THE HISTORY OF RADIO
Our meeting on 9 May was a very enjoyable history lesson on Radio in Australia from a veteran in the industry. Chris Joscelyne joined 7EX in 1966 as CJ the DJ in Launceston. In 1986 he was appointed general manager of 2CH Sydney.His very informative talk was on the history of radio in Australia. He had the whole room completely spell bound as he related how the first radios were sold with only one station available and this station depended on where you bought your radio. For us this was a trip down memory lane as we remembered growing up with a lot of the things he spoke about. For our younger members it was a fascinating history that most new nothing about.
Chris is a very talented speaker and we had the feeling he could have spoken about growing potatoes and made it just as fascinating. However his knowledge and experience in radio made this one of the best speakers we have had.
Chris has been a Rotarian since 1973.
In the mid-1950's the arrival of mass produced transistor radios changed listening from a shared experience with the family sitting around a large valve receiver to a new mobile personal radio experience.
The transistor was invented in 1947 at Bell Labs in New Jersey. In 1954, Texas Instruments of Dallas teamed up with Regency Electronics of Indianapolis to manufacture the first pocket-size transistor radio. By 1957 transistor radios were being mass-produced in Japan.
Australians were enthusiastic consumers of transistor portables imported or made locally, the local pioneer being AWA with its factory in Ashfield, Sydney.
AWA’s first transistor radio was the Transistor 7 (897P) released in November 1957. It was an expensive luxury item, selling for 44 Guineas. That's $1,321.00 in today's money. Read more about it here.
Chris recently purchased this rare Wilco 8 transistor radio to illustrate my speech. Yes, it still works perfectly.
The transistor was invented in 1947 at Bell Labs in New Jersey. In 1954, Texas Instruments of Dallas teamed up with Regency Electronics of Indianapolis to manufacture the first pocket-size transistor radio. By 1957 transistor radios were being mass-produced in Japan.
Australians were enthusiastic consumers of transistor portables imported or made locally, the local pioneer being AWA with its factory in Ashfield, Sydney.
AWA’s first transistor radio was the Transistor 7 (897P) released in November 1957. It was an expensive luxury item, selling for 44 Guineas. That's $1,321.00 in today's money. Read more about it here.
Chris recently purchased this rare Wilco 8 transistor radio to illustrate my speech. Yes, it still works perfectly.
