This innovative radio receiver was built by General Electric in the 1940s and operated on what we now call the AM band, as well as another band called shortwave. Shortwave radio covers transmissions that are of a higher frequency than AM, but a lower frequency than what we now call FM. Shortwave transmissions could travel farther depending on weather and space conditions and were therefore used for long-distance broadcasting. This radio is a good example of how receivers were getting more compact and more versatile as the 20th century marched onward.