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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