TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN
Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!
Scintillating Design! Smoking Hot Radios!
The transistor radio was the vehicle of social change for a generation of teenagers during the 1950’s, bringing portable music to the masses for the first time!
My collection features transistor radios manufactured between 1954 and 1965; the ‘Golden Age’ of transistor radio design!
I am captivated by the aesthetics, design flow, history and build of the early transistor radios. I've focused on their design and tried to capture their form showing them in a way that highlights them as 'objects de art'
These icons of yesteryear feature stunning 'Jet Age' design influenced by the space race, fifties automobiles, architecture and popular music. Most of these radios still look modern and sharp even today; fifty years after they were created. Good design really is timeless!
For me the transistor radio represents youth, freedom, innocence, rebellion and independence. They evoke images of James Dean, fast cars, cigarettes, Elvis Presley and gyrating hips!
These are the iPods of the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Latest News & Site Updates!
22/01/2010 2009 was a very busy year for me and I found it difficult to spend any time on my site. I hope to spend a bit more time on it this year. I've not added any radios for the past 6 months, well until now. Check out the International AK-610. The gold star at the top of my homepage comes from this radio. I've also added a great looking Japanese ABC TN-603. 01/06/2009 I now have 82 pages in total up and running. I have removed the Vintage Ads section and these ads can now be found in the corresponding radio listing. Of note, I have started viewing listings on eBay again after almost 12 months and it would appear that the world wide recession has impacted negatively on the prices that collectable radios are selling for. The prices paid for many radios are only 60 - 70% of what they were fetching 2 years ago. If you have some spare cash and want to invest in vintage electronics then now would be a great time to buy. 07/05/2009 Well its been a fairly productive month with 50 pages now up and running! Still plenty more work to do though... 12/04/2009 I have managed to get two pages back up and running... the Toshiba 'Coffin and the 'Concentric Ring'. 19/03/2009 I have changed my domain name to jamesbutters.com and in doing so have lost over 2500 photos... Its going to take me a long time to get this site back up and running again. 18/02/2009 I have a new email address esquire10@rocketmail.com 15/01/2009 Photos from my site are featured in the latest edition of Texoma Living Magazine! Thanks to Publisher & Executive Editor Dan Acree. Check page 13 of the online edition. 05/11/2008 Sorry if I've been a little quiet of late. I've put this site on the 'back burner' whilst I get through my divorce :) 26/08/2008 I've had over 3000 visitors since the start of the year but only 31 of you have signed my guest book! If you have enjoyed browsing my site then let me know :) Cheers -james- 19/08/2008 I spent a bit of time recently cleaning, polishing and photographing a couple of rather filthy Realtone Comet's. They look great now, almost mint! These radios were manufactured in Japan circa 1959/60. Collector Bob Davidson points out that Realtone is one of the few Japanese manufacturers who managed to create outstanding radios without the use of reverse painted plastic. A turquoise colored Realtone Comet features prominently on the cover of the book Made in Japan. 01/08/2008 Well I tore my calf off my Achilles tendon a week ago whilst laying down the law on the kick bag. So that gave me an opportunity to sit on my butt and prep a few more radios for my site. I have added an unusual little Minute Man 6T-170 made by Constant (Fuji High Frequency Radio Lab, Co, Ltd) circa 1959. I have also added an early and historically important New Zealand radio. The Pacemaker Transportable "58" is the successor to the first New Zealand designed and manufactured transistor radio. It also bears a strong resemblance to one of Sony's greats...10/07/2008 I have given another couple of listings a face lift. Starting with the fantastic Zephyr AR-600 made by Aiwa and the cute and chunky little Toptone AR-65 manufactured by Tokyo Optical & Radio MFG Co Ltd. I have also added a couple of boxed Hi-Lites that feature prominently in Roger Handy's excellent book 'Made in Japan'. 03/07/2008 Well I finally wore out my old Canon Ixus 3.1 meg digital camera. Killed it actually, stone dead! It gave me an excuse to buy a new 7 meg Canon Power Shot A550 and I'm impressed with its 'low cost' quality! In the past I have rushed some listings onto my site without being entirely happy with them. Subsequently I've re shot a few of my earlier efforts with more refining planned for the future. Some improved listings include the following: Mandarin Red Regency TR-1 I have about 100 radios still to list. 30/05/2008 I now have over 100 radios listed on my site! To celebrate this momentous occasion I had a wee splif of bourbon whilst photographing my Sony TRW-621. Check out the first photo of that particular listing, the bourbon made a great prop and it went down well afterwards! 24/05/2008 I won an old suitcase full of 'junk' that was listed on auction site Trade Me. Amongst all the rocks was a genuine jewel in the form of a rare Sharp BH-351 Rocket Radio! I've seen these sell for up to $900 USD on eBay!18/05/2008 I have acquired and listed one of my favorite European radios, the Siemens Transetta 2! It came to me all the way from Austria, where it was originally manufactured. It has a large, bold chevron framing the tuning dial, and bears some resemblance to the Sony TR-67 in Alan Kastner's collection. 14/05/2008 I have added a Raytheon 8TP2 to my collection. This radio was of course the worlds second transistor radio released not long after the Regency TR-1. Special thanks to Bob McGarrah for allowing me to reference his comprehensive research article on the 8TP series. I had fun photographing this radio and risked life and limb taking some cool photos in the 100k zone! 10/04/2008 I have added a New Zealand section to my site. Seems appropriate really, considering I'm a Kiwi! I have a couple of very rare NZ assembled radios listed in this section for fans of Toshiba and Sony! 01/02/2008 Thanks to Alan Kastner for helping me out with decoding the serial number of my Sylvania 4P14 although we never really did get to the bottom of it, and unless either of us comes across a shipping container full of 4P14's then we probably never will... 11/01/2008 Today is the day that I got serious about displaying my collection online and started my own website. Previously I had been a member of the collectors site Squirl along with fellow transistor radio groupie Michael Jack. Unfortunately Squirl is notoriously unreliable and I simply had enough of not being able to log in, sometimes for weeks on end! I can now direct my creative energy into displaying my radios the way that I have wanted to since I purchased my first Regency TR-1 on Christmas day of 2006! | 
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