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Shop earns global reputation for repair,restoration of antique electronics

When Bruce Roloson of Apalachin drives by Scott’s Radio andTelevision in Binghamton, he slows to a crawl so he can peer in thewindow.

He’s intrigued by the 1939 RCA console radio he sees. As curatorof the Antique Wireless Association Museum of Electronic Commu-nication, near Rochester, he knows it’s a piece museums would covet.

At first glance, the business — complete with a circa-1980s“Scott’s Radio and Television” sign — looks like just another neigh-borhood fix-it shop, struggling in the face of modern gadgets andtechnology. But here, work to restore the old treasures to like-newcondition has brought in customers from across the country and asfar as Japan and Spain and attracted Hollywood’s attention as well.

The business is owned by Chad Phillips, 41, and run with the helpof his parents and co-founders, Scott Sr. and Sue; and Chad’s wife,Jessica, 40. The company has evolved over four decades from“Scott’s” into “For Your Listening Pleasure L.L.C.” It’s known for itsexpertise and painstaking precision, with bedraggled antiques limp-ing in and operational, gleaming models marching out.

Collectors, too

For Your Listening Pleasure lends its own authentic relics toHollywood movie sets — such as “Liebestraum” and “The Lost City,”which takes place in late 1950s Havana, Cuba— as well as “The Col-lectors Guide to Antique Radios” book series, plays, museums andTV shows.

Last year alone, the company had a steady flow going to the

THE STOREFor Your Listening Plea-sure is located under theScott’s Radio and Televi-sion sign at 368 Clinton

St. in Binghamton.Contact them at

everythingradio.com,(607) 797-0066 or(800) 314-3957).

ON THEWEBSee more photos andwatch a video of For

Your Listening Pleasureowner Chad Phillips atwork restoring elec-

tronics with this story atpressconnects.com.

By Valerie Zehlvzehl@gannett.com

See ANTIQUES, Page 6E

Chad Phillips, owner of For Your Listening Pleasure, checks the circuit board of a 1933 Atwater Kent radio.

Scott Phillips, co-founder of For Your Listening Pleasure, checks the

voltage of a late-’50s German Grundig radio.

KRISTOPHER RADDER / STAFF PHOTOS

FOR QUEST IONS CALL 798 -1245 BGM-FEATURES@GANNETT.COM • SUNDAY , MARCH 17 , 2013 • 1E

L I F EL I F EL I F E

Air temperature: 47 degrees.Watertemperature: 40 degrees.Wind speed:15-20mph. State ofmind: Anx-ious to get on the river.

So that’s what we did, on a daywhen that river ran low andinviting, and spring tantalizedfrom behind hemlocks thick onthe bank.

The trick at this time of theyear in a kayak is this: Don’tforget cold on your bottom. Youare, after all, sitting on amoldedsheet of plastic, which is cruis-ing along several inches belowthe water line. On this day, twopairs of fleece pants betweenskin and plastic helped keep thisold kayaker warm.

Gloves were amust, as were woolhats pulled over our ears. And, of

course, a life jacket, which also helpedkeep cold away.

The river ran green, the colorof snow running off hills sur-rounding the river. Each time itspilled into a quiet backwater, itseemed to attract waterfowl.

Black ducks leapt up as wequietly slipped into view.Whiteunderwings flashed in contrastto almost-black bodies. Whoo-eek! cried a wood duck, as pairslifted off from beneath deep-cutbanks or from narrow side chan-nels only crazy duckwatcherswould float through on an earlyMarch day.

Mallards joined in, drakes andhens in the air. All that quacking

brought on thoughts of spring. Legs onthemales flared a brilliant bright or-

ange.Water drops rolled off emeraldgreen heads. And geese? Theywerethere, honking loudly, fidgeting ner-vously, shaking their rear ends as theywaddled, then ran and took off.

Lastly, as far as webbed feet areconcerned, amale hoodedmerganserallowed us to soak in his white crest andsmooth tawny sides.

Other birds helpedmake the day onewewouldn’t forget. One could fit inyour palm, while anothermight haulyou away.

Call notes like tinkling bells drewattention to a flock of a dozen tree spar-rows.Winter birds only in our neck ofthe woods, theywill soon leave for win-tering grounds near Canadian tundra.

As for the big bird, I exaggeratewhen claiming it might, in a fit of pique,swoop down and haul you away. Howev-

er, when one floats under a tree inwhich a bald eagle sits perched— andthat bird then lifts off, flashing a 7-footwingspan— the thought does occur thatone ought to respect such a creature.

Our float was capped off by threesure signs of spring. One soared over-head, looking headless, its wings held ina shallowV shape. The year’s first tur-key vulture.We’ll take it. Then camethe sound of two dozen blackbirds: amechanical chicking and chacking ofred-wings just back from the south.Finally, robins, a flock perched atop atall sycamore hugging the bank. Theychortled as three kayaks slipped un-derneath.We chortled, too. Spring can-not be denied. It can drag its feet, sure.But be patient. Warm days lie ahead.

E-mail Marsi at rmarsi@stny.rr.com.

From a view on the river, signs of spring fill the air

RickMarsi

The GreatOutdoors