William Francis Goodreau was born September 14th, 1901 ⁴ to Frank and Catharine. Frank was a Journeyman Bricklayer and Catharine was a homemaker. He had 6 siblings in 1910, 4 brothers and 2 sisters. His father was born in France and his mother in New York ⁵. William married Virginia Pearson on October 25th, 1923 ⁷ when he was 40 years old, Virginia was a nurse. ¹⁸ They lived in her fathers boarding house at 68 Charles Field street in Providence with Virginia's father Harry, Mother Sophia, Virginia's sister Dorothay and 12 boarders ⁶. His occupation was listed as Radio Work ⁶. Williams radio work seems to have started when he as hospitalized in 1920 for an unknown illness that seems to have kept him bed ridden. It was there that he was introduced to radio by Troop 5 in Providence ⁸.

In 1928 William wins the $100 prize for his article in Radio News titled "An RF Short-Wave Broadcast Receiver" Also in 1928 ⁹ Williams listed occupation changes to Publicity Man and continues in 1930 ¹⁰, 1933 ¹¹, and 1935 ¹². In 1937 ¹³ William is the owner of a Art Craft Studio and still lives at 68 Charles Field street in Providence with his in-laws.

William becomes a greeting card manufacturer as we see ads for this starting in 1931 and we see evidence of this through 1939 ¹⁴. The location on Charles Field is owned by Goodreau and his wife.

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Providence Journal
January 20, 1934

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Providence Journal
November 15, 1931

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Providence Journal
November 22, 1931

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Providence Journal
August 2, 1934

Mr Goodreau makes a major career change in 1940 according to the 1940 censue where his occupation is listed as a Propritor of used cars sales ¹⁵. Jumping careers again he is listed as a printer in 1941 and his home is now in North Attleboro, MA ¹⁶. In 1942 he is divorced¹⁹ and still listed as a printer but now living at 734 Westminster in Providence. In 1943 William marries again to Penelope Mastropietro²⁰.

In 1948 Mr Goodreau is caught up in an investigation into voter fraud because his, and other signatures, on a primary ballot were questionable. William's claim supported the fraud, in that, he stated he had not signed the ballot due to being confined to a wheel chair²¹.

No new listing is found until his California death certificate on June 27th, 1966 ¹⁷.

No matter what Mr Goodreau did his main interest was designing and building new receiving sets and seeing how many distant stations he could tune in. He did not own a radio company or sell his sets. He did write for magazines ¹. In a letter to “Radio In The Home" in January of 1924 he wrote in a letter to the editor:

"I am a radio experimenter ; have been confined to bed for the last three years, having been ill seven years, but I design and construct radio sets, not for sale, but for my own pleasure. I drill all panels, etc., while flat on my back, and I sure do have a lot of fun. I build all kinds of sets, including the Grimes as described in one of your past issues. Also tried regeneration with Grimes, and my advice is DON'T DO IT. For a living I write for magazines. "If you are interested in this receiver please let me know and I will be glad to write an article on this set, or should you desire I will give you all the dope on it and you can build it and describe it to your readers. I have several sets now, including a reflex, but this one is my best for distance." 1

He wrote a lot of articles for the magazine “Radio In The Home". I have found a total of 8 articles which are included on this page. Although he did not ever sell his sets, other companies used his articles to sell the parts needed to build. You will notice the ads included on this page with parts called out that can be used for Mr Goodreau’s sets.

In one article Mr Goodreau goes on a “Special Mission" for “Radio In The Home" to test a portable set he designed. The set is promoted as being for the vacationist. In his testing Mr Goodreau states:

"During tests of this receiver, I have heard on antenna alone or ground alone, Station KDKA, which is over 600 miles from Providence, R. I., where the set was tested. With antenna and ground together, have heard Station WTAM at Cleveland, Ohio, and Station WDAP at Chicago. The music was clear, but not as loud as it would be on a full-size receiver." 2

By September of 1924, “Radio In The Home" describes Mr Goodreau like this:

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Troop 5 with their radio setup for patients
at Rhode Island Hospital
This is where an aling Mr Goodreau was introduced to radio.
Wireless Age November, 1922.

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Providence Journal April 10, 1922

ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE MEN IN RADIO ³

This is W. Francis Goodreau. Contributing Editor "Radio In The Home." Mr. Goodreau as been bedridden for years. He does all of his studying, experimenting and set building flat on his back, and in spite of his physical handicap has worked himself up among the ranks of America's most popular and successful radio writers.

ADS

Click to Enlarge Providence Journal January 9, 1924

Click to Enlarge Providence Journal January 13, 1924

Click to Enlarge Providence Journal January 27, 1924

Click to Enlarge Radio in the home December, 1924

Click to enlarge Radio in the home, November, 1924

Click to enlarge Radio in the home March, 1924

Click to enlarge Radio in the home September, 1923

ARTICLES

January 1924 An Ideal Circuit For The Ducoit Plug	March 1924 Goodreau Answers Questions About His Famous Circuit
April 1924 Goodreau's Spider Web Portable Set	May 1924 A Favorite Circuit, Simplified
July 1924 Radio Frequency and the Goodreau Split Variometer	September 1924 Building Radio Sets That Work
October 1924 How Far Will This Set Receive?	December 1924 Another Favorite Circuit Simplified

¹ An Ideal Circuit For the Ducoit Plug, January, 1924

² Goodreau's Spiderweb Portable Set, April, 1924

³ Building Radio Sets That Work, September, 1924

⁴ William Francis Goodreau 1935 Census Card

⁵ 1910 US Census

⁶ 1930 US Census

⁷ Providence Marriage Records, 1921-1923

⁸ What Radio Means To Me, Radio Broadcast, January 1924

⁹ 1928 Providence Street Directory

¹⁰ 1930 Providence Street Directory

¹¹ 1933 Providence Street Directory

¹² 1935 Providence Street Directory

¹³ 1937 Providence Street Directory

¹⁴ 1939 Providence Street Directory

¹⁵ 1940 US Censue

¹⁶ 1941 Providence Street Directory

¹⁷ California Death Notice

¹⁸ Providence Journal October 6, 1923

¹⁹ Providence Journal July 10, 1942

²⁰ Providence Journal January 23, 1943

²¹ Providence Journal September 14, 1948