1954 · Transistor Pocket Radio · Work 825 of 1,871
A small pocket radio standing upright on the glass counter of a drugstore in New York in November, a glossy red plastic case thirteen centimetres high and nine centimetres wide with rounded edges, its front smooth plain red above a grid of round holes that fills the lower two thirds, in its upper right corner a large round tuning disc of plain polished gold with a smooth face, turned slightly away into shadow, the chrome edge of the counter, a soda fountain with chrome taps behind, a bare pale green wall, a hand in a grey flannel sleeve reaching for the radio, winter light from the left.
What it was used for
The Regency TR-1 was a pocket radio for consumers, built by I.D.E.A. of Indianapolis with transistors from Texas Instruments: 4 germanium junction transistors in a superheterodyne circuit, weight 11 ounces per ETHW, price $49.95. It was announced on 18 October 1954 in Dallas and, per IEEE Spectrum, went on sale from 1 November in selected outlets in New York and Los Angeles. For Texas Instruments the set was a way into the market for its own component; ETHW reports that Patrick Haggerty understood that scaling up production would drive down the future costs of transistors. The Computer History Museum gives over 100,000 sets sold; IEEE Spectrum places that in the first year and adds that the radio was never very profitable.
What was new
The TR-1 was not the first transistor radio but the first American consumers could buy. Per the Computer History Museum, Intermetall had already demonstrated a set with 4 point-contact transistors at the Düsseldorf radio show in 1953, and Sony's first transistor radio, the TR-55, followed per IEEE Spectrum only in August 1955. What the TR-1 delivered was series production of a fully transistorised superheterodyne - and the word: the museum writes that it introduced "transistor" into the public lexicon. The cost was in yield and in sound. IEEE Spectrum gives initial failure rates for the transistors and other components of up to 50 per cent, which IDEA later brought down to 12 to 15 per cent, and reports the Consumer Reports review of April 1955, which found music transmission unsatisfactory under any conditions and advised waiting for further refinement before buying.
What the sources leave open: The sale date differs: the Computer History Museum writes that the set hit US stores in October 1954, IEEE Spectrum gives 1 November. The Consumer Reports review of April 1955 is available only as reported by IEEE Spectrum. The claim that TI approached established radio makers in vain rests on a single 1991 interview. Per the Computer History Museum, Sony sold the TR-52 in the US from March 1955; per the Semiconductor History Museum of Japan it never reached the shops.
Connections
Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.