GE Clock Radios of the 80s

[dxnemo78]

I've had my GE 7-4975B clock radio for about 25 yrs now, hope it lasts another 25 (provided Ido! ). Great for AM & FM DX, cassette player quit long ago, thanks to my abuse & neglect   Digital clock can be turned all the way off, or bright enough to almost read by...

[dxer720]

Over the years, I've had many GE radios...clock & portables.  I've always found the AM to be great, but the FM on most was very unselective.  Strong FM stations would spread all over the dial.  I have a Superadio modified with a 100KHz filter in the FM.  That did the selectivity great, but the sensitivity was never there for the FM.  My favorite was GE AM/FM clock radio with flip clock numbers from about '76.  Yes, the FM was not much, but the AM pulled in everything.  I had it till about 1992, when the clock stopped.  Until then the whole thing was very reliable. 

I wholeheartedly agree about the current crop of clock radios.  Some I've seen in stores have no frequency indicator at all. 

I don't want to come off as a salesman for them, but I just got a Timex clock radio that impressed me.  The T-307S is mono AM/FM with digital tuning, 2 alarms, nature sounds & a line-in jack.  The FM is fair in sensitivity, but the selectivity could be better.  This thing shines on AM, with very good sensitivity & strong stations seen to keep to themselves.  The radio also has excellent sound for such a small unit.  IMHO a great little clock radio for about $30. 

[eyg2181]

i have an old GE clock radio, its not one like you guys mentioned, but the FM tuner works good...i think in going to try the AM just for the hell of it. its hooked up at my dads house and i wake up to it every other weekend....its an analog clock, with the tuner wight on the side of the clock, with the controls on the side of the unit. i can get 99.9 the hawk on it in Levittown PA, i barely get that on the big stereo

heres the model i have

http://cgi.ebay.com/COLLECTABLE-CLASSIC-ANALOG-CLOCK-AM-FM-RADIO-GE-7-4553D_W0QQitemZ270207901221QQihZ017QQcategoryZ50614QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[WPPCProductions]

Some day I have to start searching for a new keyboard for my  programmable clock radio. mine is shot. everything else runs fine.Is there any place on the web for parts
for these relics around to get it fixed.

[WMC2006]

Well it's not a GE and it's not a clock radio but it's a plain old digital alarm clock with snooze alarm (gotta have the snooze alarm!).  The brand name is Cosmo.

It was given to me by my then-boss when I was leaving a parttime job to live on-campus for my freshman year at college.  Along the way, it has travelled with me to two other states in which I have lived.  It has a battery backup...I JUST checked that and there is still a battery in it.  God knows how long THAT'S been in there.     There is still a sticker on the back describing how to set the time and the alarm.   

I use this clock to this day.

The year it was given to me was....1983!   

And, unfortunately, it outlasted that boss who passed away 8 or 10 years ago. 

[ABQTom]

I had an old GE clock radio for many years.  It's what woke me up since I was in elementary school, and I remember my grandmother would borrow it to hear her NYC radio stations when she'd visit us in PA.  I had that radio for a good 10 or 15 years and then one summer in the mid 90s I took it with me on a road trip out west.  In a hotel room in Minot ND I picked up KGO from California and WBAP from Ft. Worth TX like they were nearby stations.  Unfortunately I accidentally left the radio in the hotel room and didn't realize it until I was in Billings MT three days later.  I called the hotel and they said they'd check, but no luck.  Someone got themselves a great old radio.

Sorry to hear of your loss in Minot ND !  What a cruel person to steal a radio out of a hotel room.  I thought most people in the Midwest were honest.....

Anyway, my GE clock radio woke me up starting in either 6th or 7th grade, too.  It's the model 7-4622D (was this posted above?).  I recall that several members of my extended family also had them.  After a few years, the clock radio buttons stopped working, but the radios still worked perfectly.  My family members stopped using the radios and threw them in the basement workshop to collect dust.  I resurrected them a few years ago, and am AMAZED by their sound quality and sensitivity. 

You could probably compare the AM processing to the high quality CBS Radio Station on-line streams.  FM music sounds great, the lyrics are recognizable and not jumbled with everything else.  AM talk sounds great, without the blunting of higher frequencies.  However, there's no X-band.  I will keep the radio forever, and perhaps fix the clock buttons (it's a digital display, they have to be glued in somehow).

Thanks for all the observations. My family discarding radios under a basement workbench caused massive childhood trauma. Thanks so much for vindicating me. HA HA HA HA HA :8

CC: family members

[psych-sal]

i was contacting dxnemo78 i just got the sradio you were talking about the model  7-4975b can you tell me what the message button ontr the front is for and does it have multiple alarm? trying to figure it out. thanks, 

[The Dude]

Ahhhhhhhhhh the 80s!

[vibe]

ABQ Tom: sorry that someone STOLE your clock radio in ND.  2 yrs ago I stayed o/n in Williamsburg Iowa (I remember it being an Econolodge).  I left my 2" HH color TV on the nightstand that night (the hotel lost power due to a bad storm and I watched the All Star game on the HH).  The next day at 2:00 I realized I had left it there.  Fortunately I was only 35 mi away. 30 min later the TV and I were reunited (at least until 2/28/2009). So there IS honestry out in the heartland!
I would have told the hotel clerk that I was going to file a police report for the missing radio. The theft might have made the local paper which I'm sure the hotel wouldn't like and they may have offered you something (a free night?) to settle it.
I never have had a clock radio except for an old Bose.  Always used a wind up clock to start me up.

[pberger]

I have a 7-4880A which I used for years.  I've torn it apart at least a dozen times to try and clean the contacts.  As I recall, there are 2 parallel bars that come through the PC board below each button. They are covered by a convex steel circle, which shorts the bars when you press on the button.  I've cut strips of fine sandpaper which I would slide between the steel circle and the bars, and pull out gently while holding the button down.  I would get about 6 months use, then I would have to do it again.  I too would like an easy replacement.  I have even considered buying 12 push buttons and mount on a plastic panel.   I have also used cardboard strips moistened with contact cleaner.    Someone once recommended WD-40, but I have not tried it.  Supposed to keep the contact surfaces from corroding.

The main reason I liked it:  It was the only radio available where you could go to sleep listening to one station, and wake up to a different station.  I did find an RCA about 10 years ago that will do this.  

I have another similar GE, but it has blue digits instead of red, otherwise similar.  I don't know the model number.