OK, long time listeners know that I'm a bit of a techie. 

Courtesy: Centerline Engineering
Courtesy: Centerline Engineering
loading...

Indeed, most of the time you hear me doing the Morning Waking Crew broadcast from our "Studio North" in North Conway is because of a trip to Mount Washington for some technical stuff to do with our 103.7. Full disclosure, our parent company, Tonwsquare Media, also own 94.9 WHOM and part of my job entails that transmitter site on the mountain as well.

I like quality sound. Yes, I've got expensive speakers connected to all my gear, pricey headphones for my private audio work, and a better-than-average radio in my car. To be sure, the subject of this post is about sound, but I somehow doubt the "quality" part.

Two guys from Brooklyn have come up with a not-so-original idea that they have made unique. The concept is an FM radio that gets only one station. Not a new idea. Over the years there have been several promotional companies that would sell FM radios in bulk to a radio station for giveaway use. These would typically have the station logo or call letters on the radio case, and the receiver itself would only get one station.

These guys had the idea based on the fact that they apparently have a favorite radio station and don't veer away from it all that often. Hence, the idea of a radio without all that pesky tuning stuff like knobs, buttons and a dial position indicator. On, off and volume are all you get.

If you've ever seen anyone work on an electronics project you know that it can be a jumble of wires and components. Places like Radio Shack sell "project boxes" which are nothing more than a plastic box with a cover that screws or snaps on. You drill the holes for whatever controls you need. If you're a 9 year old kid doing this and your mother won't let you have an electric drill because she's worried you'll hurt yourself with it, then you use your soldering iron to burn the holes you need and file off the curled up plastic. Your bedroom smells like burnt plastic most of the time and you wonder a lot why mom won't let you have a drill, but she's OK with you having a tool that has the potential to burn down your whole house. But I digress.

Anyway, these guys obviously don't live hear a Radio Shack, and when the need arose to put some sort of enclosure around their nifty little handy work, they used a mason jar. Then thought it was pretty cool. The lid contains the holes for a speaker grille, volume control and telescoping antenna. The jar holds the electronics and the batteries.

These guys have a Kickstarter campaign started to try and fund their company. You can get all the details here. I don't know these guys and have no connection with them whatsoever. It's just a cool little gadget that might make a nice gift for the techie in your life... Provided you know their favorite radio station. If not, might I suggest either 97.5 or 103.7?

 

More From 97.5 WOKQ