Just Add Twin Antennas To Make AM Radio Look Cool

Before MP3's, the Walkman, and 8 Track portables, if you wanted music on the move then radio was your best bet.  The transistor revolution brought with it rugged portable radios.  Music "on the move" could actually be on the move - as in this 1960's headphone radio.  There had been pocket sized transistor radios (with painful white plastic earphone nubs), but this unit fits an entire AM radio within the housing of what look like otherwise normal-sized 1960s headphones.  Quite mini.

There's no manufacturer listed, but the design reminds me of unyielding grammar-school headsets from the primordial days of educational multimedia in the 60's and 70's.  The hexagonal earcups and the high tech chrome patterns are rather futuristic in that space age way, but the finest feature must be the twin antennas.  AM radio is very directional.  If you can remember any novelty radios from your youth, you might remember rotating the entire radio to get the best signal.  With twin antennas you can get good AM reception no matter which way you may be facing.

Here's the kicker.  After 40 years the contraption still works!  I got a good signal on several AM stations.  No signal drift, even when I was moving around.  Certainly it's heavy and doesn't hold a patch on the kind of headphone comfort we expect today (certainly this wouldn't work for any kind of exercise or sports), but it has withstood the years.  Looking around my house I can see a lot of newer gadgets that I have real doubts will be working in four decades' time.

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