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Boomer Generation
Relics Of The Past - Favorite Christmas Present
Posted by:
Boomer on
March 14, 2007 at
11:50AM EST
What was your favorite Christmas Present?
I think all of us have a favorite or a series of favorites. In my case some of the favorites on my list included my first English bicycle with narrow tires, a 3 speed Sturmey Archer shifter and hand brakes mounted on the handlebars. This was a big advantage over the typical Schwinn or Sears American bike with just one speed and a coaster brake. Other favorite Christmas gifts included model airplanes, usually gas engine powered U control models from Cox, Comet, or Wen-Mac. They came ready to fly (and ready to crash). So what was my all time favorite?  In 1959 Santa delivered a 6 transistor radio to me. It was a blue Magnavox and it ran on a 9-volt battery. Up until that point I had used a variety of old radios in my room that were not very good. I had also used Remco crystal radio sets to bring in local stations. I could not believe my luck when I found the Magnavox under the tree along with two 9-volt Burgess batteries. The Magnavox was a gem to behold. Measuring about 6X3 inches it could fit into my pocket and I carried it everywhere I went. It was the iPod of its day and the height of miniaturized consumer technology. For an 8 year old kid, it was quite a status symbol in the neighborhood. I found out later that the radio cost about $35 which was a lot of money in 1959. In today's inflated dollars it would be about $243 today, Oddly enough this is about the cost of the video iPod today. Inflation Calculator I was never really allowed to listen to the radio after I went to bed for the night (I was 8 years old) but with the Magnavox I could use the earphone or put the radio under my pillow. No one else in the house even knew it was on. A real discovery was that at night the radio pulled in stations from all over the eastern seaboard and reaching out to the Midwest. It was kind of like magic. I could listen to rock and roll DJs from New York city, Boston, Hear Dick Biondi at WKBW in Buffalo NY, KMOX in St. Louis, WLW in Cincinnati, CLKW in Windsor Ontario and many more. I was also a big baseball fan and could listen in on most games at night. I often went to sleep with the radio on and running down the battery. I almost lost the radio during the New York Yankee's - Pittsburgh Pirates World Series in 1960. I had brought it to school and attempted to listen to the series using the earphone. I got caught and the radio was taken away from me. Talk about despair..... I thought I had lost it. When I was ready to board the bus home the Mother Superior of the Catholic school I attended gave it back to me. I listened to the rest of the World Series game on the way home and as I got off the bus I witnessed the winning home run hit by Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates in the late afternoon of October 14, 1960. In many respects my Magnavox opened up new experiences for me. I wish I still had it. Interested In Local Hopkinsville Nostalgia? Please Visit My Hopkinsville Nostalgia Site 
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