Transistor Radio Brand Names - What's Up?

[compucat]

I am turning my attention to the transistor side of my radio collection and rediscovering the joys of late night listening with my 10 transistor pocket set. I have often wondered why transistor radios had such obscure brand names, even between examples of the same radio. I'm talking about brands such as Star-Lite, Valiant, Merc Radio, Starfire, Luxtone, etc. Who actually made these sets? Were the brand names just faceless corporations that bought radios from a handfull of "real" radio manufacturer's? I know rebadging has always gone on and does so today but with 1960s transistors, it seems absurd.

[Celt]

Back then, especially in the lower priced 6 transistor AM pocket radios, a few manufacturers would use a variety of names on the same product and they would be sold in bulk to discount stores and places like Otasco, Firestone and Western Auto. Most were junk, but some were pretty good. For instance, it was common to see rebadged Sanyo radios marked as Golden Shield.

[mhardy6647]

here's what I know:

delmonico = nivico = JVC = Japanese Victor Corporation (as in "His Master's Voice")

national = panasonic (not to be confused with the US "National")

Fukuin = Pioneer

[Celt]

Originally Posted by mhardy6647

Fukuin = Pioneer

Hey! No cussin'!

[Charlie]

Another observation regarding transistor radio name brands-- many of them had names such as automobiles of the time...

Oldsmobile Jetstar-88
Oldsmobile Starfire
Mercury Comet
Mercury Meteor
Ford Galaxie
Plymouth Satellite
Chevrolet Nova

Both American cars and the race for space were major influences back then. Apparently, small transistor radios were seen as being the latest and greatest cool thing to have... so they got the "really cool" name brands.

Funny to think... I wonder what name brand would have been stuck on today's ipod... had it been invented back in 1960.

A little off topic... I find it interesting that both JVC and RCA used "His Master's Voice" with their brand names. On a related note, the label on my old Victrola shows the little nipper dog listening to the speaker, and under the dog... there is Japanese script.

[CUlater]

From the history section of the www.jvc.com website: "JVC was established in Yokohama, Japan in 1927 as the Japanese subsidiary of the U.S. firm, Victor Talking Machine Company. "

From Wikipedia: "The Victor Talking Machine Company (1901 - 1929) was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time.

The company was incorporated in Camden, New Jersey on October 3, 1901 by Eldridge R. Johnson. It was created by merger and reorganization of two existing companies: The US division of Emile Berliner's Berliner Gramophone Company, which produced disc records, and Johnson's Consolidated Talking Machine Company, which produced machines for playing disc records. The European division of Gramophone remained as a separate company.
...
There is some controversy as to how the name came about. Fred Barnum gives various possible origins of the "Victor" name; he writes in "'His Master's Voice' In America," "One story claims that Johnson considered his first improved Gramophone to be both a scientific and business 'victory.' A second account is that Johnson emerged as the 'Victor' from the lengthy and costly patent litigations involving Berliner and Seaman. A third story is that Johnson's partner..., Leon Douglass, derived the word from his wife's name 'Victoria.' Finally, a fourth story is that Johnson took the name from the popular 'Victor' bicycle, which he had admired for its superior engineering. Of these four accounts the first two are the most generally accepted."

Victor had the rights in the United States and Latin America to use the famous trademark of the dog Nipper listening to an early disc phonograph.
...
In 1928, Johnson sold his controlling interest in Victor to the banking firm of Siegelman & Spyer, who in 1929 sold to the Radio Corporation of America, which then became known as the Radio-Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America later RCA Victor.
...
The Japanese Victor Company (JVC), founded in 1927, severed its ties to RCA Victor at the start of World War II, and is still one of the oldest and most successful Japanese record labels as well as an electronics giant."

So there you have it - JVC and RCA were parent and child, estranged by the war...sounds kinda like the 60s, eh?

[Charlie]

I like that Wikipedia site... you can find lots of info there. Interesting to find that RCA and JVC started out as being related.

Regarding radio brand names... they weren't the only part of the radio influenced by autos. The styling and trim of the radio was in many ways similiar to the American automobile. This was also evident on house-sets... not just portable transistors.

I think Compucat is right... those brands were just companies that someone came up with overnight... buying the actual radios from someone else and badging it with their "cool" sounding name.

[tomt]

Originally Posted by mhardy6647

here's what I know:

Fukuin = Pioneer

nsfw?

[rickon66]

Along about 1960, I was 12 years old and got a new 8 transistor radio for Christmas. It cost about $30 which was pretty big bucks back then. I can't remember the brand name, but it may have been an RCA. It was my pride and joy for a few months, until I knocked it into the toilet as I was getting ready for school one morning. It did not hold up well to immersion and never worked afterward. Never got a replacement.

[bgadow]

Somes of the names from that era were better than others. I still haven't figured out what O.M.G.S. stands for. You might think some of the wilder Japanese names like Mitsubishi wouldn't be too popular but I do think some folks thought that was intriguing. If you look in the back of some old magazines like Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, etc, there are ads for companies that would set you up as an importer. Just another scam, I guess, but I could see these guys shipping you truckloads of "Yokihoma" cigarette lighters, "ManchuPu" electric razors and "SukeMuke" transistor radios, or whatever brand name they could get away with stamping out.

I have a couple radios from the early thirties with nameplates which might not be quite what they seem. One is "Majestic International" while the other is "Victor International". Neither has anything to do with RCA, Victor, Majestic, Grigsby-Grunow, or the man in the moon. I guess they thought by adding "International" to the name they could get by with it. (there is nothing "international" about either of these sets...they are both very cheaply made 4 tube radios)

For many, many years now a Japanese sewing machine has sat unwanted in a local antique mall. It is styled like a Singer from a hundred years ago and is not unattractive, but holds an unfortunate brand name, one that someone in the American office should have picked up on: Fukesuke

[Charlie]

OMGS... Oh my goodness sakes! LOL... I'm sorry... couldn't help it. I'm sure that's NOT what it meant. That's something my grandmother would say.

Was OMGS a brand, Bryan? Never really heard of it.

[bgadow]

Yeah, I have an OMGS. Just a cheap little Japanese set from the early-mid sixties. I've seen other models listed in a transistor radio price guide.

[stereofisher]

Channel Master was a big name here in Ulster County which is in SE New York. Many know them for TV antennas and rotors. They also sold transistor radios made by Sanyo. My favorite was the Super Fringe radio. It was an 8 transistor beauty that I had as a kid. AM only and I breifly had several the pull AM 740 from Toronto really well. Lately I have been fooling with transistor radios as they take up less room. Wife Factor you know.

It might be interesting to find out who makes the GE Super Radios. I have a Super Radio I. Cant beleive how much a good one goes for on the 'Bay. A mint one in a box went for $275. One without the box $160. Made in Taiwan. Its got a good AM section and an OK FM section. All for $43! The Super Radio is made in China. Its AM section is good with a better FM than the I. Got another coming off the "Bay. Weak AM section. Will see. Nothing like a good project

Eric

[bigmsound]

I have seen many cheap radios under the O.M.G.S label. I never knew what O.M.G.S stands for. Maybe it's the initials of the Importer. There are many jokes.

For all of you O.M.G.S lovers check out the links below

O.M.G.S Radios
http://www.transistor.org/collection/omgs/omgs1.html
O.M.G.S Suburbia
http://radiophile.com/omgs.htm

[Bill R]

"I have seen many cheap radios under the O.M.G.S label. I never knew what O.M.G.S stands for. Maybe it's the initials of the Importer. There are many jokes."

If you go to Wal-Mart in the hardware department where they sell kerosene heaters they carry a heater called mega heat. Look on the box it is made by MAW, Inc. Read fauther on the box you find MAW, Inc stands for "Might As Well, Incorporated" Now there is a real quality inspiring name.

Bill R