Transistor radio
Previous portable radios used vacuum tubes, which were bulky, fragile, had a limited lifetime, consumed excessive power and required large heavy batteries.
The mass-market success of the smaller and cheaper Sony TR-63, released in 1957, led to the transistor radio becoming the most popular electronic communication device of the 1960s and 1970s.
[3] The scientific team at Bell Laboratories responsible for the solid-state amplifier included William Shockley, Walter Houser Brattain, and John Bardeen[4] After obtaining patent protection, the company held a news conference on June 30, 1948, at which a prototype transistor radio was demonstrated.
[5] There are many claimants to the title of the first company to produce practical transistor radios, often incorrectly attributed to Sony (originally Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).
Texas Instruments had demonstrated all-transistor AM (amplitude modulation) radios as early as May 25, 1954,[6][7] but their performance was well below that of equivalent vacuum tube models.
[citation needed] Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.)
The look and size of the TR-1 were well received, but with only four transistors the sound quality was poor, and the reviews of the TR-1's performance were typically adverse.
Noting the 8-TP-1's high sound quality and very low battery cost, the magazine stated that "The transistors in this set have not been used in an effort to build the smallest radio on the market, and good performance has not been sacrificed".
[12] Following the success of the 8-TP-1, Zenith, RCA, DeWald, Westinghouse, and Crosley produced many additional transistor radio models.
[12] Chrysler and Philco announced that they had developed and produced the world's first all-transistor car radio in the April 28th 1955 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
[17][18][19][20] While on a trip to the United States in 1952, Masaru Ibuka, founder of Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (now Sony), discovered that AT&T was about to make licensing available for the transistor.
Ibuka and his partner, physicist Akio Morita, convinced the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to finance the $25,000 licensing fee (equivalent to $286,842 today).
Improving upon the ideas, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation made its first functional transistor radio in 1954.
[citation needed] Other Japanese companies soon followed their entry into the American market and the grand total of electronic products exported from Japan in 1958 increased 2.5 times in comparison to 1957.
[22] In August 1955, while still a small company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation introduced their TR-55 five-transistor radio under the new brand name Sony.
In addition to its smaller size, the TR-63 had a small tuning capacitor and required a new battery design to produce the proper voltage.
[12] By November 1956 a transistor radio small enough to wear on the wrist and a claimed battery life of 100 hours cost $29.95.
By 1962, the TR-63 cost as low as $15 (equivalent to $151 today),[26] which led to American manufacturers dropping prices of transistor radios down to $15 as well.
[12] Transistor radios were extremely successful because of three social forces—a large number of young people due to the post–World War II baby boom, a public with disposable income amidst a period of prosperity, and the growing popularity of rock 'n' roll music.
The influence of the transistor radio during this period is shown by its appearance in popular films, songs, and books of the time, such as the movie Lolita.
"Charlie the Tuna-shaped" radios could be purchased from Star-Kist for an insignificant amount of money giving their company visibility amongst the public.
