| Channel Master 6506 1959 |
| Made for Channel Master by Sanyo, these are pretty radios, somewhat larger than shirt-pocket size. They have nice perforated metal grilles and reverse-painted plastic trim. |   |
| Commodore / Hi-Lite YTR-601 ca. 1961 |
 | These two transistor sets were obviously made in the same factory even though they carry different brand names. Such capricious labeling was common with imported transistor radios in the 1960s. These have crisp styling with nice perforated metal grilles. |
| Fuji Denki TRS-861 1963 |
 | A two-band (AM and shortwave) coat-pocket-size radio, with a mirror-finished perforated metal grille. |
| Hi-Delity / Supre-Macy 6T-330 ca. 1962 |
 | These are stunning little cuties, with luscious clear-plastic (the Hi-Delity) or reverse-painted (the Supre-Macy) sections at the tops of their cases. |
| Highwave ca. 1965 |
 | I had one of these radios as a 12-year-old boy. I can clearly remember going with my father to an appliance store on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, CT to buy it. I enjoyed it for several years, but for reasons apparently known only to youngsters, I destroyed it. Took it apart and couldn't put it back together again. I'm glad I was able to find a replacement copy for my collection. It has 14 (count 'em!) transistors, three bands (AM, FM, shortwave), a tone control and a big 3-1/2-inch-diameter speaker. Super deluxe! |
| Marvel / Mellow-tone 6YR-15A Early 1960s |
 This model is my first radio, bought for me by my father at the A&P Supermarket on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, CT. I chose the coral-colored one in the display case. The one pictured above is not that original radio; after a while (I'm guessing at age 10) I took it apart and couldn't put it back together again. |
| Mellow tone / Tempest TR604 ca. 1963 |
| Cleanly styled radios, with nice smooth plastic cases and a hefty, solid feel. The black one is theTempest-branded model; the other two are Mellow tones. My dad bought me one of these too, after the 6YR-15A above was no more, at the same A&P store. Mine was a light blue color. |  |
| Realtone "Globepacer" ca. 1965 |
 | This was Japan's answer to the Zenith Transoceanic. And what a magnificent answer it is. Eleven (count them!) bands, AM, SW and FM. Variable selectivity. I could go on, and in fact I do. Click the thumbnail for more. |
| Realtone TR-8611 "Constellation" 1963 |
 | On the back of the case, in the lower corner, just where you'd expect to see the word "Japan," it instead says "Ryukyus." At first this puzzled me, but I found that it refers to the Ryukyus chain of Pacific islands. The most commonly known one (at least to Americans) is Okinawa, occupied by the U.S. from the end of WWII until 1972, when it became a Japanese Prefecture. So this radio was not "Made in Japan" but, most likely, made in Okinawa. |
| Standard SR-H437 / SR-G430 "Micronic Ruby" 1965 / 1964 |
 | These are extraordinarily tiny eight-transistor radios. The SR-G430 on the right was the first Micronic Ruby, followed soon by the SR-H437, left. |  |
| Toshiba 7TP-352S 1960 |
 | Like other early Toshibas, this is a beautifully finished radio with lots of attention to detail evident in its design and manufacture. It has a reverse-painted top, and a quilted metal grille below. This two-band radio was available in two versions, this one with AM and shortwave, and the 7TP-352M with AM and marine-band tuning. |
| Toshiba 8TM-300S 1959 |
 | This is a big transistor radio. At almost eight inches wide, it's bigger than coat-pocket size. It has two bands, standard broadcast AM and 6-to-18-mc. shortwave. Each band has its own slide rule scale, one on each side of the bandswitch pushbuttons, which are centered on top. |
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| Channel Master 6515 1960 |
| This is the big brother to the Channel Master 6506 at left. It has eight transistors instead of six, and is much larger with a bigger speaker. It sounds quite good, and the added RF stage gives it very good signal-pulling power. |  |
| Emerson 838 1955 |
 After Regency brought the first all-transistor radio to market in 1954, other companies rushed to design transistors into their portables. But many were unable to convert completely over to transistors immediately, so they designed hybrid radios that used a combination of transistors and vacuum tubes in their circuits. This is one such radio. |
| Grand Prix GP-901 ca. 1965 |
 | The 1965 date is a guess, based on the general appearance of the set and its construction. Although the presence of the Conelrad dial markings at 640 and 1240 kc would generally indicate a radio made between 1953 and 1963, in this case I think they were just carried forward unnecessarily by the manufacturer, as was sometimes done. |
| Highwave / Star-Lite "HiFi Deluxe" ca. 1964 |
| These small six-transistor sets have clean, simple lines and attractive metal fronts. Close examination reveals that they were probably made by the same prolific Japanese company that made those wonderful Marvel brand sets, below. |  |
| ITT 881 1963 |
| This coat-pocket-sized eight-transistor radio has two bands—a "marine" band covering 1.8 to 4.5 MHz, and the regular AM broadcast band. I like the two-tone white and salmon colored case. |  |
| Marvel 6YR-15B Early 1960s |
| This Marvel is very similar to the '15A at left, with a stylish round speaker grille, reverse-painted upper front and gold-tone accents. |  |
| Marvel 6YR-19 Early 1960s |
 | This Marvel is just so incredibly cute and tiny. Only three inches tall. |
| Raleigh / Mastercraft / Highwave / Norwood 6YR-65 ca. 1963 |  | These are small transistor radios brought to us by the same Japanese company that produced all those cute Marvel transistor radios above. |  |
| O.M.G.S. Suburbia 1200 1964 |
 This is a coat-pocket-sized transistor radio, with nothing in particular to recommend it, except that I had one like it when I was a kid. (I had several radios as a kid—I was a radio collector even then.) This O.M.G.S. does have the best sound of any of my transistor radios, though. Extremely sensitive, with excellent tone. |
| Sony TR-620 1961 |
 | No baloney! This is a solidly built little radio in an interesting slate-blue color. I like the metalwork, with its magnified peephole, above the speaker. This is a very finely finished radio, even more so than many other Japanese radios of the day. |
| Star-Lite TRN-60C Early 1960s |
 | This is a radio that's embellished with a blade. There's a metal band embedded, edge out, in the plastic case. It starts on one side, goes over the top and down the other side. The plastic is a delicate pistachio green color. Oooh. |
| Toshiba 8TM-41 / 8TM-294 1961 / 1960 |
 These are two near-twin coat-pocket-size Toshibas. They both have beautiful slide-rule dials under clear plastic. Mechanically, they're virtually identical inside. Even though it appears that the '294's circuit-board assembly could have been used in the 8TM-41 without modification, Toshiba chose to design another board with a different parts layout and slightly different circuitry.
I can't resist quoting from a Toshiba ad for the 8TM-294: "Mere words cannot describe its brilliant performance or the breath-taking beauty. By any yard-stick of comparison this Toshiba transistor 8 offers a new standard of perfection." Indeed. |
| Yaecom YTR-808 ca. 1960 |
 | Yet another coat-pocket-size, two-band transistor radio from the early 1960s. Dig those cool speaker-grille cutouts. |
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