Born almost exactly one year after his future business partner Karl Hassel, Ralph H.G. Mathews shared Hassel's enthusiasm for radio. Born in 1897, Mathews had built his first amateur radio station in Springfield, Ohio, in 1908. While attending Lane Technical High School in Chicago, Mathews built his first radio transmitter in 1912.
Also while in school, Mathews perfected a distinctive aluminum saw-tooth rotary spark gap that produced a distinctive sound instantly recognizable to other hobbyists. The popularity of the spark gap disk led to a small post-graduation business building radio components for amateurs and helped him raise funds for college. Mathews supplemented this income by working during summers between 1915 and 1917 as a shipboard radio operator for $25-$30 a month. He was appointed trunk line manager for the center region of the U.S. in the new Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) in March 1916, and was elected to the ARRL Board of Directors in February 1917. Known by other amateur radio operators as "Matty," Mathews also changed his radio call letters from 9IK to 9ZN, which was the origin of the famous Zenith trademark.
Like Hassel, Mathews eventually shifted to the U.S. Navy when amateur broadcasts were shut down in 1917. The two became friends in the Navy, united by their love of radio. When they decided to go into business to form the Chicago Radio Laboratory (CRL) in late 1918, they first lived and worked at 1316 Carmen Ave. in Chicago, Mathews' parents' home. Their first products were built on the kitchen table, and Mathews' father, who worked for a printing company, printed the first CRL catalog in mid-1919. The two focused on manufacturing a more developed version of Mathews' spark gap disk and other amateur radio gear.
Although literally a tabletop operation, the nascent company owned a valuable Armstrong regenerative receiver patent license, which was negotiated by Mathews in 1920. The company had no inventory - they manufactured product as orders came in. Along with three workmen, they built 12 radios at a time, which took two to three weeks, with oak ply cabinets made by a cabinet maker on Clark Street.
Following an investment by Commander Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., CRL grew, and was later merged with Zenith Radio Corp., a sales and marketing firm created by McDonald in 1923. Along with the size of the company, the volume of radios manufactured also increased. By the mid-1960s, the company had more than 15,000 employees.
Mathews, however, didn't stay with the company long enough to enjoy its later success. Mathews gave up day-to-day responsibilities at Zenith in 1928 and established R.G.H. Mathews & Associates Sales Engineering Consultants. In 1933, now officially an ex-Zenith employee, he created Ford, Browne & Mathews Advertising Agency of Chicago. He then re-joined the Navy during WW II, assisting with recruiting. In 1954, he joined Magnavox and then worked for Westinghouse starting in 1957. After stints at several other companies during the next decade, he retired in 1967.
Mathews and Hassel shared more than an enthusiasm for radio - they both were married to the same woman. Mathews married Mildred Josephine Finn, but the two divorced in the mid-1920s. Hassel married her in January, 1925, a union that lasted until his death in 1975.
After retiring, Mathews moved to Mexico, where he was a lay leader of St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Chapala, Jalisco. He died in 1982.