Wacky radio.

Ahother story: I got my first FM clock radio around 1972, after I got to NYC which had FM stations. Maybe Chicago did too by then.

Very fancy, GE, with two alarms, digital, two speakers, and I used it 20 or 30 years before the buttons got flaky. Took it apart and cleaned the buttons and it was good for 5 or more years. Took it apart and cleaned it and this time it only lasted 2 or 3 years. I can't keep doing this! So for probably 10 years I've been using it to listen to only one FM station. It turns off by itself or I turn the volume down to zero, and the only button that has to work is the On button.

(It doesn't have push button frequency selection, and I found finding and pushing 3 numeric buttons to change stations more trouble than car-radio style, but they made then few if any table radios with car-radio buttons. Though I did see at a hamfest an AM/shortwave indoor radio from the 30's with mechancical memory for differnt frequencies. Came with little stubs/buttons already labeled WOR etc., and they sat on the 4 or 5" dial and would control where the dial stopped when you turned it.)

But then that got hard and I'd have to lean on the left, the right, up, down, sometimes for 30 seconds until I pressed it just right to get it to go on.

But two weeks ago, and this is why I'm writing, it got easy again, just push on the right side of the button and it starts immediately! I wonder how long this will last.

Another thing, when I got back from a long trip, it would stay on forever. I just turned the volume off. If a transistor radio will play for many hours on a little 9v battery, they must not use much. And most of the power they use is for the speaker driver, right?

But after a year there was a power failure and when the power came back on, it would turn off after, I guess, 24 hours, or maybe at the same clock time every time. I don't keep track.

Reply to
micky
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If you want a car radio, buy one. You can get one for a few bucks on Ebay or at a garage sale. I just threw a couple away. They will run just fine off a 12v wall wart. Once you get up around $15-20 it will have bluetooth and an MP3 player too.

Reply to
gfretwell

Goodness gracious. What planet did you come from?

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Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
angelica...

AM only car radios were pretty standard until up into the 70s. My 72 Jeep only offered an AM. I ended up pulling it out and replacing it with a JIL AM/FM/8 Track/CB. Most "Pop" radio was AM. The FM stations tended to be classical music. (at least in DC).

Reply to
gfretwell

My '62 Corvair, bought in '63 had AM/FM but it was an aftermarket. My '78 Chevy Malibu was my first car with a factory one but it was an option, not standard.

My last four cars had Sirius/XM and I'm willing to pay for no commercials.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I can't recall what kinds of radios I had then. My first couple of cars were hand-me-downs from my grandparents. I think the '74 Impala had an FM radio, but I could be wrong. The '72 (?) Pontiac station wagon had an 8-track player in it. It might have had FM; I didn't have it very long before it ate its transmission and I couldn't afford to fix it.

"Classical music". You say that like it's a bad thing. At one point my two favorite FM stations were WQRS (commercial classical station, not NPR) and WJZZ, both out of Detroit.

In any event, car radios aren't the only kind of radio. Especially since this thread was started with a discussion of a clock radio.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
angelica...

I remember having an FM radio in the kitchen when I was a kid in the

1950s.
Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

My car has a CD drive and a hard drive. It will happily copy the CDs to the harddrive. I've got about 250 CD's on the hard drive and that provides sufficient good music for most trips.

Once the free Sirius subscription elapsed, I've never re-upped. Even the GD channel wasn't worth the amount they were asking.

Reply to
Scott Lurndal

The only time I ever listen to the radio is during a hurricane when the power is out and I haven't started the generator yet. I have been using MP3s in my car since 1999 and I never listen to the radio in the house. It is really horrible with all the commercials.

BTW Micky, I have a Sony clock radio I will send you if you want it. One of the time set buttons is clunky but I am sure you can fix it.

Reply to
gfretwell

GE Schenectady was an early broadcaster both of TV (WRGB) and FM (WGFM). I didn't even know there was a genre to describe their programming:

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My tastes were a little different.

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Reply to
rbowman

Cross-posting to REC.ANTIQUES.RADIO+PHONO

Reply to
Michael Trew

Thanks. I didn't know about that group. I hope someone replies.

Regarding this strange change, I just noticed that I had turned one of the alarms, not the buzzer part but the radio. If the buzzer went off, I'd hear it, but not the radio if I'm listening anyhow. Maybe when it's just plain On, the alarm turns it on again but this time it's built to only stay on for 24 hours. ?? I don't know but I turned the alarm off.

Reply to
micky

Op 6-1-2022 om 3:45 schreef micky:

They sure had FM in Chicago. Se page 21 of the FM Atlas in 1970:

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Rink

(reading in rec.antiques.radio+phono)

Reply to
Rink

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