On Thursday October 6, 1977 I decided to treat myself for my birthday that was coming up on Friday. I decided on a little bit of musical entertainment.
It had to be a little bit of music as I was a poor college student, paying for school on the GI Bill and working 50 hours per week at a service station (remember those?) to pay the rest of the bills. I didn't have a lot of money for some of the nicer things in life. I had lost my military PX system to a light fingered roomie while I was deployed. Hell, that rat bastid even took my milk crate vinyl organization system! I was without music and I just couldn't let that stand.
So I went to a small Mom & Pop radio shop in my small home town. They sold new gear, had a repair shop in the back and had some used stuff scattered here and there amongst boxes of tubes, old console chassis' and other assorted odds and ends. There was no rhyme or reason to how things were displayed and that, for me, was one of reasons it appealed to me. It was just an honest place.
On a shelf above the sales counter was a nice looking Sony table top radio. AM/FM, loudness switch, nicely veneered cabinet, vertical dial and silky smooth controls that moved with a slight twist. So I purchased it for $39.95 - a princely sum in those days for a poor veteran - but I knew a little music would go a long way in keeping me sane and helping me work my way through the college bookwork and writing those papers.
And that is just what it did. In addition to a guitar and some military memorabilia, this is one of the few possessions I have today that has traveled with me over the years to various places, through numerous jobs, quite a few moves and it has survived life's twists and turns. It is still in good working order, having been cleaned several times over the years, and it still has those silky smooth controls.
It now resides in the wife's glass studio where she uses it to provide background music as she pursues her glass art. I've asked her to be gentle with it but to enjoy it as well.
Honestly, I have no idea how it survived for so long but here it is, my Sony ICF-9550W, when it resided in the library some years ago.
It had to be a little bit of music as I was a poor college student, paying for school on the GI Bill and working 50 hours per week at a service station (remember those?) to pay the rest of the bills. I didn't have a lot of money for some of the nicer things in life. I had lost my military PX system to a light fingered roomie while I was deployed. Hell, that rat bastid even took my milk crate vinyl organization system! I was without music and I just couldn't let that stand.
So I went to a small Mom & Pop radio shop in my small home town. They sold new gear, had a repair shop in the back and had some used stuff scattered here and there amongst boxes of tubes, old console chassis' and other assorted odds and ends. There was no rhyme or reason to how things were displayed and that, for me, was one of reasons it appealed to me. It was just an honest place.
On a shelf above the sales counter was a nice looking Sony table top radio. AM/FM, loudness switch, nicely veneered cabinet, vertical dial and silky smooth controls that moved with a slight twist. So I purchased it for $39.95 - a princely sum in those days for a poor veteran - but I knew a little music would go a long way in keeping me sane and helping me work my way through the college bookwork and writing those papers.
And that is just what it did. In addition to a guitar and some military memorabilia, this is one of the few possessions I have today that has traveled with me over the years to various places, through numerous jobs, quite a few moves and it has survived life's twists and turns. It is still in good working order, having been cleaned several times over the years, and it still has those silky smooth controls.
It now resides in the wife's glass studio where she uses it to provide background music as she pursues her glass art. I've asked her to be gentle with it but to enjoy it as well.
Honestly, I have no idea how it survived for so long but here it is, my Sony ICF-9550W, when it resided in the library some years ago.
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