Just as digital camera makers would with megapixels four or five decades later, makers of transistor radios would cram as many transistors as they could into their products in a game of one-upmanship.

They had to catch the attention of the public. That happened with the hand-held radio. The first transistor radio was a joint project between the Regency Division of Industrial Development ...

Before the MP3 was the Walkman and before that was the "tranny" - the transistor radio. Personal radios existed before their mass popularity in the 1960's, but then they became a teenage 'must-have'.

Before the MP3 was the Walkman and before that was the "tranny" - the transistor radio. Personal radios existed before their mass popularity in the 1960's, but then they became a teenage 'must-have'.