POWERGRAMS

Ray Giles restored the family radio on which his mother was listening at home Dec. 7, 1941, to reports of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Aerward, he stumbled upon the Alabama Historical Radio Society (alabamahistoricalradiosociety. org). "The club was a perfect fit for me because I wanted to restore more radios," said Giles, an Alabama Power retiree who worked in Supply Chain Management nearly 40 years. "I love that we're preserving a very important part of our past for future generations. Our most enthusiastic visitors seem to be kids and old guys and gals like me who grew up listening to the radio. It is, aer all, the theater of the mind." The Alabama Historical Radio Society (AHRS), with 300 members, convenes twice a week to restore antique radios, hold workshops and talk about the yesteryear of radio. Meetings are held in a former branch of First National Bank across 18th Street from Alabama Power Corporate Headquarters in Birmingham. Tom Killian, another Alabama Power retiree, discovered AHRS when its collection of vintage radios was temporarily housed in the hallway between the old and new sections of Corporate HQ. "I picked up a brochure, noticed that AHRS met on Saturdays, and I was hooked," said Killian, a 40-year employee who retired in 2011 as staff coordinator of Labor Relations in Human Resources. He has since served five terms as president. "During my youth, I repaired electrical and electronic equipment for my family and friends," Killian said. "I worked at a TV repair shop while studying electrical engineering at Auburn, and I enjoyed fixing things. The fellowship at AHRS was genuine and the mentoring was given freely." Giles' job for the group is to keep the five fully equipped work stations "as organized as possible," he said. The work stations are where decades- old radios are disassembled, reassembled, refinished and restored. "I make sure parts are replenished and organize auctions where we sell excess radios and equipment," Giles said. "We receive a lot of donations and simply can't keep everything. We sell items to club members and the money helps keep us going." Killian joined in 2007 and was elected treasurer two years later. He remains on the board of directors aer stepping down as president last year. The past six years, he assembled the monthly AHRS newsleer. "I like the ability to educate historical groups, school students and anyone else interested in early radio communications and preserving a part of history that is disappearing," Killian said. "I do enjoy hearing an old radio that hasn't played in 60-plus years come to life and make the sounds it made back when the family gathered around the radio playing in the living room of the family farm." Retirees restore antiques, educate students, visitors 4 Johnny Outland Frank Parker Dave Cisco

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