Massive vintage radio collection now on display in Virginia as daughter keeps her hero father's memory alive

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — A Chesterfield woman is carrying on her late father's legacy through ham radio and by ensuring his massive vintage radio collection remains accessible to the public.

Kathleen DeMajo Adams, 38, uses shortwave radio to reach listeners across greater Richmond and around the globe from her home in Chesterfield County.

What started as a new hobby has become a calling.

"Yeah, it's social media, but on the radio. It's the original social media," Adams said."Radio connects the world. It's the thread that brings all the people together," Adams said.

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Adams never envisioned becoming a ham radio operator.

"No, I really tried not to be for a long time and that was just foolish because why wouldn't you wanna be on the radio? It is great," Adams said.

The hobby has also connected her with a tight-knit group of like-minded enthusiasts she calls a "Hamily."

"The Ham Radio Family. It's like the family you didn't know you had yet," Adams said.

Her inspiration came from her late father, John DeMajo.

"My dad was a character," Adams said.

Watch: The retired engineer spent 10 years and $100,000 resurrecting a rare Wurlitzer theatre organ.

DeMajo introduced his daughter to the power of shortwave radio well before the internet era.

The New Orleans native developed his love affair with all things radio at the age of four.

"He was my hero. From the day I was born, I was his sidekick," Adams said. "From the time he was able to walk, he was fooling with radios. Definitely."

DeMajo went on to amass what was considered the largest radio collection on the East Coast, gathering vintage radios from the 1920s through the '60s. His collection even included a 1926 Mighty Wurlitzer, which he played right in his living room.

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"Yes! Oh my goodness! There were so many radios! There were so many radios," Adams said.

"There's always room for more radios always we didn't turn any radios away," Adams said. "I didn't really realize it until like my friends would come over and be like you got a lot of radios (Laugh!)"

Just a few months after my 2023 interview with John DeMajo, his body racked by lung disease, the music ended.

"It was just very quiet after he passed," Adams said.

Her father's death left Adams with grief and racks of radios.

"It was my goal to keep as much of it together as possible," Adams said.

She didn't need to look far. Along one wall at the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum in Colonial Heights, visitors can now find DeMajo's trove of technology.

"Everything you see here used to be at my house," Adams said. "I don't know. Sometimes I think the radios found him!"

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Each device is a nod to the sounds from another century.

"It represents a whole lifetime of collecting," Adams said.

Dylan Simmons, who works with the museum in Colonial Heights, was speechless when he was introduced to John DeMajo's collection.

"People love it and being able to get like you said right up next to it and seeing it that close being able to see history that closes a special thing," Simmons said. "Something he worked his entire life to have and make and create and to keep it all together just it's great. It's a wonderful thing to be able to do."

Back at her home, Adams is channeling her role model through shortwave radio.

"I'm so happy I'm so happy to know that I'm carrying on the legacy," Adams said.

"Luckily, there have been so many people in the radio community that have helped me and really held my hand along the way. And responded and said, 'Hey we're glad you're here,'" Adams said.

Adams now transmits under the ham radio call sign K5HTZ — the same one assigned to her father in the 1950s.

"His whole entire life this was his name on the radio, so I'm glad to have it," Adams said. "That means everything to me."

"The most fun. I love the radio. I love to be on the radio," Adams said. "My dad wanted them to be enjoyed by everyone and for his story to be shared, and so I think that we were able to do that."

John DeMajo's radio collection is on display at the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum, 880 W. Roslyn Rd., Colonial Heights, VA 23834.