They made a transmitter out of it in one episode. Just so happened that it had rechargeable batteries. I'm sure they made a coconut generator for Gilligan to pedal and charge the batteries. It got thrown in the ocean at least once. The professor always managed to repair it.

And there was a promotional picture for the series, with Thurston Howell holding a Magnavox Celestial, which was a German made set. Here's mine.

I have a Channel Master, that was probably made by Sanyo. The handle folds down and is plastic, the same color as the rest of radio. :yes:

I liked episode where the radio gets thrown in the Ocean, swallowed by A Fish and they find it because they can hear it playing inside the Fish they just caught, just like it would happen in real life. :scratch2:

Back in those days I remember Carbon Zinc cell batteries lasting about 20 minutes under normal use (I may exaggerate a little).

Then there's the one where Gilligan's Tooth Filling becomes a radio...

Just like in an episode of Green Acres, where Oliver's cow ate a transistor radio. At first they thought the radio station it was tuned to would go off the air at sunset, but the station announced that they just got approval from the FCC for nighttime service... :no: My father pointed out that the cow's stomach acids would destroy the radio's speaker...

they still stuck on that island