Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 46 minutes ago
A company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was the first in Japan to make a transistor radio. No one can say Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, so what name did they invent and put on the front of this radio?
This name. And this is the first product in the world to bear this name. Sony. That radio, the green one, is a TR-55 from 1955. Successor to that radio was the TR-5 and that's the radio we are looking at today. It's from April of 1956. The TR-5 was available in this ivory color, and also a maroon and a dark green. Sadly, this example, as you can see, is wounded.
The TR-55 and TR-5 are the same size. Both have five transistors and are powered by four penlight batteries. But there are many differences inside and out between these models. For example, the grille color and the dial pointer are different. Internally, the TR-5's circuit has improvements over that of the TR-55. Remember, the transistor itself was still less than ten years old at the time these radios were made, so transistor and transistor circuit technology were still advancing quickly.
At the time, Sony was a small, and young company. It was founded in 1946. Few of us in America knew these names then, but Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and others were already large, established enterprises at the time of Sony's founding. Yet Sony beat them all to market with the first transistor radio in Japan. Why? For the very same reason that Regency in the US beat RCA, General Electric, and the rest to market with their TR-1.
In a few key ways, the modern transistor radio began to take shape with the TR-5. The quirky metal clips that held on the TR-55 back are replaced by the now-familiar, and much weaker, plastic tabs which became the standard on most transistor radios to come. The earphone jack is moved to the side and mounted with a nut directly to the cabinet, as we would also see on most transistor radios to follow.
And here are the backs, side by side. The TR-5 says only "Made in Japan" on its back.
In this side view you can see two things. First, that this TR-5 is missing the little plastic rectangle that is a removable part for adjusting the tuning capacitor on these radios. It slides right out and is often missing, if you can even use the word "often" on radios as rare as this. The second thing here is a clear comparison between the TR-55's earphone jack setup and that of the TR-5.
And here's the case this TR-5 came in. Although as you notice, that cutout on the back indicates that it was designed with the TR-55 in mind and may have been the case used for either model.
The original Sony logo, used just three years, from 1955 till 1958.
The Sony TR-5.
A company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was the first in Japan to make a transistor radio. No one can say Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, so what name did they invent and put on the front of this radio?
This name. And this is the first product in the world to bear this name. Sony. That radio, the green one, is a TR-55 from 1955. Successor to that radio was the TR-5 and that's the radio we are looking at today. It's from April of 1956. The TR-5 was available in this ivory color, and also a maroon and a dark green. Sadly, this example, as you can see, is wounded.
The TR-55 and TR-5 are the same size. Both have five transistors and are powered by four penlight batteries. But there are many differences inside and out between these models. For example, the grille color and the dial pointer are different. Internally, the TR-5's circuit has improvements over that of the TR-55. Remember, the transistor itself was still less than ten years old at the time these radios were made, so transistor and transistor circuit technology were still advancing quickly.
At the time, Sony was a small, and young company. It was founded in 1946. Few of us in America knew these names then, but Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and others were already large, established enterprises at the time of Sony's founding. Yet Sony beat them all to market with the first transistor radio in Japan. Why? For the very same reason that Regency in the US beat RCA, General Electric, and the rest to market with their TR-1.
In a few key ways, the modern transistor radio began to take shape with the TR-5. The quirky metal clips that held on the TR-55 back are replaced by the now-familiar, and much weaker, plastic tabs which became the standard on most transistor radios to come. The earphone jack is moved to the side and mounted with a nut directly to the cabinet, as we would also see on most transistor radios to follow.
And here are the backs, side by side. The TR-5 says only "Made in Japan" on its back.
In this side view you can see two things. First, that this TR-5 is missing the little plastic rectangle that is a removable part for adjusting the tuning capacitor on these radios. It slides right out and is often missing, if you can even use the word "often" on radios as rare as this. The second thing here is a clear comparison between the TR-55's earphone jack setup and that of the TR-5.
And here's the case this TR-5 came in. Although as you notice, that cutout on the back indicates that it was designed with the TR-55 in mind and may have been the case used for either model.
The original Sony logo, used just three years, from 1955 till 1958.
The Sony TR-5.
