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That Old Radio fondly called Transistor

Ad for Remco Radio
1972 Ad of REMCO Radio & Electricals Manufacturing CO.LTD.
from The Reader’s Digest

A slice of ( radio and other) history from this Ad:

  • November 1949: Remco started commercial production of India’s first multi-band radios.
  • In the same year they were the first to manufacture domestic, control, screened and co-axial cables made of PVC.
  • First Indian company to actively enter into collaboration with a Japanese Firm – Toshiba – to make India’s first electrical watt-hour meters in 1952.
  • First to produce water meters of Swiss design in India in 1956.
  • First to make electronic bandswitches for the Communication Industry in 1958.
  • In the same year, they started production of India’s first electrolytic capacitors
  • In 1967, first to build Indian designed lighting arresters, with nonlinear elements made from basic raw material.
  • In year 1972(the year of this Advertisement), they manufactured the first high-fidelity “Cross-Over Sound” radios in India.

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Two things from the Ad that caught my eye:

The line India can make it on its own – and make it better.
This again is an effect of the 1971 war on Imports-Starved Indian Industry and gets reflected in other similar ads.

The other thing about this ad is that with so many “firsts” under its belt, Remco promised that we would ‘soon be hearing from’ them ‘again – first’.
Searching for the details about this company on the Internet, curiously, I came across an old American radio manufacturer with the same name REMCO ( statistically speaking that would make Remco a fine name for a radio ) but nothing much on this Indian radio manufacturer. Many be the answer lies in the fact that when the next big wave came they had their knobs tuned into some other station.
The Case of Old Radio fondly called Transistor
Old Ad for Radio cases by GarwareThe Doordarshan had already arrived and AIR (All India Radio) played the perfect host for the services( the two were separated in 1976). In 1972 (the year of this particular Ad), television services were extended to Bombay (now Mumbai ) and Amritsar. The stage was set and Doordarshan went truly national in 1982 with the telecast of Asian Games. Radio still retains its charm in India but radio manufacturers do not.

we are
closer to you
than you think

Take the case of your transistor

Garware Plastics Pvt. Ltd

March, 1972

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Check out rest of the Ads in the series here

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You might also like to get the signature tune of All India Radio
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Comments

  1. AnonymousApr 27, 2008, 9:37:00 PM

    Good Old Radio came to be known as Transistor when Hot Vaccuum Tubes were Repalced with Solid State Transistors.

    ReplyDelete

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