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My First Portable Radio
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Subject: My First Portable Radio From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 29 Sep 06 - 01:54 PM "I got my first portable radio when I was 16. It was a Motorola. It still is. It's sitting on a shelf in my garage. It's been with me all these years: it even went out to the Rocky Mountains with me, back in 1958. Actually, it wasn't my first portable radio. Kenny Raasch, who was my sister Marilyn's age and lived next door, was a teenage Edison and salvaged broken electronic equipment and managed to get it working. At least partially. Kenny gave me a small, white portable radio that someone had thrown out that he'd gotten working again. I thought that it was the essence of 1940's cool (although we called cool stuff "neat" in those days. The only problem was that at full volume it was like listening to a crystal radio set, and the radio smoked when you played it, giving off a faint, rancid smell. But my Motorola, that was another thing! In the early fifties when Patti Page was still "The Rage," and Perry Como always seemed to have a record on the radio, something strange and wonderful was happening. Not that you'd know it listening to WCLO; our local radio station. They still were giving the Hog Reports every morning right after the news, and Hank Williams ruled the airwaves. But late at night, I'd lie on my back in bed with my Motorola sitting on my chest, rotating the handle (which was also an antenna) trying to bring in WFOX in Milwaukee. They had a late night rhythm and blues program that would drift in and out of hearing, and I'd crane my neck and lie as still as possible, listening to the strange music. It all started with Gee, by the Crows in 1954. The Orioles had already had a hit with Crying In The Chapel in 1953, but it wasn't a radical change from the Ink Spots and other groups of the 40's. Gee was something totally different. The Crows were well named. They didn't have smooth, crooner voices, and their harmonies were rough. And they were just backed with a guitar and drums, rather than a whole orcehstra." That's enough for a first post. Anyone remember their first portable radio? |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: GUEST,Bee Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:12 PM A tiny turquoise transistor radio in 1961. Tough little thing. I carried it around in my coat pocket while climbing trees and bushwhacking through the local woods, often dropping it and getting it wet. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:18 PM I think mine was a Philco, Jerry. People used to give me their old radios to fix and keep, and this one was a beauty. I got this one when I was about eleven, in about 1959. It had a wooden case with a blonde finish, and one of those wooden roller doors that slid down to cover the controls. I'm guessing it was a foot wide, eight inches high, and 4 inches deep. This Goodgle Search should lead you to a photo - it was a model 46-350. That was quite a thrill just now - to search for philco portable tube and see a picture of MY radio. I was so proud of that radio. This search will lead to more 46-350 photos, and RadioMuseum.org has a great page on this model. Looks like they sell for about $25 on eBay nowadays, so it's certainly not priceless. I cleaned it up and replaced the bad tubes and got it working, but I never could afford the big 90-volt battery it needed to be truly portable. I have to admit I didn't use it very often - I preferred my big, macho Zenith with the shortwave band. I coveted my uncle's table-model Grundig-Majestic with all the shortwave and police and weather bands and whatnot, but he never caught on that it would make his nephew deleriously happy to have such a thing. It was kind of like this one but I can't remember it exactly. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Leadfingers Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:19 PM I never really got into portable radios when I was a lad - Got turned onto Jazz to young , and there wasnt a lot of good Jazz on UK radio in the Late Fifties !! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: beardedbruce Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:23 PM Mine was a Heathkit, Mid 1960s AM-FM solid state. Used 6 D cells. And yes, I do still have it ( No surprise to those who know me. I had built a crystal set, but with the hookup to the water pipe (ground), and 100' wire antenna I would not really call it "portable". More "moveable". |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: John MacKenzie Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:25 PM I still have one of these in full working order, and with the optional 'extra' a side band control. Giok |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Elmer Fudd Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:28 PM It was a transistor radio with a little plug-in earplug. I was in the sixth grade. I thought it was the coolest thing. I used it to listen to rock and roll and baseball games. I was talking to someone yesterday who said he had a widget he could clamp onto a metal bedframe from his radio to conduct electricity to an earplug, so he could listen to rock and roll at night without his parents hearing. He said magazines used to advertise the gizmos by mail order. Elmer |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 29 Sep 06 - 02:41 PM And to complete what I started writing: "The day after I heard Gee, I headed down to Goodenough's, our local music store. When I asked for Gee, by the Crows, they looked at me like I had a communicable disease. They had never heard of the record, and when they looked it up in the Schwan catalogue, they assured me that it didn't exist. And if it didn't exist, I should certainly understand why they couldn't order it for me. Two of my closest friends in high school were in their first year at Marquette University in Milwaukee and they ivited me to come to visit. To me, Milwaukee was the Emerald City. While they were off at classes, I headed off to find the record store that sponsored the rhythm and blues program. I'd never been to Milwaukee, but I managed to find the store, after walking several miles. It was a little hole in the wall; nothing like what I had imagined. But when I walked up to the counter and asked for Gee by the Crows, the man spun on his heels, reached into a box on the shelf behind him and pulled out a copy. It was as easy as that. Once the door was opened, rhythm and blues walked in. By the time that the Penguins sang Earth Angel in 1954, there was no turning back. In those days, rhythm and blues was Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Platters and Fats Domino and all the rest. It wasn't until much later that someone coined the term "Doo Wop." It's still all rhythm and blues to me. By the early fifties, I was struggling to play guitar, and would have given just about anything to sing in a rhythm and blues group. It would be many years before that dream was fulfilled, and then it would be in a gospel quartet. These days, you almost need a fork lift to carry the constructions that have replaced the old portable radios. And kids don't together to sing on the street corners any more." |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Sep 06 - 03:16 PM Milwaukee was the Emerald City for me, too, Jerry - and I had the privilege of living there for eight years, during high school and college. I didn't have a car, so I walked all over that town. -Joe, whose home was in Racine at the time- |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Big Mick Date: 29 Sep 06 - 04:03 PM It was silver, I was 11, I believe the year was 1962 (?) and I seem to remember "Puff the Magic Dragon" playing on it. In my minds eye I seem to see myself walking up the south sidewalk with this silver radio, half again as big as a pack of cigs, white earphone in my ear, telescoping antenna stuck out, Rosie MacGinnis (prettiest litte Irish girl that ever lived) thinking I was the coolest (remember that this is in MY minds eye, I am sure Rosie's memories would be different ... LOL). I can remember other times just laying in the grass, listening to the Detroit Tigers and the dulcet tones of the great Ernie Harwell, ..... my life was never the same. Loved that thing. Mick |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Les from Hull Date: 29 Sep 06 - 04:35 PM Very interesting. I find (from doing a little research) that I had one of these a Vidor dating from the 1950s that I was given second-hand by my Uncle Stan. I suppose it would have been the late 50s or very early 60s. It had a 90 volt dry cell to drive the valves (what you mericans call tubes) and a 1 1/2 volt one to power the aerial in the lid, which was very directional. I remember much later a shop assistant telling me and my mate that the Vidor Company (then more famous for batteries) was named for the owner's two daughters Violet and Doreen. 'Oh' says my mate 'which of them was Ever-Ready?' Les |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: wysiwyg Date: 29 Sep 06 - 04:57 PM I had a tiny earphone-type one, and also a tiny speakered one that I used to slip under my pillow to hear it with my ear pressed down tight. Bluuuuuuee.... VELvet....... Swoon! Then the Beatles came along and suddenly, small was just not big enough to handle the Beatles early sound. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Sep 06 - 05:16 PM I forgot about that, Les. Many of those original portable radios had batteries with two voltages, a higher voltage to power the heaters in the tubes, and the lower one for other uses. Most could also be plugged into a wall outlet, until transistor radios came along and needed a lot less juice. I notice that Jerry's interest in portable radios is mostly cultural, while mine was technical. I fixed the radio and made it work, and I got a big thrill out of that. I didn't actually bother listening to it, but I really liked to open the back and look at the tubes glow. Gee, I must be a real geek. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Bill Hahn//\\ Date: 29 Sep 06 - 06:34 PM Funny that this thred shold appear today when I just was talking about some nostalgic things with friends and I mentioned a portable radio I purchased with my saved pennies,etc; for my dad back in the 1940s. It may well have been the one Joe Offer mentioned--Philco w a wooden cabinet and a roll top to cover the dials. It used a long and heavy battery that makes me wonder--now---how really portable was it. With the batter in place it probably weighed more than the picnic basket of food. But in those days the design of most things was for a furniture like appearance---hence the beautiful wood and roll top. I wish I had kept these things. Bill Hahn |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Emma B Date: 29 Sep 06 - 08:01 PM I had my first "portable" radio handed down from my big sister in the late 50s. It was about the size and appearance of a small suitcase and covered in false snake skin but it allowed me to curl up at night time with Radio Luxemberg wondering why, if that bloke from Keynsham was so good at predicting pools results he needed to sell his skills! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Sep 06 - 08:20 PM I have to admit that I sometimes wondered if my friends would be electrocuted if my radio with the 90-volt battery fell in the pool.... -Joe Offer, Mad Tech Geek- |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 29 Sep 06 - 08:21 PM You got that right, Joe: I was never much of a fixer-upper, and the inside of a radio looked as foreign as the motor under the hood of my car. I came to learn a bit about cars... mostly because at one point or another in my lifetime of clunkers, just about everything that could break, broke. I invision a short story where somebody buys an old radio, like some of those described in this thread and brings it home to find that when he turns it on, the radio is still picking up radio broadcasts from the time the radio was new. When my sons were little, I bought cassettes of some of the old radio shows I listened to as a kid, and we gathered around the tape player and listened to The Shadow, Inner Sanctum and The Whistler. They thought it was kinda of cool. Weird, but cool. I still have a tape I made with Murray the K on Ringo's birthday. The only thing I regret is that I stopped taping during the commercials and the news. What a dummy. What's happening, baby? "You're happening..." Jerry |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Sep 06 - 08:31 PM
-Joe- |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Sep 06 - 12:38 AM I still have the old black Hallicrafter my parents used to listen to in the kitchen. And after that one they had a Zenith AM/FM radio, but after using that for a while I think my sister got it. My earliest radio that I owned on my own is this one, which of course, I still own. Like so many other packrats on this thread. :-/ (My radio was modified a few years ago by an electrical engineer friend who was trying to get some more life out of it for me. It originally had only the red and the beige wires. The gray is another clamp and antenna arrangement.) I used to get three or four stations on this thing, as I recall. When I worked on clearing out my great aunt's estate in 1984 I found several old transistor radios of hers, and I set one up in the kitchen to play an oldies Connecticut station around Ansonia or Derby (maybe Jerry knows what it was) somewhere on the AM dial. I remember one cousin in particular, the music major, who paused in the kitchen when he realized what I'd done and remarked that the radio and the station were exactly perfect for the house. I was glad someone else caught on! Nothing in the house was modern, so the music fit right in. I thoroughly enjoyed that trip down memory lane for Josephine. SRS |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Metchosin Date: 30 Sep 06 - 02:12 AM My first was a General 6 transistor radio that I got for Christmas in the early 60's from my Mum. I never told her, but I was sooo disappointed. I desparately wanted a Sony TR-6. The Sony TR-6 was cool and could even get stations down in California at night. But for my single Mum, a Sony TR-6 was financially a bit difficult, so I learned to love my General and even though it was cheaper and not cool, in it's faux leather case, it almost looked like a Sony and it worked just as well. I found out much later, after seeing some old newspapers of the time, that it was also possible to buy an unserviced building lot in our neighbourhood, for the same price as the Sony transistor radio.....60 bucks. Boy would I have been disappointed if she had done something as dumb as that instead. Quite wealthy now, but a very sad, lonely and disappointed teenager. That transistor radio was one of the major focal points of my life for a few years and my constant companion. I can even remember being onboard a small boat, in a very bad summer squall and hoping that if we were swamped, I'd somehow be able to keep my radio above my head and out of the salt chuck. Fortunately we made it ashore realatively unscathed, with only our fishing rods swept overboard from the cabin roof and my precious radio safely tucked and dry down the front of my life jacket....and the memory of Rolf Harris's pale pink sunshade held up high, instead of a transistor radio. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Rowan Date: 30 Sep 06 - 02:58 AM My first was a very compact crystal set in the early 50s. Unchained melody indeed, and then real rock music. Folk songs didn't get on the radio, much, in Melbourne then; we sang them instead. In the early 60s I worked summers for the importing distributors for National (now Panasonic) but couldn't afford any of their trannies. At one stage I needed to make thermocouples out of wire fine enough to fit inside a set of #22 syringe needles (measuring temperatures inside eucalypt gumnuts in fires) and put the HT output stages of an old mantle valve radio to good use. The repeated short-circuitings did nothing for the radio but I got what I needed. My first properly portable radio (a National trannie) didn't come until 1973. And got stolen in '76, by which time I'd started playing concertina. Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Metchosin Date: 30 Sep 06 - 03:05 AM Along with my hidden disappointment, I also remember another twinge of guilt from that time. My uncle Sparky owned a radio station in Vancouver. It was really powerful for the era....50,000 Watts!!!!! about the strongest signal on the coast here north of Frisco or perhaps even Los Angeles, so we were told.......and it even had a sort of OK DJ, Red Robinson, but mostly it was expected that all family members listen to Uncle Sparky's CKWX ....... but I thought it wasn't nearly as cool as CFUN or even KJR out of Seattle or some of really neat intermittant night stuff from California....so when out of earshot, I let the side down and listened to the competition instead, even if I couldn't quite hear it as well. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: eddie1 Date: 30 Sep 06 - 05:00 AM Got my first tranny as a birthday present from my parents around 1960. I think it was a Pifco and was about the size of a 20 cigarette packet. It had a speaker but also earphones – the first "in the ear" ones I'd seen. I always thought that if I got a new job, it would be a great idea to go in the first day wearing one earphone and pretend it was a hearing aid. That way I could listen to radio all day. Didn't get a new job for around five years by which time the radio had vanished. Ah well, another good idea bites the dust! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Les from Hull Date: 30 Sep 06 - 09:57 AM Emma B - you can tell the age of certain people in the UK by mentioning Keynsham and seeing if they go K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M. Horace Batchelor's Infra-draw method of winning football pools was a permanent advert on Radion Luxemburg's early evening programme (possibly Jimmy Saville's 'Teen and Twenty Disc Club' - TTDC). Want to listen again? How to spell Keynsham! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: frogprince Date: 30 Sep 06 - 10:28 AM I never happened to acquire a portable radio until I picked up a transistor job from a hock shop while I was in the Navy in the mid sixties. It was just a cheapie, I'm sure between 10 and 20 bucks, black plastic with a removable black "leather" wrap, sized to fit in a coat pocket. It was stolen after a couple of years, and I can't remember the brand. What I do remember is that a lot of my navy shipmates bought "10 transistor" pocket radios with brands like "Loyd" or "Juliette", and opened them up to look at the circuit boards. Invariably, at least 3 of the transistors had red dots on them. Those transistors were rejects; turn the board over, and they were just stuck in the board with solder, not connected to anything. I was a little surprised to notice that, not too long ago at least, "Loyd" and "Juliette" brands still existed. Dean |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: GUEST,obie Date: 30 Sep 06 - 11:40 AM |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: GUEST,obie Date: 30 Sep 06 - 11:47 AM Sorry, clicked wrong. I got a cig. pack size 8 tran. for Christmas one year. I took it to bed using the earphone listening to a late night country music show. I fell asleep with it on and started singing a duet with Hank Williams in my sleep, in a loud voice that woke my mother. I was a long time living that story down. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Emma B Date: 30 Sep 06 - 11:56 AM LOL - thanks for that "blast from the past" Les - if you're going to Sheffield FF can you bring me a sherbet dab too? :) |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Ron Davies Date: 30 Sep 06 - 12:17 PM It wasn't my radio, it wasn't portable, it wasn't in good shape--pretty bad shape, actually----but I was allowed to have it in the room I shared with my brother. And I was totally and completely riveted--and couldn't wait to hear The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Palisades Park, Roses Are Red, Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer, Mashed Potato Time, "Sealed with a Kiss" (and "Give Me Gravy--On My Mashed Potatoes Give Me Gravy" ) and others I can't remember--on WIVG. (And the jingles--like "Time to turn--so you won't burn". ) I had no idea that in Moorestown New Jersey I was so close to one of the hotbeds of pop music at that point--Philadelphia. But I couldn't get enough of that music--and it was a hideous trauma to be wrenched away from it all (and my friends, of course)--and to go to a state named after a girl! (Maryland). And in Maryland pop music was definitely not encouraged, there was no radio available--besides that I was determined to be miserable--and gloriously successful in that endeavor. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: JennyO Date: 30 Sep 06 - 12:59 PM I remember my first portable radio very well. It was Christmas 1960 I think, and I woke up really early, about 4am. There was a very small transistor radio in a leather case near my bed, and the first thing I heard in the half light when I turned it on was an instrumental I had never heard before - called Dalilia by Roger Roger (I believe in the UK they called it "The Desperadoes") That's quite a spooky sound to hear for the first time at 4am! It was just a simple little radio with a single earphone plug but I thought it was the coolest present I had ever had. I took it everywhere with me for years - I particularly remember taking it to test cricket matches for some reason. One day as I was walking along the beach I accidentally dropped it in the sea, and that killed it effectively. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Metchosin Date: 30 Sep 06 - 01:08 PM Another thing I remember most vividly was the pungent smell of the insides of my radio. Ahh! eau de transistors and circuit board! the dawning of a new kind of freedom. The germanium generation! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: JennyO Date: 30 Sep 06 - 01:10 PM Ooh yes, Metchosin - I forgot to mention that. I remember that smell vividly too! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Sep 06 - 01:52 PM I used to listen to KJR--it was one of the stations that had to go off the air at sunset, wasn't it? I was a great radio listener as a kid, and with the Hallicrafter I had the wherewithal to investigate shortwave. I made myself a chart of the English speaking stations I found on the dial. In later years I found I wasn't alone. Also used to hear some of the ship-to-shore calls (or at least one half of the call). There was an early call in talk show I listened to (on KING, I think), the Irving Clark show. I actually got to call in a couple of times. As a kid I found it annoying that they responded more to my youth that what I actually wanted to ask. SRS |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Les from Hull Date: 30 Sep 06 - 01:54 PM Here's a link to My Second Portable Radio This atrocious bit of kit was another of the fertile mind of Sir Clive Sinclair, and the reception was pretty bad. I probably though that it was 'cool' (I've seldom had any idea about which things are actually 'cool'. Oh and JennyO, nice theremin on that link! |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Metchosin Date: 30 Sep 06 - 02:24 PM I think you're right SRS, at least in the late 50's and early 60's, which is probably why latching on to some station to the south at night and hoping that it didn't fade out, seemed so vital to me as a kid. KJR was great for rock and roll because IMO it was instrumental in getting groups like the Kingsmen, the Wailers, the Ventures and the Fleetwoods airplay and that kind of live music at the Castle. I don't think the pacific northwest had such a music boom time again, until the advent of garage grunge bands such as Cobain and Pearl Jam more than 25 years later. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Andy Jackson Date: 30 Sep 06 - 03:16 PM Les, I still have a Sinclair Micromatic, complete with constructional information and circuit. Not an impressive performance but a piece of history indeed. Andy |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Sep 06 - 04:03 PM Well, there WAS Hendrix. . . |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Metchosin Date: 30 Sep 06 - 04:33 PM Yeah, but he had to go to the UK first and get an English drummer and an English bass player, then get a huge following over there first before anyone appreciated him locally. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: GUEST,joeyjoeyjoey Date: 09 Oct 06 - 06:34 PM my 1st portable was a zenith royal.i dont remember what model it was but it had a leather case and a steel handle that was a stand also.it was a hand me down from my older sister.i used it for a few months until it started making a buzzing noise.then it ended up in the trash.that was 1971 and back then it was just an old piece of junk.now i wish i had it just to display.it still looked good. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: MaineDog Date: 09 Oct 06 - 07:02 PM My first portable was a 6-transistor job that I built from plans in Popular Electronics Magazine , in about 1956 or so. I lived in New York then, so I could get Alan Freed on WINS, and all that good stuff. I used to listen to the late nite horror shows and freak myself out. I also heard lots of good (?) early folk music later on, like the Kingston Trio and early Harry Belafonte. Unfortunately, it was only loud enough to be a pillow speaker, and not rugged enough to carry around with me. MD |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: John O'L Date: 09 Oct 06 - 07:52 PM Mine was a little transistor, a National I think, which I remember was the main instrument by which I grew out of nightmares. With my earplugs I would listen in the middle of the night to comedy. At least that's what I remember listening to. There must have been other stuff as well but the comedy is what I remember, and Peter Sellers in particular. Perhaps it was Peter Sellers who relieved me of my nightmares. Now my son has trouble sleeping, and he uses an MP3 player in much the same way. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: John O'L Date: 09 Oct 06 - 07:53 PM Not Peter Sellers, it was Spike Milligan. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Oct 06 - 10:17 PM I used to listen to the CBS evening radio programming on a local AM station (KIRO) and the Radio Mystery Theater used to scare the socks off me some nights! When I was in college and the summers when I might be driving back to work late from my Mom's house, I'd time my drive so I could listen to that program. The pictures ARE better on the radio. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: JennyO Date: 10 Oct 06 - 12:33 AM Slightly off topic, but what SRS said about the pictures being better on the radio reminded me of something. We lived in Goulburn in the 1950's and didn't have television - I had never even heard of it. We had a big old floor model radio that had a very large speaker at the front. I used to sit in front of it and concentrate on it, thinking that the pictures were trapped inside and that if I squinted my eyes just right and concentrated hard enough, I would be able to see them. Maybe it was someone thinking like that which inspired them to invent television? Who knows? I remember several times when I thought that concentrating and willing something to happen would make it happen. That led to a number of aborted flights from the clothesline, an incident where I tried to swing 360 degrees around a rail on the front fence and hit my head on the fence, and an injury to my left heel when I decided to take a run across a grid in a cow paddock and didn't quite make it to the other side. I still dream I am doing physically impossible things, and I still believe there is a sort of truth in there somewhere, but I haven't quite got at it yet - I'm still working on it in small ways - nothing physically dangerous any more though. Now we're into major thread drift - back to the radios. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Uncle Phil Date: 10 Oct 06 - 03:01 AM It was the size of a small book and had a leatherette case. Picture four southern camp kids in the tent in the woods in the middle of the night. Pull the radio from its hiding place, hold it up in the air and turn it just right, and we can listen to forbidden rock 'n roll music from Chicago fade in and out. It's great. We never made it to breakfast on time or had a flashlight that worked. The batteries all ended up in the radio. - Phil |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: JennieG Date: 10 Oct 06 - 03:13 AM I remember a small plastic radio with an earphone - then when I was about 16 I bought myself a National transistor portable radio complete with leather case. There wasn't much choice of music to listen to in an Oz country town in those days, but I thought I was soooo cool. The 'Hit Parade' was played on Saturday morning. Ah, memories...... Cheers JennieG |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Mooh Date: 10 Oct 06 - 07:53 AM Some cheap transistor pocket radio with built in speaker and optional earphone, all in living mono! Probably a gift from my parents. At that age, early teens in the late '60s, I listened to CKPC Brantford, or CHUM Toronto, both AM stations. The stupid weakling couldn't pull in anything worthwhile up north. In high school I built a series of similar transistor radios and one tube radio, Heathkits likely, all of which worked well. (Also built a TV, multi-meter, oscilloscope, alarms, and various small amplifiers.) If I didn't live in radio wasteland I might enjoy having one again, but alas, CDs and MP3s are the personal standard now. Since the van radio died I haven't missed it at all. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: My First Portable Radio From: Jon W. Date: 10 Oct 06 - 06:00 PM A little AM radio, about 1970. I don't remember the brand but I thought it was great because it was the smallest in the store and had a plastic case shaped like one of those old Samsonite suitcases - all kind of rounded off, you know. I listened to KFRC and KYA from San Francisco and KLIV from San Jose, all top-40 stations in those days. I later found those radios would sound pretty good if I hooked up the headphone jack to a 6" speaker in my practice amp. |
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