The interesting radio mobiles of Freeman Lang

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It began with a photograph of what appeared to be a Rolls‑Royce Silver Ghost converted into a six-wheeled radio broadcast vehicle, no less. And that is precisely what it was. The name on its door — Freeman Lang — led us to the broadcaster himself: a colourful seaman, yacht broker and radio reporter at Hollywood movie premieres, as well as during coastal floods and later the Vietnam War.

Lang’s vehicles certainly reflected his vibrant character. The Silver Ghost appears to be the earliest of them — the photograph is dated circa 1925. We discovered two further images showing different cars built for a similar purpose, both dated 1928. The first shows Lang beside a more sober-looking vehicle, believed to be a Packard radio transmission car, photographed “in the area of the flood which followed the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, Santa Clara River Valley, March 1928.”

The last image depicts yet another broadcasting special, fitted with all the bells and whistles a radio presenter of the 1920s could wish for, including an impressive array of powerful loudspeakers. KEJK was the radio station operated by Ernst J. Krause of the MacMillan Petroleum Co. of Beverly Hills. The car? We’ll let you decide.

Words: Jeroen Booij
Pictures: Unknown / LA Times Photographic Collection / Martin Turnbull

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