Radio

Although portable radios had been around since the 1920s, they didn't sell in large numbers until the 1950s. Manufacturers sold roughly two million portable radios annually in the years between 1946 and 1954 - the decade before the first transistor radio became available. Designed with compact circuits instead of cumbersome tubes, the transistor was far smaller than earlier portables, making it especially attractive to a generation of Americans on the go. Advertisements featured radios at the beach, on picnics, on camping trips, and even at that staple of 1950s entertaining, the backyard barbecue by the pool. The most popular sets of the late 1940s and early 1950s were "personal" portables in all-plastic cases about the size and shape of a lunchbox. They were easy to carry and priced at an affordable $20, about the same price as a toaster. By 1950 all the major radio manufacturers had their own versions of the lunchbox-size portable. This Zenith L406 model from the early 1950s is typical of the small, rectangular boxes made of solid plastic in a vast array of colors; some even came in two-tone with zippy new Space Age designs. With a choice of AC/DC or battery operation, they offered the convenience of radio entertainment just about anywhere.