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The
First RCA Transistor Radios
by Thomas Stanley
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The most important immediate outcome of
those years was the relationship that developed among us. The MOS revolution was just over the
horizon, and Bill Webster, Charlie Mueller, Jerry Herzog, Bob Lohman and I
understood teamwork and knew each other-- but that's a later story. Years later, after my retirement from
RCA, I had two gratifying experiences.
One was to discover upon seeing the circuit diagram of a
just-purchased integrated circuit chip that it was my peculiar
emitter-loaded complementary- symmetry audio circuit of forty years
earlier. The second was to read, in
a private address given by Akio Morita, legendary chairman of Sony, that
the little radio revealed by the RCA researchers played no small part in
Sony's success.
Thomas O. Stanley, August
2001
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These two radio photos are taken from the
“Progress Report on Transistor Research and Circuit Applications, LB-898”,
Copyright © 1952 RCA Labs. The
white rectangular objects shown in the above photo are early developmental
transistors.
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The
First RCA Transistor Radios
by Thomas Stanley
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As mentioned by Tom Stanley in this lecture,
there was a presentation made at the RCA Labs in Princeton NJ to licensees
and industry leaders to demonstrate the potential for the new transistor
technology. Beginning on November 18, 1952 and continuing for one week, a
variety of experimental products were made available for review – there
were radios, amplifiers, musical instruments and even a completely
transistorized television. The
radio shown in the photo above (front view) and on the left (rear view) was
one of the devices on display at this symposium. This radio used nine junction transistors, including two
developmental TA-153 audio types, six experimental SX-160/161 high
frequency types, and an experimental audio power type. Some of these types are shown in the
photo above. The TA-153 was
marketed in 1954 by RCA as the 2N34; similarly the TA-154 became the
2N35. Tom describes this radio as a
“personal portable” designed by Loy Barton. Note the “handful” of transistors and batteries in the upper
photo.
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