TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN

This American made Emerson 888 Explorer was manufactured in 1958. It is part of a famous line of Emerson radios with 'Jet Age' themes and this one was named after the Explorer-1 Satellite. That was the first satellite launched by America and it was instrumental in the discovery of the Van Allen meteor belts circling the earth.

Emerson calls this color 'Calypso White'

The Emerson Radio Corp was formed in 1915 as the Emerson Phonograph Co based in New York City. By 1942 Emerson held one sixth of the US radio market. They manufactured their first transistor radio in 1955 and made a couple of leather clad clunkers before hitting the jackpot with the 888 series in 1958! Today most Emerson products are mass produced cheaply in China and this once proud company is just a shadow of what it once was in its glory days.

 

The face of this Emerson Explorer features a truly dazzling under-painted tuning dial and logo. The magnificent gold reverse-painting on both the dial and the logo, set in relief, accent the sparkling textured metal speaker grill! This is a truly glorious radio, valiant in design and solid in construction.

The plastic nylon cabinet for this radio is branded as ‘Nevabreak’. It was claimed by Emerson that the cabinet for this radio was “Unbreakable, for long, long use”! How quaint! Unfortunately many of these radios have suffered chips and cracks to the ‘Nevabreak’ cabinet but not his one; it’s near mint!
 

The front of this Emerson looks very much like a stylized rocket about to launch into outer space! Speaking of space, I can imagine this Explorer cruising majestically past the belts of Orion on its way to the outer edges of the Universe!

It also reminds me of the opening sequence of Star Wars as Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer passes slowly overhead creating the impression of something truly galactic in size – substitute the Emerson Explorer for that Destroyer and you know what I mean – God knows it’s big enough!

This Emerson Explorer comes with a large gift box with leather carry case, earphone in hard plastic case, inspection tag and Emerson Fact Tag!
 

The leather case for this Emerson looks to have had very minimal use. 

Emerson claimed that this was the “Worlds First 8 Transistor Pocket Radio” hmmmm…. I think that “World’s First 8 transistor ‘Coat Pocket’ Radio” would be a more accurate description….  Emerson also claimed that this radio uses “Indestructible Transistors” that “Last For Life”. Well this example is still going strong fifty years later so maybe they were right!

These inspection tags were normally found inside the radio when purchased new.

The serial number sticker on the side of the chassis matches that on the inspection tag pictured above.