The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / When Novelty Radios Were A Thing

**Posted by RadioActive** October 22, 2024 7:30 am

A can of Coke that plays music.

A pack of cigarettes that rocks.

And perhaps the most bizarre of all, a radio shaped like a gun.

They're all part of a collection of novelty radios at the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum in Windsor, Connecticut (which also features old telephones, TVs, record players, movie projectors, studio control rooms and more.)

The age of these old fashioned, oddly shaped receivers is over, but they come from a time when radio was not only fun to listen to, but look at, as well.

Check some of them out here.

**Posted by Capricasix** October 22, 2024 8:27 am

My family had two Panasonic Toot-a-Loop radios in the late 1970s - a red and a yellow one. I think I even remember listening to CFTR on one of them!

https://clickamericana.com/toys-and-games/toot-a-loop-panasonics-craziest-color-radio-portables-1972

**Posted by RadioActive** October 22, 2024 9:04 am

Not sure I'd want to carry a radio shaped like a gun these days. It would be the surest way to wind up with "dead" air if you encounter law enforcement. Apparently the barrel of the thing is a flashlight, and you can only imagine what it would look like to aim that beam of light at someone. Who thought this was a good idea?

**Posted by Shorty Wave** October 22, 2024 9:45 am

Love posts like this! Thanks RadioActive!

**Posted by mic'em** October 23, 2024 7:33 am

I have a CKSO radio that is made up of the call letters. It only broadcasts that station, which doesn't exist anymore. It is just in my radio collection display now. RA posted a picture of it for me some months ago. I can't put pictures on here due to using an ad blocker.

**Posted by RadioActive** October 23, 2024 2:45 pm

Another instance where a radio station gave away radios to boost listenership, this one from Buffalo in 1958:

**Posted by Marsden** October 23, 2024 2:45 pm

When CFNY-FM began broadcasting from the CN Tower, we held the Push Button Breakfast with listeners winning tickets to the event. The Mayor of Toronto pushed the Button...a plane circled the tower hauling a Welcome CFNY sign and away we went.

Each of the 200 listener guests left the CN Tower following the breakfast with one of these radios....

Last edited by Marsden (October 23, 2024 2:48 pm)

**Posted by turkeytop** October 23, 2024 4:51 pm

I remember the Coke can radio. I never had it, but I recall seeing one somewhere.

**Posted by mic'em** October 24, 2024 7:07 am

Marden, the CKSO radio I have in my collection is similar. There was one of those CFNY ones for sale on Facebook Marketplace about 18 months ago with a Mississauga location. . The seller wanted 350$, I offered 200$, he didn't respond, and the ad was gone within a few days later.