Radios - What did you listen to RMT through?

[Ross]

Well, I guess radios made in the 70s are vintage now! I listened to RMT through a Hanimex combo AM/FM/TV band + cassette radio, c. 1978 for the first couple of years. For my birthday in 1981 I got a GE combo w/cassette. Both of those are what I taped 90% of my childhood RMTs on.

I wonder if either is around anymore.

- Ross

[brian1984_2001]

My radio was a relic from the early sixties. It was a GE clock radio. It had dials rather than the metal flippers. It was strictly AM and had one vacuum tube in it.

It had a mechanical sleep timer which was a real asset. With my room upstairs and the parents downstairs, I could set the timer and have it off by the time they came up to go to bed.

When the tube died, I replaced it with a solid state model that was housed in the same style case. When it died, I replaced it with an in-dash 8-track tape player powered by a train transformer and speakers pulled from by old clock radios. I fancied myself an electronics buff.

I still look on ebay every now and then for that radio.

[vgarci]

Ross,
I listened on a Realistic (Radio Shack brand, I think) am-only radio. It got great reception but I got rid of it when I wanted to listen to "album rock" on the fm dial.

[dsndblm]

I listened to RMT via a 1948 Aviola 5 tube radio. I bought it at a swapmeet when I was 13. It worked until about 1981 when a tube burned out. (Not a bad life). I restored it about 8 years ago. I still listen to KNX from L.A. when they brodcast the OTR. There is just something about those glowing tubes..............

David

[Ross]

Yeah, I have restored a few vintage tube radios:

- 1946 Philco Console
- 1946 RCA "Breadbox" (My personal favorite)
- 1947 Silvertone Console
- Some various small Bakelite stuff, I personally like the sonics of wood better though.

I just couldn't stop w/my guitar amps! My advice when choosing a vintage radio, find one with an RCA (phono) plug so that you can run a tape deck or CD player through it to play RMT or other OTR programs.

There are schematics for building very low-wattage transmitters to "braodcast" your favorite OTR programs from said tape deck/CD player. Those are best used when the vintage radio doesn't have an RCA plug (20's/30's models). I find it is easier to just buy the ones with the plug.

- Ross

[Charlie]

I had mostly tube stuff but when I listened with my friend camping, we just had a little transistor radio. When I stayed overnight at his house, his family had an intercom system that had a radio built in and we could listen like that.

Now, I have a Hammarlund SP-600 - a most desired receiver. I wish I would have had that years ago. A little on the expensive side though. smile.gif

[img:b457101b3a]http://www.kk5im.com/hamimages/600JX1.jpg[/img:b457101b3a]

Charlie

[Badmude]

Mine wasn't as near as elaborate as some of yours! I was about 12-14 years old..and I had a Sears Brand AM/FM/Phonograph...with a smoke plastic cover.. smile.gif Oh yeah..and the speakers were made of plastic....No...I dont wish I had it back..lol

[Charlie]

I had one from JC Penney. AM/FM/Cassette/8 Track/Turntable. I think it was $99 new.

No, I don't need it back either. It wasn't what I listened to CBSRMT on anyway. redface.gif

Charlie

[Lagavulin]

i believe my old bedside clock radio was an Electrohome quasi-digital... had numbers printed on cards that were split in half horizintally mounted on a gear. with each passing minute i'd hear a little 'click' as the top part of the 2 tipped over and the 3 was unfolded.

it had a little lever for a 60 minute sleep timer that i used for cbsrmt... if i was still awake at the end, i'd crank it down for another 60 minutes to catch the radio classics that followed (Fibber Magee, The Shadow, Doris and Dennis Day, Dr. Kildaire, etc.)

part of me wished i still had it, but i am making good use of the pocketpc these days... and it has many more funcitons ;)

cheers
Miles

[Ross]

That Hammerlund is SWEET!

- Ross

[dsndblm]

The Hammerlund is very nice. :lol: I have 30+ tube sets in the house and 20+ more in the shop. (Hope my wife doesnt find them). The oldest I have is a 1928 Atwater Kent, a very nice Silvertone console that belonged to my wifes Grandparents, several bakelite's and a 1959 Zenith am/fm. That radio has the sweetest sound that you can imagine. I found some literature on it a couple of years ago. It cost a a whole $12.95 when new.

[vgarci]

Gents,
I'm amazed at the cool antiques and high end products you all have - an amazing collection, to be sure.

ROSS,
Great initial question. I would never have know this question would have resulted in such an interesting dialogue.

[Charlie]

I cobbed the Hammarlund photo off of a guys web site. That is not my radio but mine is exactly like that one.

Without a doubt, one of the most desirable radios around.

Charlie

[storytellermommy]

Wow, most of you had much fancier radios than my variety of transistor radios (including one that was flag inspired with red that had a blue band with white stars in it and another that was a little blue square) that I listened to until 1976 when I got a Sears clock radio that had a 59 minute sleep feature that worked great for CBSRMT (is it any wonder that the Christmas I received that clock radio was one of the most solidly planted one in my childhood memories?!). Despite the clock radio not sounding like a fancy one it had a cool feature I've been looking for ever since it wore out in the mid 80's--a snooze "button" that wasn't a button but rather a touch sensitive plate. The volume knob also had a touch sensitive plate in it that was used to turn the alarm off. You didn't push--just contact with skin turned them off. I am not sure why it's technology that isn't on clock radios anymore. I'm forever looking down the clock radio section of stores in search of that style of snooze button. LOL.

[vgarci]

Karen,
Very cool radio. I've got a couple of bedside lamps that must be based on the same technology. Just touching the lamps anywhere turns the lights on at various levels of intensity. There must be some sort of very sensitive electrical sensor (the don't turn on when just anything touches them....it's got to be a human) that activates a rheostat.

[storytellermommy]

Oh yeah, forgot about those lamps. Every once in a while my skin must not have been "human enough" LOL because I'd have to put on lotion before the sensor would turn the radio off.

[Ross]

[quote:8642860956]Great initial question. I would never have know this question would have resulted in such an interesting dialogue.[/quote:8642860956]

Well, I was hoping it would! My childhood tape conversions keep moving along on my PC. I'll get them done one day.

I would love to get another vintage radio to restore, but I really don't have the time to be working on any right now. Hopefully soon though! I have six motorcycles I need to finish first though.

I think I have my childhood GE radio around somewhere. 80% or so of my RMTs were recorded on that one.

- Ross

[PaladinMan]

Welp, don't I just feel like the red-headed stepchild! I sure wish someone had let me in on the fact that there was something so incredible on the radio back then! When CBSRMT came out I was a junior in high school and horribly addicted to FM radio. Still, if someone had turned me on to it, I'd have loved it as much as I do now!

So I guess the answer to the initial question... I first listened to CBSRMT on the computer, in 1998 when my ex-girlfriend turned me on the this awesome series.

Jay

[Ross]

Jay,

Were you in Denver then? RMT was on 85 KOA during it's entire run. If you were in Denver, then surely you remember the following FM rock stations from back then:

96 KPKE
Q-103
106 KBPI
107 KAZY

If I remember right, KBPI is on 107 (or 107.5 - whatever) now. The rest are gone. Ahhh . . . the good ole' days!

- Ross

[PaladinMan]

[quote:6ee223b93a]Were you in Denver then?[/quote:6ee223b93a]

Nope, at that time I was living in my home town: Utica, NY. It's 50 west of Syracuse.

Jay

[vgarci]

Ross,
I definitely remember KAZY and KBPI ("KBPI Rocks the Rockies") as we received these stations in Casper, WY. KAZY was my personal favorite but the KBPI girl on the TV commercials was gorgeous!

[Ross]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the KBPI chick. Had to scrape some old cobwebs out of the ole' noggin' to remember that one. You actually got those up in Casper?

Ross

[vgarci]

Ross,
Yep. We got the stations but not without some additional antenna equipment.

[Ross]

Really cool man!

- Ross