1956 RCA 8-BT-8FE & 8-BT-7LE:

3 1/4"H x 5 1/2"W x 1 1/2"D

These are such wonderful "primitive" radios: They're from 1956, yet the cabinet design looks as if it were conceived not much later than 1946...

And speaking of primitive but in a more functional vein, note that neither face reveals just how many transistors are employed within: each simply states, "transistor." That's because both were merely 4-transistor radios -- pretty lame for 1956.

As far as I know, my grandfather as an adult never owned one of these sets -- but whenever I look at these I see him sometime in the '50s or '60s listening to a Cleveland Indians' play-by-play broadcast...

(UPDATE: As collector Rick Hirsh has noted, the pink 8-BT-8FE at top does not have the original dial center -- it should be a red version of the turquoise 8-BT-7LE's dial center -- the red center shown above actually belongs to RCA's 1-BT series...)

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© 2007 by Robert Davidson, transistors@abetterpage.com