[Jeffhs]

I all but did a double take when I saw that radio's tiny chassis in a large cabinet, not unlike the 1990s Zenith TVs with their small chassis in a huge console cabinet. Didn't realize radio manufacturers were doing that as early as 1937. Perhaps that's where Zenith may have gotten the idea for its 1990s "last gasp" CRT TVs, with all that air space in the cabinet and a ridiculously small PC board chassis.

No, wait a minute. That Wards Airline radio is a farm radio, which means it is a battery set originally designed for use in rural areas not yet wired for electricity. The extra space in the cabinet is for the three batteries it uses, with the 90-volt B battery probably being the largest; that accounts for all the empty space to the right of the small chassis, looking at the radio from the back.