RCA 1-X-4EJ "Filteramic" Plastic Radio (1950s)

Vaguely reminiscent of a robot's face, with tuning knobs for eyes and a big oval mouth, this radio is a lot of fun. Robot-faced radios were pretty popular during the 1950s. Motorola made a whole series of them, similar to my Model 55L2.

Seen from the side, this radio has a slim, almost triangular profile, growing very thin toward the top. The upper half of the cabinet is less than one inch deep, containing nothing except the speaker.

The name Filteramic is printed around the lower edge of the dial. I suppose the name refers to sound quality, although whether the radio has any special feature deserving that name is anybody's guess.

The radio uses five "peanut" style all-glass tubes (18FX6, 18FW6, 18FY6, 36AM3, 34GD5) mounted on a printed circuit board. I have a few other sets that combine tubes with printed circuits. This green Westinghouse H742T4 serves as the icon for my Plastic Radios category, while this brown Motorola 5P21N portable boasts of its modern "plated circuit" technology. Since those two other sets were made in 1956 and 1958, respectively, I'm guessing that this set dates from the late 1950s, as well.

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