The first tube radios ran on direct current only.  By 1927 most househould  appliances ran on alternating current (AC).  At that time AC radios made a big splash in the market. 

     DC power still had a place in society, and this 1954 model is one of the last AC-DC radios made.
It is one of the first to use modern plastics.  Previous radios were of brittle bakelite or an expensive multicolored variant, Catalin.