Car radios were both new and controversial in the early 1930's. Laws were proposed in Massachusetts and St. Louis to ban the use of radios while driving. Opponents of car radios argued that they distracted drivers and caused accidents, that tuning them took a drivers attention away from the road, and that music could lull a driver to sleep. In a New York Auto Club poll, 56 percent deemed the car radio a "dangerous distraction". The Radio Manufacturers Association argued that car radios could be used to warn drivers of inclement weather and bad road conditions, as well as keeping them awake when they got drowsy.
The Willys 8-88A and Willys Knight 66E both came "Radio Ready" which meant the antenna was installed at the factory. The antenna was a wire strung under the soft roof top with the shielded part of the radio wire soldered to a bracket that was screwed to the chassis (ground). It was normal practice at that time to have to remove the interior roof lining in order to fit an antenna during radio installation.
