My first transistor radio was probably a Sears Silvertone, and it was sometime during my 7th grade year (1961-62) that I JUST HAD TO HAVE ONE. My earliest memories of it are standing around the junior high school courtyard with my friends, many of whom had probably just gotten them then. All I can tell you about the radio itself was that it was of the standard "cigarette pack" size, AM-band only, and I had a leather case for it. For us kids then, having a radio was a huge thing.
It was probably within the following year that I got my first clock radio for my bedroom. Again, probably a Sears model (my parents were devoted Sears buyers throughout much of their married life).
And what were these radios usually tuned to?
WQAM Miami "Tiger Radio" 560 on your dial. The primary DJ was Rick Shaw, and I've not been surprised to find in recent that he and that station share legendary status. My junior high and high school years represent one of the two times in my life I've enjoyed having pop music on to any great extent. Of course there was classical music, but what I most remember listening to on radio were broadcasts of concerts. I don't recall just having a classical station on in general, it was usually for something specific. That's where my love for "live performance" broadcasts and recordings was born. Finally, late at night I enjoyed listening to a call-in show hosted by a voice I could swear was Larry King, but I'm not sure that he was doing that yet even though he was already active on radio in those years.
