I’ve been listening to the radio for as long as I recall, perhaps because I can still remember life without TV when radio was all we had. Back in the old days, radios were valve-driven and were often housed in huge wooden cabinets, much like the evolution of TVs.
In fact, my first introduction to radio was at boarding school in the mid-60s. The headmaster, a progressive man for his time, had installed what he called a radio from a WWII bomber aircraft, in a tiny room in the school basement, with a huge arial mounted on a chimney stack of the roof.
From memory, it was a shortwave radio and he would often show us how it worked, communicating with strange voices that would fade in and out over the ether. I was utterly fascinated by the squelchy sounds and would sit here for hours as he slowly turned the dials, hoping to pick up a voice in far-off lands. The above picture from Radio Blvd doesn’t do it justice because it was far more elaborate.
I always had a small transistor radio in boarding school, which I would hide under my pillow at night while listening to Radio Luxembourg and pirate stations such as Radio Caroline for the Top 40. In fact, I can’t recall a time when I didn’t have a radio in some form or another. Today I have a collection of at least six transistor radios, mainly the British brand, Roberts Radio and they’ve travelled with me over the years. The company has a rich history which you can read here.
Do You Still Have A Radio?
I bought this Roberts Radio, model R606MB nearly forty years ago when I lived just outside London and it’s been everywhere with me, including a car crash which fortunately only snapped off the aerial, because at the time I was driving a car that didn’t have a radio. Tuning is manual of course and can be a bit hit and miss, depending on the atmospheric conditions, but it still produces a great sound. It’s now been relegated to the garage so I can listen to it while working on my bike or breaking other stuff.
Shortwave Radio
Back in 2002, when I was planning to sail my 35′ wooden sailing boat from West Wales to Barcelona, I bought a Roberts RC828 radio cassette player with FM/AM/LW and SW, because I knew that in the Bay of Biscay we would only be able to pick up shortwave signals, mainly from BBC World Service. In fact, when I was on the dogwatch, that ungodly hour between 3 and 6 am, I listened to plays and other radio shows from the BBC while helming the boat, which was great company and an ideal way to stay awake while the crew slept in their bunks down below. Writing this has just reminded me to see if I can pick up any BBC signals down here in Buenos Aires.
Other Radios
This one is on loan to my mother-in-law because she’s hard of hearing and since old habits die hard, she only listens to one radio station, an anti-Peronist channel that broadcasts on medium wave, so I’ve left it tuned to that for simplicity’s sake. It’s also very loud, so she rather likes that!
Back in 2004 when I lived on a small olive plantation in Spain, I would plough the olive groves on a tractor, so bought a Sony Walkman and some earphones so I could listen while I ploughed. Then, last year we went camping in the hills of Cordoba, Argentina, and attached a small speaker to the Walkman so we could pick up local radio.
During my recent trip to the UK, I couldn’t resist this little Roberts Revival Petite 2 FM/DAB radio with USB-C charging, Bluetooth, alarm, and many more functions. For such a small radio, the sound is amazing and I keep it in the kitchen so I can listen to it in the morning, or when I’m cooking, which isn’t very often.
Online Radio
Clearly, times have changed since I acquired my first radio, so now we can listen to any radio station from around the world thanks to the Internet. Radio Garden is one of my favourites because it gives you a global view of every station in the world.
Audials One also has a great radio feature so you can search for all kinds of genres and believe it or not, the BBC will even allow you to listen to their BBC Radio channels free of charge without having a TV license, which is its main source of funding, but that’s another story.
While I do occasionally listen to Internet radio, I still prefer old-fashioned ‘transistor’ radios, perhaps because they are real and I’m of a certain age.
What’s your preference?
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