American collector finds trove of Yukon CB radio memorabilia
QSL 'calling cards' for CB radio operators became 'a really big thing in the Yukon for a while'
Jordan Smith loves to scavenge for new collections, sometimes coming across things he hasn't seen before — and from places he least expects.
The Oxford, Miss., resident recently stumbled upon QSL cards — what he calls "calling cards" — that come from the 1970s craze days of Citizens Band or "CB" radios, handheld radio devices that look like walkie-talkies, but cover a much larger frequency range.
Smith found a box of 1,000 of the colourful QSL postcard-like cards, selling for just $10, with a mound of them originating from Yukon.
"I had no idea what they were but a thousand of anything, for ten dollars? I'm great," he said.
Smith soon learned QSL cards were exchanged by CB radio operators who met each other over the radio.
Some cards were very basic: just a simple square of cardboard with a name and the date and time of contact. Others were elaborately designed with comic illustrations, jokes, and sometimes a bit of raunch.
"It was kind of a souvenir, more than anything," Smith said. "I guess the best way to put it... you would just brag about it. You would put it on your wall near your radio and just show how many people you've talked to."
'Drawings that came to life'
The reason he found so many Yukon cards in the collection can be traced back to one Oregon-based graphic artist who called himself "Runnin Bare."
Smith says, Runnin Bare — a.k.a. Jesse Anderson — often travelled to Alaska in the 1970s when the CB craze was at its height.
"He would always stop in Whitehorse and be on the radio on his way up through there, and ended up talking to people there," Smith said.
Those Yukoners would then hire Anderson to design their personal QSL cards.
Smith is now working on a book about "Runnin' Bare" and the brief, strange history of QSL cards.
"I've been amazed at how few stories have ever been written, how little documentation there is about this," he said.
"There had to have been 500,000 to a million produced in the 70s, at least. There's no way of knowing.
"There's some really incredible drawings that came to life, and they're just incredible little cards."
with files from Dave White