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Overview
This New Zealand-made radio represents a significant turning point in the history of radio technology – the introduction of small, portable transistor radios. This innovation made radio-listening a more personal, individual experience, and began a revolution in music that continued with the Walkman and Ipod.
The transistor, a semiconductor device used to amplify electrical signals, was invented in 1947 by three American physicists. The technology was initially applied to hearing aids and radios, but transistors are now used in almost all electronic devices. They have been described as ‘the nerve cells of the Information Age’ (Riordan 2020).
Prior to the development of transistors, radios used vacuum tubes/valves to amplify electrical signals and produce sounds. The valves were fragile, consumed large amounts of energy, and were too bulky to allow for truly portable radios. Research during the Second World War aimed to reduce the size and energy consumption of vacuum tubes, and the breakthrough in 1947 led to small, pocket-sized transistor radios being available commercially from 1954.
This portable mantle radio was produced by Auckland Company Dominion Radio and Electrical Corporation Ltd (Dreco) in the late 1950s and marketed under the La Gloria brand name. Dreco was established in 1938 and was one of a number of small companies manufacturing or assembling radios for the local market.
Transistor radios were very popular with young people as they were portable and could be used outdoors. No longer did teenagers need to sit with their parents around the family radio. Now they could buy a transistor radio and listen to whatever they wanted. This burgeoning youth market helped the radio industry survive the arrival of television in the early 1960s.
Graham Cook purchased this radio in the late 1950s, having saved up his earnings from delivering groceries for the Four Square store in Onepu Road. He recalls that ‘the radio was well used and was listened to whilst I did my homework and swotted for School Certificate and University Scholarships and later on for University. Favourite programme were detective mystery soaps, Night Beat, The Goon Show, Life’s Like That, The Navy Lark, Round the Horne, Hancock, Life with the Lyons etc.’
References
- Cook, Graham. 2021. Personal communication with curator.
- Pauling, Brian. 2014. Radio - A turning point for radio – the legacy of the 1960s. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/radio/page-4
- Riordan, Michael. 2020. Transistor. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/transistor.
- Romm, Cari. 2014. How the Transistor Radio with Music for Your Pocket Fueled a Teenage Social Revolution. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sixty-years-ago-the-regency-TR-1-Transistor-Radio-Was-the-New-It-Gift-For-the-H oliday-Season-180953345/
- Stokes, John W. 1989. The Golden Age of Radio in the Home. Invercargill: Craig Printing Co. Ltd.
- Stromberg, Joseph. 2011. The Transistor Radio Launches he Portable Electronic Age. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-transistor-radio-launches-the-portable-electronic-age-110761753/