Since the very first time I saw this model listed on E-Bay a couple years ago, I’ve wanted one of these: The Montgomery Ward Airline GEN-1494A.
I guess the thing that attracted me to this radio the most is the handsome looks. I like the symmetry of the dual tuning dials, divided by the power meter. I like the contrast of brushed aluminum and charcoal color plastics, encased in clear acrylic dial covers. I like the large but not huge size of the receiver. Simply, I like everything about this radio’s styling. I wouldn’t change anything—not even the orange and white frequency information, which looks great on the dark gray/black.
The materials are not quite up to Sony or Panasonic standards, but there’s nothing to be ashamed of here. It’s good quality stuff, certainly comparable to any Sharp or Sanyo of a similar vintage. It’s in that Toshiba/Hitachi category as far as I can tell.
Performance wise, it’s a winner. I was astounded by the shortwave reception—very, very close to matching the Sony ICF-5800 that I recently sold. It picks up shortwave signals that most of my other radios are unable to track. FM sound is strong, AM crisp. It’s very capable of getting the full compliment of AM-FM stations that my other good radios can receive. After the stellar shortwave performance, I was surprised that it didn’t perform well on the PSB 1 or PSB 2 options. They were pretty dead—and my old Arvin radios generally get activity on these bands. Maybe it’s just the night and the location.
Speaker sound is another high grade. While it’s not as powerful as the Panasonic 888, it has a pleasing sound. The “tone” adjustment actually does its job too. It’s equally good for talk or music.
This is a well balanced radio that I can heartily recommend. I have seen several of these over the years, and have bid on a few of them. I was never able to wrangle one until this one failed to cross the $30.00 mark, and I snatched it up in the closing minutes. It needed a little cleaning—and to get it to work on batteries, I had to use steel wool to remove corrosion from the battery compartment contacts—-but aside from those minor issues, it’s pretty darn nice. Perfect antenna, no major dings and a real player.
Is it a keeper? For me, there aren’t many keepers. I generally buy radios at what I consider a value price. After cleaning them up and playing with them for a few months, I’m willing to throw them back to keep funding my hobby and charting new territory—such as a very recent interest in old tube radios. But I have to say, the great shortwave performance, on this Ward model will make it a tough decision to let this go. Like my Panasonic 888, Zenith Trans-Oceanic 7000 and Grundig Ocean Boy 820, this Ward Airline 1494 has virtues that might make it a permanent fixture. That’s pretty strong company that this radio finds itself in.
Cinemorphosis 
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