1961 Toshiba Transistor Wall Radio

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Hepcats Haven

Our good friend Vic saw this in one of the posts we had and wanted to know more about it. Mel and I purchased this really cool radio from a friend and I use it about everyday. These radios get AM stations only so I listen to my talk radio a lot. Some people call them “fan radios” because of its fan like appearance. The sound is surprisingly good for such a small radio. They take 4 “D” size batteries to power the unit and last a really long time.

Toshiba also made this radio in a cream color like the one below.

Here is a Christmas ad also from 1961 for the Ebony version of this radio:

Something I just noticed….If you look at the ad the persons depicted in it are racially ambiguous. Another way those “Ad Men” appealed to a broader audience with this product.

6 Comments

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6 responses »

Vickie | July 24, 2011 at 8:08 am

Lordamercy, your treasure trove is never ending! I’m not sure I’d have guessed what this was even with a close-up! Never seen one – ever. Boy, when they figured out how to do the “transistor” thing, they really went for it! Too cute & GREAT find!

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John Hill | November 13, 2011 at 7:21 pm

Great radio, thanks for posting. I knew about the Toshiba family of stylish transistor radios but I hadn’t seen this particular one before.
Strangely, I just finished posting about my own Toshiba “Bathroom Scale” radio tonight.

Amazing how history tends to repeat itself. Back in the 1960s these radios were that era’s version of Apple ipods. They were just as fashionable.
Some other models were nicknamed the “bathroom scale”, the “coffin”, “weenies”, the “cat’s eye” and the “deep vee”. Thanks again.

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- hepcatrestorations | December 3, 2011 at 9:01 am
  
  Hi John,
  
  I apologize for the delay in response. Travel and the holidays have monopolized all my time so I have been unable to restore or post. I am glad you are enjoying my site. I plan to get back into posting and restoring after the holidays. Thanks also for the extra info on these Toshiba gems. We love ours and we listen to talk radio on it all the time.
  
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stacey | April 20, 2013 at 7:04 am

I just purchased a round fan radio at an estate sale, how much are these worth?

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- Hepcat Restorations | April 23, 2013 at 10:07 am
  
  Hello Stacey,
  I think we purchased ours for around $75 but I think I remember seeing one sell on Ebay for $125 a while back.
  
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Baghead Kelly | November 23, 2015 at 2:32 am

I’ve got one of these myself. Slightly different grille cloth but definitely the same era. Going price is around $140.00 US

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