete with 1-800 numbers and big chains. High store overhead and wholesale pricing structures made selling huge amounts of inventory necessary to be profitable.

Bob closed his Baymeadows store around 2000 and today he is a manufacturer's representative and consultant in Jacksonville.