Remember the Transistor Radio?

[philbo]

I wonder if people will look back in 50 years with nostalgia on all the great music they heard in their youth playing MP3's, like I do in listening to my first exposure to pop & rock on WLS & KAAY on AM radio in the '60s?

 

FWIW, I consider the MP3 sound to be quite a bit superior to that of AM radio. For that matter, it's just a bit better than FM too...

[PermaNoobie]

 

I think it's a great analogy. So there! Back then, there was only one transistor radio, and today there's only one 32 GB iPod. Both provide music and other forms of entertainment, but in different ways, but that's the way it goes with progress.

 

 

But there are multiple Digital audio players providing the same sort of utility whereas at the time of the TR-1 there weren't alternatives providing the same sort of utility

 

 

 

You can over-analyze this if that's the way you work. I just thought it was an interesting observation

 

 

Or you can under-analyze

 

Like yours, mine was just an observation - I thought the different places in the Rogers curve was an interesting observation about the analogy

[monstermaker]

I still have one. A little Sony I got off Amazon for $10. The battery lasts a long time. I have a shower radio too. I suppose that counts. I'm longing for the day they can plant a memory chip in my skull and load in all the music every recorded. Then I'll give away the radios.

[rasputin1963]

I wonder if people will look back in 50 years with nostalgia on all the great music they heard in their youth playing MP3's, like I do in listening to my first exposure to pop & rock on WLS & KAAY on AM radio in the '60s? FWIW, I consider the MP3 sound to be quite a bit superior to that of AM radio. For that matter, it's just a bit better than FM too...

 

 

Justr as a sidenote here: I remember my parents telling me that FM-radio was originally only populated with "Classical" stations, which my parents called "Longhair music". FM, in the early days was considered stodgy and not for young people.

[Ken Vaughn]

I love the smell of the inside of a new transistor radio. I would wear it. Geek cologne.

[WRGKMC]

Justr as a sidenote here: I remember my parents telling me that FM-radio was originally only populated with "Classical" stations, which my parents called "Longhair music". FM, in the early days was considered stodgy and not for young people.

 

You're right. The AM radio was where you'd hear all the pop music and outta controll DJ's.

I lived close to New York and all the main stations would have whackey DJ's. Dan ingrum,

Wolfman Jack, Don imus were all out there. Good Morning Vietnam kind of captures the clash

on the airwaves and generations back then except it was much more extreme in the commercial market.

 

Kids couldnt afford the more expensive radios and were stuck with the cheaper AM sets and allot of cars only had AM

so Record companies targeted AM. Sort of how they target IPods now.

Later when FM became less expensive, Kids wanted the high fidelity and stereo the stations changed

their programing formats to fit their audiances.

You would scan the dial and have classical, country, Church stations, then a rock station.

There would be maybe one or two on the dial in the beginning and even then it may only be for a few hours of programming.

 

Think the change over of FM to rock stations began in the earley 70's near the big cities. Before that AM ruled for rock and pop.

[Beck]

You're right. The AM radio was where you'd hear all the pop music and outta controll DJ's. I lived close to New York and all the main stations would have whackey DJ's. Dan ingrum, Wolfman Jack, Don imus were all out there. Good Morning Vietnam kind of captures the clash on the airwaves and generations back then except it was much more extreme in the commercial market. Kids couldnt afford the more expensive radios and were stuck with the cheaper AM sets and allot of cars only had AM so Record companies targeted AM. Sort of how they target IPods now. Later when FM became less expensive, Kids wanted the high fidelity and stereo the stations changed their programing formats to fit their audiances. You would scan the dial and have classical, country, Church stations, then a rock station. There would be maybe one or two on the dial in the beginning and even then it may only be for a few hours of programming. Think the change over of FM to rock stations began in the earley 70's near the big cities. Before that AM ruled for rock and pop.

 

Yep, for us it was WLS in Chicago. In the 70's and early 80's we happily listened to AM pop in our cars. It was the gags with the DJs as much as the music. Personalities like John Records Landecker and Larry Lujack made AM interesting beyond the music. The music was ok too for the car or a small radio at a picnic or something. We could always listen to hi-fi at home or cassette and later CD in the car. I was really disappointed when the AM music stations started all going to talk radio. WLS AM did that I think mid to late 80's if memory serves me. It was fun while it lasted. I knew a few FM snobs back then who listened to local alternative rock stations. I did as well but never felt pressure to abandon AM for no other reason but for keeping up appearances. I never worried about stuff like that. I still don't.

[rasputin1963]

 

I love the smell of the inside of a new transistor radio. I would wear it. Geek cologne.

 

 

True dat! There were a number of audio smells in the 60's which would make my pulse quicken... The smell of the inside of a transistor radio. The smell of my parents SILVERTONE "entertainment center". The smell of tape in an 8-track. The smell of my father's VICTROLA.

[rasputin1963]

Yep, for us it was WLS in Chicago. In the 70's and early 80's we happily listened to AM pop in our cars. It was the gags with the DJs as much as the music. Personalities like John Records Landecker and Larry Lujack made AM interesting beyond the music.

 

 

I'm friends with his daughter, Tracey Landecker. She is a great gal, and I just love her. She has many stories of hanging out in the booth with her Dad when she was just a toddler.

[rasputin1963]

. I knew a few FM snobs back then who listened to local alternative rock stations. I did as well but never felt pressure to abandon AM for no other reason but for keeping up appearances. I never worried about stuff like that. I still don't.

 

I remember the outcropping of "alternative" rock FM radio in the early 70's. the DJ's always sounded like they were stoned... and they talked in really hushed, slow voices...

[yanktar]

I woke up on my 6th birthday, when my older brothers were off at camp and found all kinds of presents on my bed. In one was "7 Transistor" radio, about the size of 2 packs of cigarettes. I couldn't believe it was for me! It was 1961.

 

My dad had a portable radio about the size of a toaster that used tubes, could plug in or use a giant battey that took about half the insides of the radio and weighed several pounds.

[techristian]

Believe it or not, I listened to lots of TALK RADIO as a kid, with my "transistor" under my pillow.

 

Dan

[WRGKMC]

There were some great talk show hosts then. They werent all hung up on politics and got into some really cool stories.

Other than the news they all avoided it because they knew they would alienate half their audiance. There were still a few

serial type radio shows that played as well. The kind of stuff you'd hear during the 40's. Real theatre of the mind stuff you

could only get close to by reading a book.

[yump]

pretty hard to find a good AM radio.

 

i have 2 and one has a usb and SW.

 

you can find some cool fm's with all kinds of stuff but they don't have AM!

 

under $10.00 that is.

 

was art bell on in the 60's? i used to listen to some cool stuff on am. like doctor dimento!

[Jeff Leites]

I got my first transistor radio in 1961. It used a weird, expensive 4.5 volt mercury battery. I'd save the rundown batteries, because there were usually one or two good cells in it, and after replacing two or three batteries, I could build a new one from the used good cells. It also wasn't very reliable, I remember having to send it back to the factory a couple of times for repairs, for a flat fee of $5... a lot of money back then. I've had a few since then. There's not a big selection of pocket sized radio's today. Sony and Coby are the only ones that come to mind.

[MikeRivers]

pretty hard to find a good AM radio. i have 2 and one has a usb and SW. you can find some cool fm's with all kinds of stuff but they don't have AM!

 

The place to find bad radios is in hotel rooms. They're just the cheapest pieces of junk. Now they're starting to get ones that have a cable with a mini phone plug to plug in your own music player, but as radios (I like to listen to Morning Edition on the local NPR station) they often don't make the grade. They use the power cord for an antenna and it's always in the wrong place (mostly on the floor).

 

The compact fluorescent bulbs in the bedside lamps (where the radio is usually placed because it's the clock as well) usually have to be turned off in order to reduce RFI to a tolerable buzz level. And some hotels think so highly of these $10 radios that they either mount them on screwed-down bases or attach the power cord to the outlet screw with a cable clamp so it requires a screwdriver in order to move the radio to a place in the room where it gets better reception. I ALWAYS move those whether I need to or not.

[A. Einstein]

This CD set sounds awfully good on an old radio, it sold almost as good as the Quran CD set

 

 

[c10]

I use an app called "Tune In radio" on the iPhone, and play thru the ginormous built-in speaker when I am walking the dogs or otherwise don't want to bother with earbuds. The app lets you search for radio stations by genre, location, or specify a URL for the stream. I think it would be cool if they made a phone case with a slightly better speaker and battery. And that transistor radio smell...

[Lee Knight]

 

There were some great talk show hosts then. They werent all hung up on politics and got into some really cool stories.

 

 

Anybody remember this guy? Bill Ballance?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ballance

[WRGKMC]

^^ It was before they had allot of broadcasting nationally.

Allot of DJ's had local audiences and unless they did some other work

in TV or Movies they didnt get recognised nationally.

 

One of my favorite talk show hosts from the 60's was Jean Shepherd on WOR.

Couldnt remember his name for the life of me last week, it just came to me today.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Shepherd

 

Didnt realize till I Googled his history up that he was the one who narrated that movie The Christmas Story

and had a cameo telling the "Hey kid the line ends here, it begins back there".

The fact he narrated that movie is pretty ironic because that movie was placed at a time he was doing radio

shows when I was a kid.

 

He was a talk show guy who could talk all night with nothing written down and make up stories on the fly that

were very theatre of the mind. I still remember some of the stories today. I may have to check that podcast list there

on Wiki

[Jeff Leites]

Lee - I remember Bill Ballance. I first heard him when I moved to L.A. around '73. I thought he was pretty risque... at least compared to anything I had heard back in Philadelphia.

 

 

WRGKMC - I was a big Shep fan back in the '60s, and early 70's. I even got to see him do a live show once. I sure missed him when I went to school in southern FL, and when I moved to L.A.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but you can download tons of mp3's of his radio show from archive.org, and here. I listen to him when I go on long walks. "Excelsior, you fat heads!".

FLICK LIVES!

[Jeff Leites]

It looks as if this thread might have come to an end, so I found what I believe is an appropriate ending (that most of you are probably too young to remember ) It's Freddy (BOOM BOOM) Cannon!

 

[video=youtube;J3LACLoUOfc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3LACLoUOfc

[Anderton]

 

He was a talk show guy who could talk all night with nothing written down and make up stories on the fly that were very theatre of the mind. I still remember some of the stories today. I may have to check that podcast list there on Wiki

 

 

Thanks for letting me know about the podcasts, I am a huge Jean Shepard fan. I don't live in the past much, but I'll make an exception for Shep.

[Jeff Leites]

There are a number of Shep videos on YouTube. Some are slide shows over his radio show, but there are also some actual video clips and stories. They can be a bit hard to find, because there is also a country singer, named Jean Shepard (searching for Jean Shepard WOR, or Jean Shepard Flick helps).

 

Here are a few for you viewing pleasure

 

[video=youtube;oQLg3rcV-Is]

 

[video=youtube;vK9cIxM4-SU]

 

[video=youtube;Rke5xFNO0og]

 

[video=youtube;a4-phyGmhv0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4-phyGmhv0&feature=related

[yanktar]

 

No... I have a Victrola. I got it a year ago and it is fantastic. Nothing beats listening to Classical music from that era on a Victrola. It really sounds great. But you need to make sure you're getting 78s that were produced with the Victrola in mind, and not a 78 that had any electricity in its recording path. Those will play but aren't really the real deal. Acoustic recording/acoustic playback = awesome. And... people just give the vinyl away. I answered a Craigslist, a guy cleaning out his garage, had a bunch of "crappy old records, really lame 78s". I took perfect quality, from the era, like new, albums and albums. Like the book type albums? Awesome. Perfect.

 

 

I have a genuine 1918 Victor Victrola I have had since I bought when I was 15 for $20. Worked too. Still does, over 40 years later. It's moved all over with me. Even my wife loves having it around.