HAMMARLUND: the radio manufacturer that put the ham in hammy

Hammarlund was one of the first manufacturers of radio equipment, founded by Oskar Hammarlund, a Swedish immagrant to the USA, in New York City in 1910. It became the biggest name in radios just before and during WWII, when their radios, particularly the "Super Pro" radio as pictured above, was bought in large quantities by the US government for military use. The resulting surplus ensured that these radios are still found and collected by vintage radio collectors today. The company itself shut its doors in the 60s.

The name "Hammarlund" may be the origin of the "ham radio operator", a term used to refer to an amateur user of radio equipment to broadcast. These people still need a license to do so, and the reason for this may be that in time of war these folks could be useful to the government to get word out -- of a zombie attack, for instance.

I wonder also if it might have been the source of another use -- to "ham it up", to overract, as people did in the serial radio shows of the 1930s and 40s.