I grew up in the '60s and '70s. Would walk around my neighborhood in my hometown as a kid with a transistor pocket radio all the time in the summer. No earphone, just the speaker near my ear. AM radio was a lot more fun to listen to in those days than it is now (more variety of programming then). One odd thing, though, I've never quite figured out. There was an AM radio station in Cleveland, 50 kW, 1220 KHz, top 40 and all that, which came in great in my hometown, a suburb of Cleveland. The part I can't figure out even now, 30-some years later, is why, when I would walk past a certain spot near a metal pole supporting a flashing school speed-limit sign, the station would always come in much louder than at any other area in the neighborhood. Perhaps that was close to the station's main antenna pattern, or in line with it, or something like that?
My hometown is about 20 miles east of Cleveland and some 30 miles southwest of where the city's radio and TV stations have their towers; believe me, I had better AM radio reception there than where I live now, in a small town (I am now about 30 miles from Cleveland and 45[!] miles from the city's broadcasting stations, radio and TV; the AM radio reception is often poor, with a 500-watt oldies station 20 miles from here simply fading into the noise when it cuts its power to 42 watts, among others in Cleveland whose reception here is good during the day, but fair to poor at night).
FM reception here, however, is really good. I can hear every Cleveland station as well as I did when I lived in the suburbs. My stereo, however (Aiwa NSX-888A) doesn't seem to bring in FM stations that well on an indoor wire dipole; I had to get a special amplified antenna for it. It works well now, but, as I said, stereo reception is very poor using the dipole. This makes me wonder, as I have a 1973 Sony AM/FM stereo portable radio which brings in every Cleveland FM station in stereo, using only its built-in whip antenna. I read somewhere that the FM tuners in many bookshelf stereos are not as good as a good transistor radio; I wonder if that may be why my Sony receiver will work well on an indoor antenna in my area, whereas my stereo, with a digital AM/FM tuner, needs a special amplified antenna to bring in the local stations properly.
BTW, I like your hi-fi speaker setup, what little I can see of it in the image you attached to your post. For four years I had my own system's speakers on the floor in my apartment, on either side of my desk. About two months ago I finally got around to putting the speakers on stands (TechCraft 21" ones). Not only do they sound better now, they look better as well (at the same location as they were before, only 21" higher now).
I like how you have your GE pocket radio sitting near RCA's "Nipper" dog statuette. Brings back memories of when GE and RCA were American companies. I have always liked Nipper, especially the picture of him sitting before the horn of an old wind-up phonograph, listening to "His Master's Voice". I often get tears in my eyes looking at that picture, as it makes me wonder if Nipper missed his master when he was listening to the latter's voice on that phonograph; but that's just me.