2 AM/FM Pocket Transistor Radios from the early 1980s having issues

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Caps, and sometimes bad resistors....If they are push-pull audio and one of the output transistors is bad that that can sound bad too. Alignment could also be an issue, but unlikely if in both bands.

The distortion is in both bands so its unlikely to be an alignment issue, especially in both radios, my vote is dried electrolytics because they both are from the same time period, although that doesn't explain why these two radios are having issues but not my old Panasonic and Zenith AM/FM transistor radios (which are both from the 1970s).