06/04/2025
that’s IT! I can’t TAKE IT ANYMORE! im becoming an evergreen donor for WORT to get a transistor radio 📻 wortfm.org
In the early 1950s, most families had just one radio, a vacuum tube radio that sat in stately splendor in the parlor, where the family gathered to listen to Edward Murrow, The Ozzie and Harriet Show, The Lone Ranger, and Our Miss Brooks, programs that reflected its multi-generational audience.
In 1947, Bell Labs invented the transistor (awarded the Nobel Prize in 1956). But it wasn't until 1954 that Texas Instruments partnered with Industrial Development Engineering Associates to produce the transistor in a portable radio (something not possible with tube radios).
The Regency TR 1 was the result of that collaboration. It retailed for $49.95 when it debuted on October 18, 1954. That's $595 in today's money. Even at that price, the novelty of the first nearly pocket-sized radio (5" by 3" by 1 1/4") made a big splash, quickly selling 140,000 units.
By 1957, nearly 5 million transistor radios, produced by various companies, were sold in the United States. You could listen to the radio in your bedroom, bathroom, or car. You could take it to parties, to the beach, to your friend's house.
Suddenly, music and news were accessible everywhere with just the flip of a switch. Teenagers no longer had to listen to the programs their parents chose for them.
Radio stations playing rock and roll multiplied. Rock and Roll's first #1 hit came in 1955, as Bill Haley and His Comets topped the Pop Chart with the single "Rock Around The Clock".
Our Summer Pledge Drive, going on now through Sunday, is our Last on-air drive until OCTOBER. And we are honoring the revolutionary first pocket radio with a transistor radio as a thank-you gift. An excellent emergency radio, gardening radio, and camping radio. The sound is much better than the transistor radio I owned in the 1960s.
WORT volunteers in their 20s and 30s loved the retro vibe -- consider giving yours to a young relative!
Bright orange, AM-FM-Short Wave, ear jack, batteries included. Your donation will help us replace our roof!
Donate here: wortfm.org/donate
WORT FM
Broadcasting & media production company
