Slade Radio Pty. Ltd.
61 Lang Street, Croydon, Sydney, NSW

Brands: Calstan, Slade

The company manufactured Calstan and Slade brand radios and specialised radio test equipment.
The Calstan brand was derived from  CALibrated STANdard.

After WW2 Zenith Radio Co., manufactured the Clastan Brand products.

They made FM receivers in the 1940’s and Televisions in the late 1950’s

Charles William Slade (1894-1962) left the Royal Navy in 1923 and commenced as radio Engineer with W. Harry Wiles. From 1925 till 1926 he was Technical Editor for the Wireless Weekly and Daily Telegraph Radio Supplement. [1]

Slade was a keen Radio Amateur in the Croydon Radio Club with the call sign 2SX. Whilst working at Wiles he conducted a Radio School at his Croydon address. [2]

In 1927 edited The Daily Telegraph Radio Handbook 1927. [3]

From 1927 till 1928, Slade worked as Radio designer for Keogh Radio Supplies in Sydney.[4]

In June 1929 he opened the Croydon Radio School which was registered in November 1930 as radio manufacturers and a wireless instruction company.[5][6]

In October 1933 he changed the Croydon Radio School name to Slade’s Radio as manufacturers of Radio and Test Equipment.[7]

In the early 1934 a partnership was established with Frederick Paton manufacturing vacuum tube testers, oscillators, signal generators and multimeters. They traded under the name Slade-Paton Radio Test Equipment at the Lang Street address of Slade Radio.

Their partnership was dissolved in May 1935 and Paton started the Paton Electrical Instrument Company and Slade started manufacturing test equipment under the Calstan brand.

The company manufactured radios and test equipment from the family house in Lang Street, Croydon.

They advertised under the following names;

• Croydon Radio School
• Croydon Radio
• Slade’s Radio
• Slade’s Precision Test equipment

Slade Radio was registered as a proprietary limited company in August 1937 with subscribers, C.W. Slade, Alice A. E. Ashby and A.C. Ferguson.[8]

During WW2 the manufacturer of instruments and later radios was outsourced to the Zenith Radio Co. , which continued after the war.[9]  

With the introduction of FM transmissions in Sydney in 1947 Slade manufactured Australia’s first FM Tuner to connect to a normal AM receiver. This was followed one year later with an FM, AM Dual Wave Radiogram.

Slade also manufactured Televisions in the late 1950’s with an example in the Museum of Applied Arts and Science.[10]

After over 50 years in the radio industry, sadly Slade passed away in February 1962.

Company Literature:
Calstan Catalogue 1937/1938

[1] Radio Trade Annual 1939, Page 143.
[2] The Bulletin Mar 28, 1924, Page 17.
[3] Libraries Australia ID4443754
[4] The Daily Telegraph (NSW) Feb 1927, Page 4.
[5] Radio Trade Annual 1933, Page 219.
[6] Dun's Gazette (NSW) Dec 22, 1930, Page 573.
[7] Dun's Gazette (NSW) Oct 23, 1933, Page 386.
[8] The Daily Telegraph (NSW) Aug 31, 1937, Page 14.
[9] Radio & Hobbies Apr 1944, Page 17.
[10] Museum of Applied Arts and Science, Object 259691.