A complete history of the Hallicrafters Company; part of our growing research archive of notable Chicago manufacturers and their products.
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Hallicrafters, Halligan's Hallicrafters International
What Happened to Hallicrafters? | The Radio Every Boy Heard the World On
May 14, 2026
#hallicrafters #shortwaveradio #amateurradio
In 1933, in the dead center of the Great Depression, a sixteen-year-old wireless operator from Boston named William J. Halligan started a radio company in a rented room in Chicago with nothing but two trucks' worth of parts and a dream. He called it Hallicrafters — a combination of his own name and the word handcrafters — because that is exactly what he intended to do: build the finest shortwave receivers ever made, by hand, one at a time.
Within five years, Hallicrafters was selling radios in 89 countries. During World War II, they produced over $44 million in communications equipment for the U.S. military and earned the Army-Navy E Award. After the war, the Hallicrafters S-38 became the most important shortwave radio in American history — not because it was the best, but because at $49.95 it was the one every boy could afford. Sold through Sears, Montgomery Ward, and Allied Radio, the S-38 was the gateway that turned millions of American boys into engineers, physicists, and lifelong amateur radio operators.
By 1952, Hallicrafters occupied a b-long factory in Chicago and employed 2,500 people. Raymond Loewy, the designer of Air Force One and the Studebaker, personally redesigned the S-38. But fierce Japanese competition in the 1960s began crushing American electronics manufacturing. In 1966, Halligan sold the company to Northrop Corporation. The last Hallicrafters ham radio rolled off the line in 1972. By 1975, Northrop had sold the name but kept the factory. By 1988, the Hallicrafters name was held by court-appointed trustees.
Bill Halligan died in 1992 at age 93, still an active ham. His callsign was W9AC.
If you ever owned a Hallicrafters, we want to hear your story. What model was your first? What was the first station you pulled in? Drop a comment below.
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