Transistor radio
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following their development in 1954, made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947, they became the most popular electronic communication device in history, with billions manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s. Their pocket size sparked a change in popular music listening habits, allowing people to listen to music anywhere they went. Beginning in the 1980s, however, cheap AM transistor radios were superseded by devices with higher audio quality such as portable CD players, personal audio players, boomboxes, and (eventually) smartphones, some of which contain radios themselves.
History of the transistor
The production of the first commercially successful transistor radio is often incorrectly attributed to Sony (originally Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo). However the Regency TR-1, made by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A. (Industrial Development Engineering Associates) of Indianapolis, Indiana, was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. The TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954 and put on sale in November 1954 for $49.95 (the equivalent of about $361 in year-2005 dollars) and sold about 150,000 units.