Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
In the five years following Sony's earphone-only TR-33 radio, which had no speaker, every one of their shirt-pocket models had a speaker and used a 9-volt battery, helping to establish that battery as the standard for transistor radios. Every one of those radios.. until...
Until THIS one, the rare Sony TR-623. From around 1960, this Sony shirt-pocket radio is a six-transistor with a wire handle that doubles as a stand, and in these ways is similar to Sony's very popular TR-610 model from two years prior. But this TR-623 is one of the first Sony radios to be assembled in Hong Kong at what was then a new Sony facility there. In fact that plant was Sony's first overseas manufacturing venture. Not all examples of the 623 were assembled in Hong Kong, some were also built in Japan. Now this brings up a good trivia question for you, I think. One I'll answer later in the video. Can you think of another Sony radio from around the same time that was also produced in two different plants in two different countries?
Always tinkering with the problematic replacement of batteries, Sony here introduces yet another new kind of battery access door, which of course I can't seem to get open. If I could get it open, you would see that the radio uses.. not the usual 9-volt battery, but three penlight cells, also known as AA batteries.
You might ask, "what is so problematic about replacing batteries?" Why did Sony keep trying to simplify and idiot-proof this process? But if you're a collector, think a minute. You have no doubt seen on the radios you've collected all the cracks and chips and gouges on backs and battery covers. This is from clumsy, ham-fisted previous owners trying to get their radios apart to change the batteries. And remember, as a collector you are looking at the radios that survived! So, batteries being the number one cause of issues customers had with their transistor radios, Sony was always trying to improve this process and make it painless for both owner and radio. Many technical types today will bemoan the fact that Apple iPhone batteries--and the rechargeable batteries in scads of other modern tech devices--are not generally user-replaceable. Now you know the reason why. Sure, YOU could do it without a problem. But a lot of people simply can't... and are all too quick to reach for a bottle opener, putty knife, coat hanger, or any handy explosives.
And now, trivia buffs, back to my earlier question: what other Sony transistor radio was also made in two different plants in two different countries?... This one. But wait a minute, this isn't the TR-610, even though it looks like it. Where the TR-610 is a 6-transistor with gold trim, this is the five-transistor TR-510 with silver trim. The 510 model was produced both in Japan and in Hong Kong, and this appears on the back of the Hong Kong versions.
The TR-623, a slim, handsome transistor radio from...Sony.
In the five years following Sony's earphone-only TR-33 radio, which had no speaker, every one of their shirt-pocket models had a speaker and used a 9-volt battery, helping to establish that battery as the standard for transistor radios. Every one of those radios.. until...
Until THIS one, the rare Sony TR-623. From around 1960, this Sony shirt-pocket radio is a six-transistor with a wire handle that doubles as a stand, and in these ways is similar to Sony's very popular TR-610 model from two years prior. But this TR-623 is one of the first Sony radios to be assembled in Hong Kong at what was then a new Sony facility there. In fact that plant was Sony's first overseas manufacturing venture. Not all examples of the 623 were assembled in Hong Kong, some were also built in Japan. Now this brings up a good trivia question for you, I think. One I'll answer later in the video. Can you think of another Sony radio from around the same time that was also produced in two different plants in two different countries?
Always tinkering with the problematic replacement of batteries, Sony here introduces yet another new kind of battery access door, which of course I can't seem to get open. If I could get it open, you would see that the radio uses.. not the usual 9-volt battery, but three penlight cells, also known as AA batteries.
You might ask, "what is so problematic about replacing batteries?" Why did Sony keep trying to simplify and idiot-proof this process? But if you're a collector, think a minute. You have no doubt seen on the radios you've collected all the cracks and chips and gouges on backs and battery covers. This is from clumsy, ham-fisted previous owners trying to get their radios apart to change the batteries. And remember, as a collector you are looking at the radios that survived! So, batteries being the number one cause of issues customers had with their transistor radios, Sony was always trying to improve this process and make it painless for both owner and radio. Many technical types today will bemoan the fact that Apple iPhone batteries--and the rechargeable batteries in scads of other modern tech devices--are not generally user-replaceable. Now you know the reason why. Sure, YOU could do it without a problem. But a lot of people simply can't... and are all too quick to reach for a bottle opener, putty knife, coat hanger, or any handy explosives.
And now, trivia buffs, back to my earlier question: what other Sony transistor radio was also made in two different plants in two different countries?... This one. But wait a minute, this isn't the TR-610, even though it looks like it. Where the TR-610 is a 6-transistor with gold trim, this is the five-transistor TR-510 with silver trim. The 510 model was produced both in Japan and in Hong Kong, and this appears on the back of the Hong Kong versions.
The TR-623, a slim, handsome transistor radio from...Sony.
