[Jeffhs]

The Royal 7000 series was the last T/O made by Zenith, and those weren't even made in the US; I think by the time the 7000 came out, the company had moved its radio plant to Taiwan, later Korea, and they left the radio business altogether in the mid-1980s. I had a Zenith stereo system in the early '80s that had been manufactured to the company's standards by Zenith of Korea; I also had a "Target Tuning" AM/FM clock radio in the '70s which was made by the same company. My 1980 Zenith R-70 AM-FM 9-transistor portable was also made in...you guessed it, Korea.

Who knows where "Zenith" branded radios (if such exist anymore, which I doubt) are made these days? Zenith no longer exists in any capacity, so radios (if any) that bear the former company's name and/or lightning-bolt logo are almost certainly products of LG (Lucky Goldstar), the makers of "Zenith" branded televisions.


I have a Zenith TO Royal "1000" (AM and SW only, no FM) from the late '50s that still works well. Even the metal-cased AC adapter (wall wart) still works, which amazes me since this radio is over 50 years old. The dial cord on my TO is broken, but since I don't use the radio that much it isn't an issue at this point.

Heathkit Electronics of Benton Harbor, Michigan was a subsidiary of Zenith in the 1980s, and sold a radio that looked suspiciously like Zenith's later AM/FM/SW TO portables made during that decade -- until Zenith's demise and eventual move to Korea from the Chicago area. Heathkit's model number, however, for this radio was, IIRC, GR-43. Heathkit also marketed a color TV in 1981 that was a dead ringer for one of Zenith's 25" color consoles of that era; I don't recall the model number, either Heathkit's or Zenith's, although VK member NowhereMan1966 might know the Zenith designation as I think he has one of those sets.