Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
It's summertime! And that means picnics and barbecues and outings of all sorts! And thanks to the amazing transistor radio, you can take your favorite radio station with you wherever you go. Even though the term "game-changer" didn't really come into vogue until the 1990s, the transistor radio fit the bill long before...
Discussion (9)
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Four transistor design to keep the price down. The sound quality would have been improved by one or two more, but transistors were rather large as well as expensive. Still, it was good for 30 hours on that single 22.5V battery, five times longer than a larger tubed radio running on battery-power.
I had a couple of contracts with the descendant of these birds, long after their radio days had drawn to a close.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I got my first transistor radio as a Christmas present when I was about 10. I can still remember my sister and me waking up our parents on Christmas morning to go downstairs, and Dad asked "What time is it?" I looked at the clock and said "6:15" but when we all got downstairs and started opening stuff he said "Wait a minute, it's 3:30" and made us go back to bed. I took the radio back to bed and listened to it on the (single) earphone the rest of the night.
Related, here's a radio I've had since 1975. It has survived many trips to the beach and still works, believe it or not. The handle fell off years ago. Duct tape kept it on for a while, but we finally gave up on that.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
From the image at the top of the post...
My mom had this little radio, including the leather case. She gave it to me at the beginning of my teens, in the mid 70s. I really enjoyed having my own source of music, at least when correctly angled on my bedroom window sill. There was only one station strong enough to reach us, playing country music.
Edit: It took a few minutes to dredge this up, and verify it... The one station was KWTO in Springfield, MO.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I watched it all on my radio.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Always loved Robin Seymour's theme. (The 1956 Cruisin'.) The Four Lads and Percy Faith. Highest-paid DJ in the country for a while.
You're seeing five of nine comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.