1 of 1- Muffaraw Joe
- Member
Offline 
An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
I thought this article from beautiful British Columbia about how the writer's old RCA clock radio met an unfortunate end, due to a power surge this past week, was worth sharing.
We all have an attachment to an old radio, or lying in bed at night scanning our transistor radio for a station in some far off distant place (Okay so Chicago is not that far after all)...but we have that fave clunker of a radio that we a) grew up with or b) got a a Christmas/Birthday present from our wonderful Aunt Martha...
This ode to the old RCA Clock Radio is a nice piece and it will remind you of radio's we had, that have now been replaced by RCA's distant cousin, "Alexa".
Here is the link to the Bowen Island Current's article:
What was your fave radio growing up? One that you were really bummed about it meeting it's untimely demise.
For me it was a Lloyds clock radio, that you'd turn a knob to change the time on the clock...I loved that thing...I got it as a Bar Mitzvah many years ago! I could pull in CFTR and Big Jim Brady all the way from sleepy little Ottawa where I grew up...
The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
- Chrisphen
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
Sheesh, with that attachment I was expecting a vintage flip-clock and not a Wal-Mart zombie-brand RCA cheapie.
- Media Observer
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
Chrisphen wrote:
Sheesh, with that attachment I was expecting a vintage flip-clock and not a Wal-Mart zombie-brand RCA cheapie.
Your flip-clock comment, takes me back to an earlier time.
The one I had isn't on this page; however there sure were a lot of them made back then.
Last edited by Media Observer (October 23, 2020 2:11 pm)
- Chrisphen
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
I had an AM radio flipper as a child. I liked it, but the flipping was noisy (as was the motor that drove the mechanism).
- Jody Thornton
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
I had an AM radio flipper as a child. I liked it, but the flipping was noisy (as was the motor that drove the mechanism).
Was it a Westinghouse model?
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
- Chrisphen
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
I had an AM radio flipper as a child. I liked it, but the flipping was noisy (as was the motor that drove the mechanism).
Was it a Westinghouse model?
I doubt it - it might have been a Candle or GE. This was over forty years ago.
- DeepTracks
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
My dad bought me a Zenith radio from McTamney's (spelling =?) pawn brokers on Church Street.
It had a geared-down tuning mechanism for 'fine' tuning of your favourite station. I used to listen to it at night, in the summertime, in the Kawarthas, picking up stations like Boston's WBZ @ 1030 ('cause 1050 CHUM wasn't booming in as it once did further south), along with ALL sorts of American stations.
Last edited by DeepTracks (October 23, 2020 4:40 pm)
- Paul Jeffries
- Member
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
I had a YORX stereo clock radio that had separate volume controls for each side. It had pretty decent sound. I remember one time listening to "Bus Stop" by The Hollies on Rock 102 in Buffalo and being quite impressed by the separation between the left and right channels.
Actually, my first stereo was also a YORX. I bought it at Robinson's in 1982 for about $300 with the help of my dad's credit card. (No, I didn't steal it, he just let me put it on his card!) That would be about $735 in today's money. It had an AM/FM receiver, dual tape decks and an 8-track tape player. It also included a BSR ceramic cartridge turntable and speakers that were about 2.5 feet high. I later bought a magnetic cartridge turntable (and preamp, because the phono inputs were built for ceramic cartridge) and also some Realistic floor speakers from Radio Shack that gave it a better sound. I got about a good 6 years out of it.
Although they were often sneered at by even the casual audiophile, YORX had some fairly decent stuff for what it was during the early to mid-80s. They kind of went downhill during the 90s, though.
Pictured below is the stereo of my youth. Not my picture, but one I snagged off the web.
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: An ode to a clock radio that became toast due to a power surge!
When I was really young, there was a huge plastic encased green coloured tube radio in my sister's room I used to listen to. I think I heard my first Beatles record on it back in 1964.
But the first real transistor radio I ever had was made by an obscure Japanese firm called Koyo. It had AM & FM on it, which was unusual back then, although I don't think I ever really listened to anything on the second band. (Some things never change!)
This radio came with me on all the vacations my family took and was tuned in endlessly during the long annual car trips to Miami with my brothers, sister and parents in the 60s. That's where I heard some of the great Top 40 stations in their prime in the different cities we passed through. I treasure those memories.
Turns out I still have the radio, although I have no idea if it still works. It does have one weird story attached to it, though. One day, my mother turned around in the car and became horrified. She'd become convinced I had the measles, because my face was suddenly pockmarked by dozens of little red bumps.
They threatened to turn around and rush back to Toronto, when the explanation eventually dawned on everyone - I'd fallen asleep lying on the speaker cover, which as the second shot below shows accounts for all those marks. They faded after a about half an hour and the trip continued.
