Most Popular Transistor Radio in History, more than 3/4 million models sold! Channel Master Sanyo
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11 ماه پیش
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It's the "most Popular Transistor
It's the "most Popular Transistor Radio in History, more than 3/4 million models sold"
Collecting transistor radios has never been easy. They are just not "out there in the wild" in the numbers you would suppose them to be, considering that back in the day, virtually EVERYONE had one, and sometimes two or three. Where are they? Stored in garages with Uncle Ernie's old stuff? In the city dump? In the sock drawer? Or that junk drawer in the kitchen where the odds and ends of life slowly pass into obscurity?
Well, of all the radios I've had a hard time finding, this Channel Master, is one of the least. The least hard time finding, I mean, not the least radio. Although a case could be made for both. Anyway, while not plentiful, this radio is not rare. And the claim on the box shows why. With 750,000 sold, there are still plenty around I am sure, even if they're not where you can easily see them and pick them up.
This radio made a lot of money for Sanyo. Why Sanyo? Because they made it. And we'll look at the original Sanyo model in a little while.
Large-ish, yes. And horizontally configured. So... this is not a favorite of the folks who primarily collect the shirt-pocket radios. But it has its charms--and it didn't sell in those numbers for no reason. Is that a double negative? No, I don't think not.
This is one of the later incarnations of this radio. This example's grill is flatter than those seen on earlier examples, and on the Sanyo we'll be looking at. The badge on the grille is a simple flat thing with the electronics symbol of a transistor on it. Earlier, fancier versions had a red, white, and gold cloisonne badge.
This 6506C has no screw holding on the back, where the earlier ones did. Inside, the 6506C we see a Sanyo speaker. The radio is powered by 6 volts in the form of four penlight batteries that go in a holder (that isn't here). The transistors are branded Sanyo. Most of the other parts look pretty generic inside as one would expect from a later radio where component parts had become pretty generic.
Now where's that Sanyo we've heard so much about? Here's that Sanyo, the model 6C-11, in the box, I'm pleased to say. It's a pretty nice looking box, rather conservative, style wise, but attractive and looking like it houses an item of quality. Inside we find the radio in a genuine leather case. Indeed, according to the list of accessories, the case is made of "top-grade cowhide." Not "top grain" as we sometimes see and which has an actual meaning in the leather trade, but "top grade," which is an empty boast that sounds good and means nothing. With elections coming up, we're going to be hearing a LOT of that. That earlier radio we looked at, the Channel Master had a case that was felt-lined and not any kind of actual leather at all. Let's call it vegan, shall we? But the earlier Channel Masters, like this Sanyo, had leather cases.
While we look over the "Product News" sheet that came with the Sanyo we'll talk a little about the company. Sanyo was introduced to the American buying public in 1970. To US consumers, it was just another brand we never heard of coming in from the far east, like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Toyota, and Datsun before it. Few of us knew that Sanyo had already been doing big business in the United States as the maker of radios and other consumer electronics items branded Channel Master. So, though Sanyo was new to us, the company itself dates back to 1947. Older, in fact, even than Channel Master which started in New York in 1949.
And here's this good-looking Sanyo. Note that patterned grille and cloisonne badge--more decorative, and costly to make, than the simple flat trim items on the later Channel Master.
We see on the Sanyo here double earphone jacks, where that later Channel Master was reduced to just a single earphone jack. On this Sanyo, one of these jacks is indicated for earphone and the other says it's for earphone or external speaker. And on the back here is the thumbscrew that appears on the earlier incarnations of this radio, and was left off of the later ones. Opening the back we see that when the thumbscrew is loose, it doesn't fall out. That's a nice touch. I think the screw here is referred to as being 'captured.' So keeping a screw like this attached is good for the radio and good for the vacuum cleaner as well. Inside the Sanyo 6C-11 are black transistors branded Toshiba. They're cylindrically shaped.
And here are the two of them together.. for your dining and dancing pleasure. I'll let you soak up this floor show for awhile and then we'll look over the owner's manual for the Channel Master.
Though it shows the radio with the flat grille, the owner's manual picture doesn't show that transistor symbol badge, but rather the earlier cloisonne badge, this one reading "6 TR." Whatever that means.
The most popular transistor radio.. in history!
Collecting transistor radios has never been easy. They are just not "out there in the wild" in the numbers you would suppose them to be, considering that back in the day, virtually EVERYONE had one, and sometimes two or three. Where are they? Stored in garages with Uncle Ernie's old stuff? In the city dump? In the sock drawer? Or that junk drawer in the kitchen where the odds and ends of life slowly pass into obscurity?
Well, of all the radios I've had a hard time finding, this Channel Master, is one of the least. The least hard time finding, I mean, not the least radio. Although a case could be made for both. Anyway, while not plentiful, this radio is not rare. And the claim on the box shows why. With 750,000 sold, there are still plenty around I am sure, even if they're not where you can easily see them and pick them up.
This radio made a lot of money for Sanyo. Why Sanyo? Because they made it. And we'll look at the original Sanyo model in a little while.
Large-ish, yes. And horizontally configured. So... this is not a favorite of the folks who primarily collect the shirt-pocket radios. But it has its charms--and it didn't sell in those numbers for no reason. Is that a double negative? No, I don't think not.
This is one of the later incarnations of this radio. This example's grill is flatter than those seen on earlier examples, and on the Sanyo we'll be looking at. The badge on the grille is a simple flat thing with the electronics symbol of a transistor on it. Earlier, fancier versions had a red, white, and gold cloisonne badge.
This 6506C has no screw holding on the back, where the earlier ones did. Inside, the 6506C we see a Sanyo speaker. The radio is powered by 6 volts in the form of four penlight batteries that go in a holder (that isn't here). The transistors are branded Sanyo. Most of the other parts look pretty generic inside as one would expect from a later radio where component parts had become pretty generic.
Now where's that Sanyo we've heard so much about? Here's that Sanyo, the model 6C-11, in the box, I'm pleased to say. It's a pretty nice looking box, rather conservative, style wise, but attractive and looking like it houses an item of quality. Inside we find the radio in a genuine leather case. Indeed, according to the list of accessories, the case is made of "top-grade cowhide." Not "top grain" as we sometimes see and which has an actual meaning in the leather trade, but "top grade," which is an empty boast that sounds good and means nothing. With elections coming up, we're going to be hearing a LOT of that. That earlier radio we looked at, the Channel Master had a case that was felt-lined and not any kind of actual leather at all. Let's call it vegan, shall we? But the earlier Channel Masters, like this Sanyo, had leather cases.
While we look over the "Product News" sheet that came with the Sanyo we'll talk a little about the company. Sanyo was introduced to the American buying public in 1970. To US consumers, it was just another brand we never heard of coming in from the far east, like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Toyota, and Datsun before it. Few of us knew that Sanyo had already been doing big business in the United States as the maker of radios and other consumer electronics items branded Channel Master. So, though Sanyo was new to us, the company itself dates back to 1947. Older, in fact, even than Channel Master which started in New York in 1949.
And here's this good-looking Sanyo. Note that patterned grille and cloisonne badge--more decorative, and costly to make, than the simple flat trim items on the later Channel Master.
We see on the Sanyo here double earphone jacks, where that later Channel Master was reduced to just a single earphone jack. On this Sanyo, one of these jacks is indicated for earphone and the other says it's for earphone or external speaker. And on the back here is the thumbscrew that appears on the earlier incarnations of this radio, and was left off of the later ones. Opening the back we see that when the thumbscrew is loose, it doesn't fall out. That's a nice touch. I think the screw here is referred to as being 'captured.' So keeping a screw like this attached is good for the radio and good for the vacuum cleaner as well. Inside the Sanyo 6C-11 are black transistors branded Toshiba. They're cylindrically shaped.
And here are the two of them together.. for your dining and dancing pleasure. I'll let you soak up this floor show for awhile and then we'll look over the owner's manual for the Channel Master.
Though it shows the radio with the flat grille, the owner's manual picture doesn't show that transistor symbol badge, but rather the earlier cloisonne badge, this one reading "6 TR." Whatever that means.
The most popular transistor radio.. in history!
11 ماه پیش
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