Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
I think this is the smallest box I've ever seen for a transistor radio--relative, I mean, to the size of the radio. It barely fits in here and there is NO room for an earphone or a battery. If the radio were in a carrying case, it wouldn't fit. Did I mention..it's small?
There's paper inside, though. That fits. We have the paper detailing the 90-day Free Replacement Warranty. And we have a large sheet.. which is a sort of a catalog sheet.. which serves here as an owner's manual since it details the operation and the specifications of the radio. We'll look this over in detail later in the video.
It's a five-transistor radio made in Japan using Toshiba transistors. Now this is a little strange since the company that made it made transistors themselves, but for whatever reason their own transistors aren't used here. The company? Sanyo. At the time, Sanyo was an unknown brand in the US, while Channel Master was a familiar name all through the 1950s and '60s. Sanyo was founded in Japan in 1947 but did not export to the United States under its own brand until 1970. Besides making Channel Master gear, Sanyo made tape recorders and radios for the brand, Craig. There's a video on this channel all about Craig. And then there's Fisher. The once highly-regarded US-made brand of audio equipment, Fisher... The Fisher.. was purchased by Sanyo in 1975 and the combination of that respected name, and Sanyo's low pricing, sold a lot of Fisher home stereo equipment in the 1970s, '80s, and beyond.
As to Channel Master history, well that company started up in New York in 1949, making them actually two years younger than Sanyo. What was the original Channel Master product? Well... you guess. I'll tell you in a bit. After their original product, they moved into other lines of consumer electronics and, well, that's how they got into transistor radios. So far as I know, they never made their OWN transistor radio here in the US--every one I've seen has been made in the far east. Sometimes collectors are able to find examples of the earliest Channel Master transistor radios that are branded Sanyo. These Sanyo-branded models would have been made for Japan or for export to other countries where Channel Master wasn't.
"Its size.. is a surprise!.. In performance, power and tonal quality this miniature marvel is KING SIZE!" And here we learn the not-very-obvious key to Channel Master's proprietary model numbering scheme. It seems that the model we are looking at today, the 6504 model is sold as the radio alone in its little box too small for any accessories. Now this SAME radio is also offered in a larger box which includes a "Top grade cowhide carrying case and shoulder strap, magnetic earphone for private listening--with leather case, and supplementary outside antenna." That antenna has a suction cup on the end of it. And the battery is included in this outfit too. And when this radio is sold with those accessories, it's not the model 6504, but the model 6503.
It's a nice, large slab of underpainted plastic on the front of this beautiful little radio and you know I like that. It's a boxy little beast but I don't mind that at all. It gives me the impression you can put it down on a table without any fuss and it won't fall over. That's something.
If you guessed that Channel Master's original product was the rooftop TV antenna, you're right. As you can imagine assembling and installing a TV antenna on the roof would be quite a challenge to the first people trying to figure out how to do it in the 1940s and '50s. What Channel Master's innovation was.. was a prefabricated antenna that folded down more-or-less flat. That way, a homeowner, or antenna installer, no longer had to do a lot of assembly work precariously perched on a roof. The installer could just take the Channel Master antenna up on the roof in one piece, more-or-less flat, attach it to a vent pipe or chimney or whatever was up there on the roof, and.. unfold it. Ingenious.
From the mid 20th century to the end of it, rooftop television antennas were everywhere. In recent years most have fallen into disuse as TV watchers signed up for cable television. These antennas not only fell into disuse, but literally fell off the roofs they were on eventually, having to be picked up carefully, like a giant tumbleweed with lots of pointy edges, and bent up into a pretzel-like object small enough to fit in the trash can. The switch to digital TV in the United States in 2009 convinced even more people to sign up for cable. But a precious few of us maintained our outdoor antennas and continue to receive free, off-the-air TV. Of all the rooftops in my neighborhood now, there is only one with a TV antenna on it. This is, of course, MY roof.
Channel Master also made indoor TV antennas. The typical rabbit ears antenna that sat on top of the television set was considered ugly by many people, and they didn't want it in their homes. So Channel Master made, in 1956," the "Showman."
I think this is the smallest box I've ever seen for a transistor radio--relative, I mean, to the size of the radio. It barely fits in here and there is NO room for an earphone or a battery. If the radio were in a carrying case, it wouldn't fit. Did I mention..it's small?
There's paper inside, though. That fits. We have the paper detailing the 90-day Free Replacement Warranty. And we have a large sheet.. which is a sort of a catalog sheet.. which serves here as an owner's manual since it details the operation and the specifications of the radio. We'll look this over in detail later in the video.
It's a five-transistor radio made in Japan using Toshiba transistors. Now this is a little strange since the company that made it made transistors themselves, but for whatever reason their own transistors aren't used here. The company? Sanyo. At the time, Sanyo was an unknown brand in the US, while Channel Master was a familiar name all through the 1950s and '60s. Sanyo was founded in Japan in 1947 but did not export to the United States under its own brand until 1970. Besides making Channel Master gear, Sanyo made tape recorders and radios for the brand, Craig. There's a video on this channel all about Craig. And then there's Fisher. The once highly-regarded US-made brand of audio equipment, Fisher... The Fisher.. was purchased by Sanyo in 1975 and the combination of that respected name, and Sanyo's low pricing, sold a lot of Fisher home stereo equipment in the 1970s, '80s, and beyond.
As to Channel Master history, well that company started up in New York in 1949, making them actually two years younger than Sanyo. What was the original Channel Master product? Well... you guess. I'll tell you in a bit. After their original product, they moved into other lines of consumer electronics and, well, that's how they got into transistor radios. So far as I know, they never made their OWN transistor radio here in the US--every one I've seen has been made in the far east. Sometimes collectors are able to find examples of the earliest Channel Master transistor radios that are branded Sanyo. These Sanyo-branded models would have been made for Japan or for export to other countries where Channel Master wasn't.
"Its size.. is a surprise!.. In performance, power and tonal quality this miniature marvel is KING SIZE!" And here we learn the not-very-obvious key to Channel Master's proprietary model numbering scheme. It seems that the model we are looking at today, the 6504 model is sold as the radio alone in its little box too small for any accessories. Now this SAME radio is also offered in a larger box which includes a "Top grade cowhide carrying case and shoulder strap, magnetic earphone for private listening--with leather case, and supplementary outside antenna." That antenna has a suction cup on the end of it. And the battery is included in this outfit too. And when this radio is sold with those accessories, it's not the model 6504, but the model 6503.
It's a nice, large slab of underpainted plastic on the front of this beautiful little radio and you know I like that. It's a boxy little beast but I don't mind that at all. It gives me the impression you can put it down on a table without any fuss and it won't fall over. That's something.
If you guessed that Channel Master's original product was the rooftop TV antenna, you're right. As you can imagine assembling and installing a TV antenna on the roof would be quite a challenge to the first people trying to figure out how to do it in the 1940s and '50s. What Channel Master's innovation was.. was a prefabricated antenna that folded down more-or-less flat. That way, a homeowner, or antenna installer, no longer had to do a lot of assembly work precariously perched on a roof. The installer could just take the Channel Master antenna up on the roof in one piece, more-or-less flat, attach it to a vent pipe or chimney or whatever was up there on the roof, and.. unfold it. Ingenious.
From the mid 20th century to the end of it, rooftop television antennas were everywhere. In recent years most have fallen into disuse as TV watchers signed up for cable television. These antennas not only fell into disuse, but literally fell off the roofs they were on eventually, having to be picked up carefully, like a giant tumbleweed with lots of pointy edges, and bent up into a pretzel-like object small enough to fit in the trash can. The switch to digital TV in the United States in 2009 convinced even more people to sign up for cable. But a precious few of us maintained our outdoor antennas and continue to receive free, off-the-air TV. Of all the rooftops in my neighborhood now, there is only one with a TV antenna on it. This is, of course, MY roof.
Channel Master also made indoor TV antennas. The typical rabbit ears antenna that sat on top of the television set was considered ugly by many people, and they didn't want it in their homes. So Channel Master made, in 1956," the "Showman."
