MMMM: Transistor Radio Days

Monday's Music Moves Me 1 Minute
Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay

Patrick, this month’s host, tells us that last Saturday, August 20, is National Radio Day. I got my first radio when I was 7 years old, meaning I’ve been listening to it for going on 60 years now. I remember the tinny sound I got out of those small speakers, whether it was a transistor radio like the one above or a table model that plugged in like my first radio. Didn’t matter, I loved it.

I put myself in a nostalgic frame of mind, and before I knew it I had an 18-song playlist, which you can find here, although I have tested this playlist with my VPN for the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, which covers most of y’all’s countries (I can’t test for India, for some reason). These are all songs from the ’60’s. I had so much fun, I might do another…

  1. Stevie Wonder, “For Once In My Life”
  2. Ramsey Lewis Trio, “The In Crowd”
  3. Every Mother’s Son, “Come On Down To My Boat”
  4. The McCoys, “Hang On Sloopy”
  5. Aretha Franklin, “Chain Of Fools”
  6. The Beatles, “Paperback Writer”
  7. Paul Mauriat, “Love Is Blue”
  8. The Association, “Windy”
  9. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, “Just Dropped In”
  10. Napoleon XIV, “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”
  11. Dickie Goodman, “Batman & His Grandmother”
  12. Oliver, “Good Morning Starshine”
  13. Hedgehoppers Anonymous, “It’s Good News Week”
  14. The Hombres, “Let It All Hang Out”
  15. Martha & The Vandellas, “Dancing In The Street”
  16. Roger Miller, “King Of The Road”
  17. The Statler Brothers, “Flowers On The Wall”
  18. John Fred & His Playboy Band, “Judy In Disguise”

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for August 22, 2022.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by Marie, Cathy, Alana, and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

30 thoughts on “MMMM: Transistor Radio Days”

  1. Pingback: The End Of Summer 2022 Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. My 30-something son loves old technology and I could only hope I still had one of my transistor radios. But I never got one to really last a long time – oh well! I loved your play list. It had some of my favorite songs and some my spouse loves. We even sang “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” together. This rocked! Alana ramblinwitham

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    1. I did that whole list off the top of my head, just songs I remembered hearing when I first started listening to radio and ones that were significant after that. Glad you liked it!

      A lot of those transistor radios were built inexpensively and didn’t last. If you got one made by an established company (Zenith, Panasonic etc.) you had a better chance of it lasting. But, they did their job back in the day…

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  3. I listened to all these on the radio too. Fond memories. Great playlist.

    Have a fabulous Mondays Music Moves Me and week. :)

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  5. John,

    I began listening to your playlist but got side line. I am going to revisit tomorrow so I can play the entire set while I spend a few moments doing things on the Internet. Incidentally, I sent you an email earlier about the issue you mentioned. I’ll be back tomorrow….I promise! Have a good evening! :)

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      1. I’m back! Alrighty, I got clicked play awhile ago to listen to your set while I made a pan of biscuits. This list is longer than most which I love even more! You know how I feel about it, though. Creating playlists are the best in my opinion for folks like us who just let the music roll in the background. :)

        A few months back, Tom at SPMM shared Kenny Roger & The First Edition. I had no clue somewhere in Kenny’s early career he perform music in the rock genre. I got a kick out of the Dick Goodman production. It seems someone did something like this when I was a kid but I can’t think of who now but it was a lot of fun.”Love Is Blue” is a great classic oldie. I was 7-years old when it released but for some reason I thought I was much younger. Maybe, I’m thinking of another instrumental arrangement. It’s easy to get things mixed up in your memories from that far back. Your playlist ended on a high note with a tune that really set my toe to tapping. You really out did yourself this week, my friend. Thanks for joining the 4M party. Have a boogietastic week!

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        1. That was just the start. I left out an awful lot of performers that should have been there. I’m thinking of making a giant playlist that covers the ’64 to ’70 timespan, maybe on Spotify so I don’t run into all the issues that YouTube comes with (videos banned in certain countries, videos that can only be played on YouTube, etc.)

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  6. Oh yes, the good ole Radio transmitter which i owned and my brother still has his. I so enjoyed these songs that I have not heard in so long. There are just sooooo many songs! When I wrote my post on being crazy songs, I totally forgot about the song. “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha ha”. Excellent song. OK..I haven’t heard this Batman song but it’s funny especially Robin having one too many nervous breakdowns. So enjoyed these tunes one doesn’t hear every day.

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    1. Dickie Goodman, who did “Batman and his Grandmother” was really good at making records like that. “Batman, where are you going?” “To the Bat-room, Robin!” That still cracks me up…

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    1. I have several transistor radios that are 60 years ahead of the radios we grew up with. I don’t know if you still get the ones like in the picture. I know Mom bought one for my stepfather over 30 years ago (my God, I just realized he’s been gone 30 years…) Glad you liked the playlist!

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  8. I remember all of these songs except I had to listen to a couple to refresh my memory.. I guess I got my first transistor radio around 1964 when I was 13. That’s when I really started listening more to the radio. Still, most of my listening was on my clock radio next to my bed or in the car when I was riding around with my mother. It had a better sound. But the little portable was a fun novelty to have.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    1. The nice thing about the little portables was that they were little and portable. I had a friend used to bring one to school and would listen to Cubs games during class with an earphone.

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  9. I remember listening to the radio while I was babysitting during the summer. I even tried to record some songs with my old cassette player. What a difficult thing that was!

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    1. Recording off the radio was such a pain in the backside, even if you had a tape deck. Remember when stations would play an entire album side so you could record it at home?

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  10. I like most of the songs on your playlist, John, but there are, in my humble opinion, a few head scratchers. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

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    1. I was on a roll and trying to capture the songs as fast as I could. Some might not be as good as others and there are big gaping holes in there (for one thing, not much Motown or Stax). I’m planning a much more extensive list with which I plan to plug many of those holes. Stay tuned.

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  13. Holy cow! What a list! I can’t believe there are a couple of songs on that list I never heard of before. This brought back memories of my first transistor radio which I got some 60+ years ago; it was a thing of beauty – all creamy off-white with a silver dial and knobs and a strap if I wanted to wear it over my shoulder and take it wherever I went. My little radio sat on the desk in my bedroom and I remember pulling out the antenna and tuning in to WMCA and the Good Guys as soon as I woke up in the morning and again when I got home from school every day. Sadly, I don’t know what happened to that little radio but it sure brought me many years of entertainment and great music!

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