Mr Kalburgi says that each radio has a story to tell & he has just shared his passion and knowledge with everyone who is interested. In this hitech world of IT, BT, IOT, Internet, this museum is a gift for the younger generation to see our bygone Radio Technology.
Saturday, February 13 was a joyous occasion for Bengalurean Uday Kalburgi, not just because it was World Radio Day, but also because it saw his decade-long dream of a Radio Museum turn into reality.
If you are a history lover, 2nd Street in the bylanes of KHB Colony, 6th Main, Basaveshwaranagar, will interest you as it houses the radio museum, the first in Bengaluru and possibly the only one in the state. Electronics and telecommunications engineer Uday Kalburgi is the man behind this marvel christened Short Wave Radio Museum and Knowledge Centre. Inaugurated on Saturday, it has a praiseworthy collection of 110 radios, including some classic, vintage and rare pieces dating back to over a century.
"This is the big day of my life," said the 56-year-old radio enthusiast from Basaveshwaranagar, standing amid his newly unveiled 900- sqft museum. Kalburgi had been dreaming of a museum for a while and a collection of radio sets towards the project took him to all corners of the country. His collection dates back to the late 1960s, when he was a young boy and moved to Bengaluru.
"My love for radios started during my school days in Hubballi and it only grew when my father gifted me a Telefunken, a German-made personal radio set in 1980," says Kalburgi, who still has the set and on which he honed his radio restoration skills. However, the oldest piece on display in Kalburgi's collection is the 1914 Westinghouse radio, which he sourced from a relative's house in a mangled state.
For visiting the museum please contact Mr Uday Kalburgi at : 9845043014
Contributed by :- Shri. Alokesh Gupta alokeshgupta@gmail.com & Shri. Uday Kalburgi udaykalburgi@gmail.com