CHRISTMESS GIFT IDEA No. 12

Want to wow that youngster anxiously waiting by the tree? Give them something they'll never forget! Their own transistor radio! Yes, this will keep the little critter's fingers poppin' while they spin the dial listening to all the crazy hits from the top 40! Good times! Good times!

Okay, so the kid would actually give you a look of disgust if they even looked at you at all. They want an iPod or an iPhone. They don't want to listen to random radio stations. They want something they can program themselves so they only listen to the music they want to hear, not programming put together by some corporate media gorilla in a far off city that's actually into some serious payola. Still...

I have fond memories of my various transistor radios and still have one I keep on the nightstand. For years, especially during the British invasion, my folks used to say I would need to have it surgically removed from my head. If one channel wasn't playing what I wanted to hear I'd quickly tune to the other. In my day in the San Francisco Bay Area it was KEWB and KYA. It would be several years before I needed a radio that picked up FM so I could hear KMPX or KSAN thanks to radio legend Tom Donahue. Yeah, good times. Good times.

Oh well, I still like the look of these old radios.


Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas, 1957)

CHRISTMESS GIFT IDEA No. 1

During the coming month I'll be offering creative gift ideas. They come with a warning: If you know anybody who would want any of these items...for cryin' out loud get them off your gift list! However, there is one caveat...these items are perfect secret Santa gifts, but try not to laugh too hard when they open it or the jig is up.


(SOURCE: Oh heck I don't remember. Some stupid Teen magazine from the '60s, as if that weren't obvious.)

WARNING: This blog is not responsible for any undo retching caused by the idea of going to Fruggyville. Dig it? I know you do.