Multipurpose devices are a tricky idea. Some of them work out, most don’t. Radios with phonographs and radios with clocks were common.
Radios in cars were a good idea, and in fact the radio took precedence over more prosaic devices like windshield wipers or heaters. The radio had the place of honor in the center of the dash, while wiper and heater controls were inconveniently separated from the dash. People need entertainment more than they need comfort.
Here are three 1938 multipurpose radios that failed.
Every major manufacturer tried chairside radios. They didn’t sell. I never saw one in an antique store or an auction.
Zenith tried a radio and magazine rack.
Crosley went all the way, combining its two major skills into a Refrigeradio. This was obviously wasteful. The radio occupied 1/3 of the space that should have been available for food, and the heat of the tubes would counteract the cooling of the coils. (To modern eyes the upper compartment looks like a freezer with the radio in the door, but separate freezers didn’t arrive till 1947, and the door clearly doesn’t have a handle.)
Polistra's Mill 
