A look at the first talking clock radio
Added 2021-01-31 11:49:00 +0000 UTCI've wanted to take a look inside one of these for years. It's the Panasonic RC-6900, a talking radio alarm clock from 1971. If you've seen my videos about the Panasonic 20-cassette carousel and Akai's overly complicated Auto Reverse deck you'll understand the reasons behind my fascination with this device. Its electro-mechanical early 1970s Mission Impossible-esque pre integrated-circuit ingenuity piqued my interest.
How did they make an alarm clock Talk fifty years ago? Press play and we'll figure it out together.
In other news - how are you doing? I feel I'm getting over the New Year blues a bit and settling into the routine of 2021. I decided to stop having a drink or two (or three) in the evenings. It was getting a bit too routine. It'll probably result in less random Ebay purchases, but hopefully I'll see some health benefits - or at least a slower decline. It's easy when you're always in the house to fall into bad habits. I feel when 'The Event' is finally over (or as near as we get) many are going to struggle with a return to normality. I'm just thankful that my normality isn't a million miles away from my current situation. If I had to put on a suit and tie again now and get on a packed commuter train at 6:15am I really don't know if I'd be up for it.
I should mention that if anyone feels a need to chat about anything with others on here there is a mostly unused Community tab somewhere near the top of the page. I believe that if you do post something there then everyone should be able to read it. I can't personally respond to everything posted on there - but if there's anything you want to share with your fellow patrons I just wanted to mention that it's there as a feature.
Anyway - that's it for the moment, take care and keep smiling.
UPDATE: I've swapped out the video for one that adds a still of the brochure entry for this clock. It's at 04:06. (A couple of people suggested this should be included - better to find out now rather than when it goes live).
UPDATE 2: Added on an addendum (at the end) that should pre-emptively clear up a few things before the video goes live.
Comments
It definitely wouldn’t be worth taking the time to do this with mine - it’s got a lot of issues, more than I went into in the video.
Techmoan
2021-02-23 20:57:57 +0000 UTCSorry, just now getting around to watching this. It's a fascinating mechanism. I do wonder if the disk could be replaced by cutting up the innards of a floppy disk. Then it would be quite a job to re-record sound back onto it.
The 8-Bit Guy
2021-02-23 20:47:58 +0000 UTCGreatly enjoyed a look at this vintage tech. Another great, well produced, video. The magnetic head seems to be somewhat non-standard? Maybe to not snag as it travels between the discs. Interesting design. I'm sure they probably used a similar designed recorder to the playback to create these discs. May be possible to re-record them if they have lost magnetism? In any case. Fantastic work.
AmpSmashed Music
2021-02-14 18:40:58 +0000 UTC
