Badmovies.org Forum

Presently, the radio is playing Tom Jones' She's a Lady.

The radio I have playing is an older GE 7 Band model from the early 80s; complete with a single speaker.


(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4126/ge7bandda7.jpg)
(Not my picture, but the radio in the picture is mine; I have two of these.)


I usually have my radio set to the oldies station; 60s and 70s pop/rock.

With so many cheap boomboxes now available, why use an old mono radio?

I collect multi-band and shortwave radios, so having this particular model was not something I went shopping for or had to check out. As I get radios, and if they work, I will check them out and if I like it I will use it, within reason.

I have a Hanimex Multi-band from the late 70s that actually sounds better than the GE, despite a smaller speaker, and even with the antenna completely retracted it will pick up many of the local and regional stations.


(http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8366/hanimexmultijq0.jpg)
(Not mine. My Hanimex is in much better condition.)


The reason I don't use the Hanimex is simply because it is hard to find and more of a collectible, whereas the GE is relative easy to find, and cheap.


But, I am getting off the subject.

I use an older style mono radio for my background music/noise.

What do you use?

A radio, MP3 player, boombox, stereo, or even your computer?

My background noise is my computer.  Though I have some problems managing mixes since switching to Vista, I have hundreds of CDs uploaded (I'm uploading some right now...)  I also have a China-made "Spirit of St. Louis" CD, tape, record-player and radio, a gift to me which I use maybe once a year to play vinyl I haven't replaced in some other medium. 

I usually just have the TV on to whatever channel had something vaguely interesting on a couple of hours ago.  My project for the summer is to upgrade my surround sound system.  I've currently got a 10+ year old Sony receiver that only does Dolby Pro Logic (4 channel surround, no subwoofer and both surround speakers get the same signal).  I've got my eye on a lower priced Onkyo receiver that does 7.1 surround sound.  My biggest gripe is that my receiver doesn't allow me to balance the sound between the surround speakers, and the right one is farther away than the left one, so the left one is far more prominent.  It bugs the living hell out of me.  Then I'll get a subwoofer, which I'm sure will be really popular with everyone else living in the house  :teddyr: 

One thing I'd really like to do is get one of those Super Audio CD or DVD audio players.  They're a couple of competing formats in the 5.1 audio war.  Unfortunately 5.1 audio has become a "niche market", meaning very few people are interested in it.  They take albums and professionally remix them into 5.1 surround sound in the studio.  The idea sounds magnificent to me.  I was watching The Shaft the other night, and at the end they played Aerosmith's Love in an Elevator.  I'm not a fan of Aerosmith's new stuff, but remixed in 5.1, it was freakin' amazing.  The balance between the front and surround speakers made it sound as if my entire left and right walls were were huge 15' X 7' speakers.  Guitars coming fom here, guitars coming from there, Amazing!  I'm hoping that if i get an honest-to-goodness 5.1 surround setup, maybe my wife would buy me a player for Christmas  :teddyr:

I listen to music through my computer, as well.  I have a pair of halfway decent Creative speakers with a subwoofer and everything, but nothing special.

I have a fairly nice set of Bose speakers, but since my last move several months ago I haven't bothered to connect them to my CD player and tuner.  (I never listen to the radio anyway, except in the car). 

MP3s are just easier to manage for me than physical CDs or vinyl.  I'm a music lover, but not really an audiophile. 

I have an SR(?) Clock radio/cassette player with one speaker. It's about a fooot long,six inches high and six inches wide.I also haver a cheapo CD player...the kind you get from a dollar store. I usually listen to the oldie station that plays 50's sixties,and 70's music. 

Yarghh...baseball season.

The oldies station also doubles as a Reds station. Presently there is a game on. :bluesad:

I have a cheap cd player presently playing a mellow 70s cd for a fill-in.

Most of the farmers around here listen to the ball games on the radio...but I don't think they really listen to it. It seems like they just like it as backround noise when they're sitting around in the barn or on the picnic table and getting drunk. But the Tigers are doing ok this year...so maybe it's a little more interesting for once.  :lookingup:

But I like hanging out with old farmers (at least I used to....don't go no where no mo' lately) ....old Russian and Polocks and Norweigians ( thats me)...with lotsa old tales to tell.  :drink:

Oh...by the way Menard....LOVE the old & Band Radio!!! I like old radios too.

The Hanimex, the reason for the better sound and reception, is a touring style radio; meaning that it can also be used as a car radio with its bracket, or removed and carried as a portable with batteries.

Telefunken made some of the best touring radios; wish I could afford one as they can easily bring $100 to $200 on eBay, if they are a really nice model.

My Dad used to work for the Bank...he would fix up old houses that the bank would repossesse(Mother F2cker! HOW come I cant' spell this word!)-he was a housepainter-handyman. Sometimes he would bring home old tube radios from the thirties and forties. Been hooked on old radios since! I actually PREFER the tiny radio speakers and sound than a  stereo systym....guess it's a nostalgic thing...I dunno....


I also like to just sit around and play with multi-bamd radios...just to see what I can pull in....I like to sit on the roof of my garage and goof with an old radio....I'm a weirdo,I guess...
[/quote]

Sounds a lot like my Dad, except he was a teacher who did his house refurbishing on weekends, usually with me in tow (slave labor).  My Dad brought home stereo consoles, TVs, and vacuum cleaners...!!   :thumbup:

I like some of the old tube styles myself.

For shortwave, I like a lot of the Hallicrafters models and I am determined to eventually get a nice Zenith Transoceanic.

Two styles of old tube radios I like are tombstone and empire. I have a tombstone replica with a cassette player. I like to listen to OTR cassettes on it as it lends it some atmosphere listing to those old shows.

Most of my radios are multi-bands from the late 60s through the 70s.

Kids don't know what their missing....there's a special joy of sitting outside with an old radio pulling in ham operators and truckdrivers...AM radio stations and -at the time in the 70's-stuff like the KING BISCUIT FLOUR HOUR and Dr.DEMENTO on the cooler FM stations!

Sigh...to have them still...

They are great! But I'll tell ya what...Iv've had some shocking  experiances with them by stickin' a screw driver where it don' belong!!! :bouncegiggle:

I used to turn the telly on when I got up in the morning, but the morning shows and their unnecessarily hilarity got to me after a while.  Nobody needs to be THAT "up" first thing in the morning.

The telly is usually on when I get home because my son watches dvds after school.  If I've had a hard day and I can't stand the noise of the world, I turn off the tv and he watches it in his bedroom. 

Lately I'm finding that I can't handle too much noise (it's true, I'm turning into a Grumpy Old Woman).  I only have the telly and a dvd player these days.  I don't have a stereo, my discman has finally died after 7 years of loyal service and my clock radio beside my bed wakes me up the classical music station and is only on in the morning.  I don't think I could survive listening to Britney or Christina first thing in the morning.

So, who made that noise?  Basically just the traffic down on the main road these days.  It's just about all I can handle.

I usualy have my Ipod hooked up to some speakers in my room playing. I have a cd player, but sometimes it doesnt work. I also have a tape player, but I have very few decent tapes.

heres what my tape player looks like. groovy, eh?

(http://homepages.compuserve.de/JCBaumeister/MB_2XL_Robot.JPG)

i often throw up a playlist from theduderinok's youtube. it's mostly Coast to Coast AM programs, cut into segments. wacky, out-there stuff, but it makes for good listening.

I generally find broadcast radio to be un-listenable now.  It's all iPod playlists, lists on the Mac, and occasionally one local broadcast station.

The television is OFF at my house unless someone is watching it, thank you very much.   Drives me bugf*** to be in someone's home with the idiot box blaring, when no one is even watching it.   (The TV is mainly for watching movies.)

I could...

...if it was one in each ear saying "that was amazing". :teddyr:

Why does that seem...

...so you? :tongueout:

Because its AWESOME!


Last night i was in my bed to go to sleep and my radio was on. usually i have it off as I go to sleep but there was something really cool on last night. It was an old radio show about some mytery involving a jail or something. It had the guy from "A Wonderful Life" in it. It was nice to hear that old stuff.

You can find free MP3s of a lot of those old programs, and I mean a lot, for download here: http://www.archive.org/browse.php?field=subject&mediatype=audio&collection=oldtimeradio

Last night on that same radio station they were playing a bunch of 80s punk! And toatally uncensored to boot! I was WAY ex!ted!

Well....yes....I thought that was obvious  *lol*

I like to play music off of my PSP, however, if I don't have it I'll try to find a video playing it on Youtube.

I tend to stick to my radio-alarm clock for radio listening and sometimes listen to digital radio channels through my cable t.v set up. However, I definitely prefer listening to music through headphones. I find this to be the best way to hear it clearly and I can turn up the volume to a bearable level without causing unnecessary noise pollution.

I've got several old radios, all of them tubes nearly all of them made prior to 1950, many of them older. Most are family heirlooms that I've acquired from older family members, others I've gotten here and there. My favorite is my grandfathers it's in near mint working condition the cathedral radio my grandfather heard about the stock market crash in 1929, the bombing of Pearl Harbor on, the victory of the war and the killing of Kennedy on and the death of Elvis! I got it in the early 80's and it still works get and I turn it on occasionally.
I'd say about 3/4 of the ones I have work, others need tubes which are getting harder to fine or rewiring that I haven't got around to yet, I have several old Bakelite Radios in the Art Deco style ... no idea what I'm going to do with all of them, I guess I'll pass the family ones down and sell some of the others one day.

A new acquisition to my collection, and I didn't break the damn thing this time, is this Toshiba model:

(http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8397/toshiba1660ls1.jpg)

It is a 4 band model and stands about 10 inches high. It looks as nice as the picture suggests and got a heck of a deal on a buy-it-now auction on eBay to get it.


I have been wanting to get a Sears Com/Trek 5:

(http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7884/comtrek5400xy5.jpg)

There is one on auction on eBay now. The current bid is up to $113.61 with less than 2 hours to go. Too high for me; but, one day.


I presently have my eye on a nice Hitachi model:

(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6010/hitachikh1400h400zc2.jpg)


Hey; radios are cheaper to collect than muscle cars. But I still have my hopes for a 1971 Plymouth GTX one day. :teddyr: