On this day, October 18, 1954, the transistor radio was announced.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Transistor radio

{snip}

Early commercial transistor radios

Regency TR-1


Regency TR-1.

Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world's first commercially produced transistor radio. Previously, Texas Instruments was producing instrumentation for the oil industry and locating devices for the U.S. Navy and I.D.E.A. built home television antenna boosters. The two companies worked together on the TR-1, looking to grow revenues for their respective companies by breaking into this new product area. In May 1954, Texas Instruments had designed and built a prototype and was looking for an established radio manufacturer to develop and market a radio using their transistors. (The Chief Project Engineer for the radio design at Texas Instruments' headquarters in Dallas, Texas was Paul D. Davis, Jr., who had a degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He was assigned the project due to his experience with radio engineering in World War II.) None of the major radio makers including RCA, GE, Philco, and Emerson were interested. The President of I.D.E.A. at the time, Ed Tudor, jumped at the opportunity to manufacture the TR-1, predicting sales of the transistor radios at "20 million radios in three years". The Regency TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954, by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A., was put on sale in November 1954 and was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. Billboard reported in 1954 that "the radio has only four transistors. One acts as a combination mixer-oscillator, one as an audio amplifier, and two as intermediate-frequency amplifiers." One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark. The look and size of the TR-1 was well received, but the reviews of the TR-1's performance were typically adverse. The Regency TR-1 is patented by Richard C. Koch, US 2892931, former Project Engineer of I.D.E.A.

{snip}

Regency TR-1


Regency TR-1 transistor radio

The Regency TR-1 was the first commercially manufactured transistor radio, introduced in 1954. Despite mediocre performance, about 150,000 units were sold, due to the novelty of its small size and portability. Previously, transistors had only been used in military or industrial applications, and the TR-1 demonstrated their utility for consumer electronics, offering a prescient glimpse of a future full of small, convenient hand-held devices that would develop into calculators, mobile phones, tablets and the like. Surviving specimens are sought out by collectors.

{snip}

Ramones - Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio? (Official Music Video)
1,420,544 views Nov 11, 2019

RHINO
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You're watching the official music video for Ramones - "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" from the album 'End Of The Century' (1979)

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{snip}

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio, Radio
744,415 views Sep 4, 2015

Elvis Costello
60.9K subscribers

The new deluxe album ‘Look Now’ out now, order here: https://ElvisCostello.lnk.to/LookNow

Explore more music from Elvis Costello: https://lnk.to/wWTFS

Music video by Elvis Costello & The Attractions performing Radio, Radio. (C) 1978 Elvis Costello under exclusive license to Universal Music Enterprises, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

http://vevo.ly/izQqEx

{snip}

[louis-t]

1. Still have my first transistor radio in the original box.

With the earpiece. 1963, the company was O.M.G.S. A Japanese company. I remember sitting on the porch listening to Ernie Harwell and George Kell on the simulcast of Tiger games. They only did that one year. Then Ernie went to radio and Kell went to tv.

[catrose]

3. I wish I did! My grandmother gave it to me (to my mother's disgust)

It was my best friend.

[msongs]

2. was a hot item under the pillow, hanging from the rear view mirror or at the beach.

we thought that cheap tinny sound was just awesome lol