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My radios didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t have FM reception. FM was in its infancy in the 1960s, and FM radio waves could barely travel outside Ashland or Huntington. On a side note, one of my friends in junior high had a father who owned the local AM station in Ashland. His dad started an FM station in a little office outside town and let his son run it for fun on nights and weekends.

My friends and I would go out at night and play songs from rock albums on the FM station. Our buddy was the disc jockey, but he never said a word. He just played song after song. That was the selling point ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” no jabbering like on AM radio and no commercials. Just pure 24/7 music to build a listener base.

Why was the handheld called a transistor radio? The term arose because these small radios were among the first consumer electronics to feature transistors instead of vacuum tubes. Before transistors, radios used large glass tubes that generated heat and required a lot of power.

The first transistor radios appeared in the mid-1950s. These were much smaller, more durable and battery-powered compared to earlier radios. The ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œtransistorÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� part of the name was simply a selling point ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” it advertised the cutting-edge technology inside.

Manufacturers wanted consumers to feel they were carrying around this new, superior technology. The transistor was such an advancement that it soon became part of the productÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s identity, like we say ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œsmartphoneÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� or ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œflat-screenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� to identify devices.

The identifying name stuck because transistor radios became popular, especially among teens and young adults in the late 1950s and 1960s. People could finally carry music with them anywhere.

Even after transistors became standard in all electronics, people kept calling portable radios ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œtransistor radiosÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� out of habit and nostalgia. I can remember favorite songs like ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œHang on SloopyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� and ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œ(I CanÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t Get No) SatisfactionÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� playing on my radio.

Transistor electronics morphed into integrated circuits, but people still said ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œtransistor radios.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

About 30 years ago, I bought a couple of $9 Radio Shack ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œtransistor radiosÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� to keep near me ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” one for home and one for the office. Few people were buying these in the 1990s, but it was nostalgic and practical for me.

I used them many times to follow Cincinnati Reds and Marshall games at home and office. Often attending Marshall football games, IÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™d put a radio to my ear to hear the names of the players involved in the action. This 40-year-old me was using a 1995 transistor radio to make a connection with my 1965 fifth-grade self.