I just got a very nice Toshiba KT-4017 Walkman for $1.99 @ a thrift store yesterday!!! (Think this one is from 1986 or so)

Its always amazed me how good the radio reception is on these things ON BOTH AM AND FM!!!!!! (Shows how good stuff was made back then i suppose)

However one of the tape spools came off (The white thing underneath that it sits on is loose i think) but im sure if i spend some time looking @ it MAYBE i can fix that i dunno.... Just having the radio in it is amazing!!! (Its hard finding GOOD radios today (Especially for AM reception))

If you want good AM reception in a modern radio I can recommend sets made by Sangean. Regardin your loose tape spool, there should be a very tiny C clip that holds it onto the metal shaft. You may have to scavenge one from another cassette player.

Unfortunetly its not that easy,the thing that came UP FROM INSIDE collapsed :( (IT IS PLASTIC NOT METAL (this walkman came out in the late 80s (When quality STARTED going downhill))

And I have a SUPER RADIO (The first one) that has EXCELLENT AM RECEPTION (A good front end indeed) -- Its sad they dont make good radios anymore!

The quality of most electronics went into a slump in the '80s. There are still good radios made, you just don't find them in the stores anymore. Sangean, Kaito, Tivoli are a few good makes. My Sangean built CC Radio 2 and Sangean ATS-909X are great radios but you pay extra for them.

'Walkman" is not a generic term, it is a brand name owned by Sony.

Trivia question... before Sony coined the term "Walkman" what did they call the first player?

jr

Walk about??

Soundabout.

The first time I saw a walkman type radio I lamented the fact that it did not have a built-in speaker.

While "Soundabout" and "Stowaway" names were suggested, the initial players were only labelled "TPS-L2" and "Stereo".... Pix here: http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/tps-l2 The wording under the SONY logo in the upper left is "Stereo cassette player TPS-L2".

jr

Thank you that insight my friend :)