Throughout the 1950s, beginning
with the introduction of the historic TR-1 transistor radio by Regency in
1954, American radio manufacturers dominated the US market for these
products. Well established companies such as GE, RCA, Magnavox, Philco and
Zenith produced huge quantities of transistor radios for US consumers, with
substantial prices (and profits), at least initially. By the late 1950s,
Japanese manufacturers, such as Sony and Toshiba, were able to sell well
designed and highly popular radios into the US at much lower prices. Only
a few US companies were able to maintain a market presence into the 1960/70s,
and Trans-Aire was one of those companies. This Oral History has provided
a first-hand account of the saga of Trans-Aire Electronics, a little known
and almost forgotten pioneering US company that succeeded for over 15 years
in producing transistor radios in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving
technological environment. The Transistor Museum is grateful to Joe
D’Airo for his active participation and support of this important Oral
History.
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You’ll find many more pages of related historical material at these
sites:
Joe
D’Airo 1972 Publication in
Radio
Electronics Magazine
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