Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
In a video about the Queen boy's radio I recited a long list of English and English royalty sounding brand names used on transistor radios. It's the largest theme of brand names used on radios, by far. And I trace it back to the brand name that started it all, Regency. Well, here's another in that theme, the Windsor.
On a map, what's the nearest foreign country south of Detroit?--the closest country to the south of Detroit, Michigan? Mexico? Cuba? Panama? Nooooo. It's Canada. What? Yes, really. And what is the city right there in Canada, right next to Detroit? That would be Windsor. The significance of this in the naming of this Windsor radio cannot be overstated. Nor, in fact, can it be understated. In fact, it should not have been stated at all. It has nothing to do with it. But you learned something here today and if you win a few bar bets with this knowledge, I hope you'll share the proceeds with me.
This Windsor is a two-transistor boy's radio. This is the style of boy's radio that I've found the most common. And it's probably one of the best looking. I like that Crown business that is adorning the dial window. And I'm never going to be opposed to having not just one, but TWO badges on the front. The sides have that zig-zag shape where the front and backs meet and that adds another bit of pizazz to this cute, if cheap, little radio.
Inside we see the usual circuitry, with not enough transistors to do a really effective job of radio reception, but enough to be called a radio. But few enough to still be classified as a toy for import purposes. A cheesy vinyl case completes the ensemble. Well, not exactly complete. This radio would have come with a rod antenna as well that would screw into the jack at the top. This would help reception but probably not much. An extra transistor would have helped more--and probably have cost the manufacturer less than the antenna rod--but then the radio would not have qualified for the tax exemption it enjoyed as a toy. I've found through the years that a lot of strange things in the world--things that just don't seem to make sense--have their basis in some kind of weird tax policy. Where I live they are building massive numbers of apartment buildings--expensive apartments--that no one can afford to live in so they sit empty. Why do they keep building more? I suspect it's the same reason this Windsor radio comes with an antenna rod instead of an extra transistor. Some kind of tax policy that helps some special interest--and mystifies everyone else.
Don't get me started.
As you may know, boy's radios don't have a model number. Or do they? You almost never see a model number on an actual radio--a boy's radio--but there is sure a model number on the box for this one. It's a great box, as you can see and includes the original price of this radio, $14.95. Now, that doesn't seem quite right. I thought these boy's radios were cheaper than that. Perhaps that price is just a suggested retail price, or perhaps this radio was made earlier than I first thought, when transistor radios were more expensive. By the mid-'60s, this would have been a $4 radio. So now I'm thinking that, at the $14.95 price, and with a box as nice as this, this radio may have been made around 1959.
They really do the crown thing--the English royalty thing--up right on this box. I expected to find a couple of complimentary tea crumpets tucked inside. I am clueless of course about what I just said and, well, I just made that up--"tea crumpets"--I don't even know if that's a thing. But I said it anyway, just to make a joke. I can kid around with England because, I hear, it's one of the few remaining countries on the planet that can take a joke.
In a video about the Queen boy's radio I recited a long list of English and English royalty sounding brand names used on transistor radios. It's the largest theme of brand names used on radios, by far. And I trace it back to the brand name that started it all, Regency. Well, here's another in that theme, the Windsor.
On a map, what's the nearest foreign country south of Detroit?--the closest country to the south of Detroit, Michigan? Mexico? Cuba? Panama? Nooooo. It's Canada. What? Yes, really. And what is the city right there in Canada, right next to Detroit? That would be Windsor. The significance of this in the naming of this Windsor radio cannot be overstated. Nor, in fact, can it be understated. In fact, it should not have been stated at all. It has nothing to do with it. But you learned something here today and if you win a few bar bets with this knowledge, I hope you'll share the proceeds with me.
This Windsor is a two-transistor boy's radio. This is the style of boy's radio that I've found the most common. And it's probably one of the best looking. I like that Crown business that is adorning the dial window. And I'm never going to be opposed to having not just one, but TWO badges on the front. The sides have that zig-zag shape where the front and backs meet and that adds another bit of pizazz to this cute, if cheap, little radio.
Inside we see the usual circuitry, with not enough transistors to do a really effective job of radio reception, but enough to be called a radio. But few enough to still be classified as a toy for import purposes. A cheesy vinyl case completes the ensemble. Well, not exactly complete. This radio would have come with a rod antenna as well that would screw into the jack at the top. This would help reception but probably not much. An extra transistor would have helped more--and probably have cost the manufacturer less than the antenna rod--but then the radio would not have qualified for the tax exemption it enjoyed as a toy. I've found through the years that a lot of strange things in the world--things that just don't seem to make sense--have their basis in some kind of weird tax policy. Where I live they are building massive numbers of apartment buildings--expensive apartments--that no one can afford to live in so they sit empty. Why do they keep building more? I suspect it's the same reason this Windsor radio comes with an antenna rod instead of an extra transistor. Some kind of tax policy that helps some special interest--and mystifies everyone else.
Don't get me started.
As you may know, boy's radios don't have a model number. Or do they? You almost never see a model number on an actual radio--a boy's radio--but there is sure a model number on the box for this one. It's a great box, as you can see and includes the original price of this radio, $14.95. Now, that doesn't seem quite right. I thought these boy's radios were cheaper than that. Perhaps that price is just a suggested retail price, or perhaps this radio was made earlier than I first thought, when transistor radios were more expensive. By the mid-'60s, this would have been a $4 radio. So now I'm thinking that, at the $14.95 price, and with a box as nice as this, this radio may have been made around 1959.
They really do the crown thing--the English royalty thing--up right on this box. I expected to find a couple of complimentary tea crumpets tucked inside. I am clueless of course about what I just said and, well, I just made that up--"tea crumpets"--I don't even know if that's a thing. But I said it anyway, just to make a joke. I can kid around with England because, I hear, it's one of the few remaining countries on the planet that can take a joke.
