The most influential transistor radio design of all time 1958 Sony vintage unboxing

This book calls this radio, the Sony TR-610, the "quintessential transistor radio" and I would agree--and say it, if I could only pronounce "quintessential."

This was THE most influential transistor radio of all time, in that it was copied by dozens of other radio makers. Scads of similar looking radios appeared in the years after this 1958 model. Typically they had a speaker grille on the lower front with a metal ring around it, an escutcheon where the brand name appears and in which there is an opening--a dial window--revealing the tuning frequency numbers. Tuning and volume knobs were usually on the side, and a string, a literal, actual string drove the tuning number dial as you turned the knob.

Some counter the importance of Sony's design by pointing to an influence of American radio maker Zenith with its Royal 500 radio but all I see in that comparison is a round speaker grille and a wire stand.

The early escutcheons on this model were smooth in texture and gold, some kind of brass, no doubt. This red one shown here is a paticularly early one that doesn't say "six transistor" on the front, it says "all transistor." Plus it has a small white dial pointer that does not appear on later production models. It isn't known whether any of these earliest ones had a clear-coat of something to prevent tarnishing. By the time these are discovered by collectors, those escutcheons are a dark brown. Later escutcheons are a pebbled matte white gold and this is the one usually seen.

This was Sony's first product to achieve truly massive sales success with sales, I am told, of 437,000 units.That is a lot of units. Not many of those were green, but they did make a green. Also this red, this ivory, and the black you saw on the book at the opening of this video. While transistor radio collectors will usually favor the colors, this is one of those radios that arguably looks best in black. I'm guessing that's the reason that book, otherwise full of colorful models, features this radio on its cover in black.

Now if you are lucky enough to find one of these in the wild that hasn't been used much, you might find an original battery inside. Here is the original 9-volt battery for this model.

And inside the back of the later version.

I don't see much difference in these two radio chassis, at least from the circuit board side. Remember as you look at these that, at the time, the "printed circuit board" was a brand new thing to most people. What most knew about electronics involved just a lot of incomprehensible wires running everywhere. Looking in the backs of TVs or older radios, that's what they saw. Opening the back of one of these new transistor radios was the first experience for many of seeing a printed circuit. What on earth is this!?

The "Instruction for Use," a modest little folder that, among other things, lists, quote: "Five big features of TR-610." And here they are:

1. The smallest and the lightest radio in the world with a speaker. So small that your one shirt pocket can carry two of them.

2. It is small, but it provides as excellent and powerful reproduction as home radio.

3. The handle can be used as a leg to support the radio or as a hanger. It can be removed, when it is not used.

4. As the axes of dial and volume are set in line, you can select station and adjust volume with one finger, at the same time holding the radio with the same hand.

5. Printed circuit and SONY transistors guarantee stable and reliable operation.

Well, there you have it. The Sony TR-610--a very pleasing design that well deserved to be as influential as it was.

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