I am a HUGE fan of the clock radio. I turn my smartphone off at night because I'd be getting wrong numbers and spam calls in Chinese all night long if I left it on. I have been using clock radios forever. Maybe it's a GenX thing. All I know is that a regular alarm can get lost in deep sleep, especially with a white noise machine going. On the other hand, loud, obnoxious DJ commentary or music that you DON'T like is a great way to get out of bed just to make it stop. I used to do 1010 WINS but I would lay in bed too long listening to the news. Radio stations fade in and out in my part of Astoria, but I find that a rotation between ESPN En Espanol, rap stations, and Spanish rap stations will rouse me from the deepest slumber, and are unpleasant enough to me to make me only want to deal with the snooze bar ONCE versus making it stop for good.
Just make sure you get one with a 9V battery backup. Amazon has tons of models, and most big drug stores have models with battery backups also. Almost makes me nostalgic for Radio Shack, but that's another Tech column.
3
This is a fine remembrance. I also love the picture which shows the mounting grommets for attaching under an upper kitchen cabinet. A similar radio located there at my in-laws house was the last item out as the property was cleaned up for sale. I am now reminded to ask my brother-in-law about the fate of that clock radio.
You may have convinced me to sort through the stacks of old electronics at Goodwill in search of a vintage clock radio. I think about it often. Mostly I want to glance across the room to know what time it is in the middle of the night if I wake up, without awaking my iPhone.
In high school I had a startlingly vivid dream of witnessing a car accident on the 520 floating bridge in Seattle. There are no shoulders. Cars were backed up as far as you could see, and the ambulance and tow truck couldn't get through to resolve the situation. After I woke up, the alarm clock radio station still playing, a news break came on with an update about the accident... and I realized my brain had incorporated the traffic report between "Sowing the Seeds of Love" and "Show Don't Tell".
As a fellow Gen X it's wonderful to read a rare published voice from someone else from our funny, and balanced group who is rooted in history from our great grandparents, grandparents, and parents and yet we were raised on awesome hip hop and pop culture. I appreciate the logic of what is good is good and as time travelers we should know. It would be nice if were admired more for what we can bring to the world and it is a whole bunch of...don't forget where we came from.
3
I love this. There's an additional problem with phone alarms. I often get music or sounds stuck in my head- I am a musician, so maybe I am more predisposed to that? When using a phone alarm, I quickly get the sound of it stuck in my head as an earworm, and it will frequently start playing loudly INTERNALLY at all hours. This imaginary, but very loud, sound wakes me several times in the night. Switching back to my clock radio, and waking up to NPR has solved that problem.
Howard Stern on AM & then FM clock radio. Insomnia savers. Out of work & no where to go but listening to Howard always made me feel better.
I wake up to my clock radio evey day. Thank you for telling the world why.
5
Had a mid-70’s Radio Shack radio/alarm with little flappers showing the time, like a rolodex and dimmable. Worked great. Mind you, until the little flappers began to fall off and assemble in the little black hole beneath. That was my conundrum for a long time. Should I try to fix the offending flappers, or not? The good thing was void in PM flappers was only 7 minutes consecutive; the bad thing was the void in AM flappers was 20 minutes rendering the snooze button moot, and the alarm way off. Thus began the Era of Dark Experience, in which each morning I puzzled over the miasma of uncertainty.
1
Well, I no longer have the radio of the 1980's but I use my JVC from the 1990's that allows me to do the same thing with better sound. It is set to go off at 4:47A.M. and I have it tuned to NPR where I wake up listening to The Witness Piece from BBC that NPR runs daily. I learn so much about particular bits of history and it is always remembered because it is the first thing upon waking that my brain begins to process. My late 1970's York clock radio still keeps the time but the radio function is useless. Great article.
Thank you for this wonderful piece. Like you, I have had a long-term relationship with my clock radio dating back to when I was a girl in the 70’s and my clock was perched across my room to compel me to lift my adolescent bones out of bed to turn off that day’s top 40 pick. That clock has accompanied my life’s journey to this point and I have never entertained the thought of replacing it even as my decor has changed from my teenage lime green shag rug and daisy wall paper to my adult beautifully crafted cherry wood bedroom set. I’ve glanced at its lights as I arrived home later than I should and as I counted the minutes waiting for my teenage sons to return from an evening/morning out. I am intensely loyal to the clock because it’s never failed me and because I fear that I would disrupt my life’s equilibrium if I ever replaced it. I’ve never felt this way about another inanimate belonging and I suppose it’s the animate nature of the radio that makes it different. Anyway, thank you for making me feel a little less weird about this particular attachment. Here’s to enjoying the passing of time with a reliable old friend.
7
There have been but three clock radios worth owning over the past thirty some-odd years: The Proton 320; the Nakamichi TM1 (for those who must have digital tuning and presets); and the Tivoli Model Three, a very nice item but at $300 definitely an exercise in overkill.
The Proton and Nakamichi have long been out of production. They're still around in the resale market - they were $100 new and now usually sell for about $50 in good condition - look like they belong in the MOMA design collection, sound great, and last pretty much forever. I've still got my Proton radio, purchased in the '80s, but am obliged to admit I now rely on a Sonos speaker at bedside, triggered by an iPad and programmed to blast Morning Edition or Art Pepper at the appointed time.
The Tivoli, a 21st century update of the old KLH table radio, which now includes bluetooth and other features, remains in production for diehards who appreciate better than decent sound, a nice real wood case, an analog clock and a very precise manual, analog tuning dial.
Where can you get a decent clock radio. Best buy has one so complicated I can't set it. Amazon's is garbage.
@Margaret Baker
Thrift stores usually have clock radios, top brands etc.
1
@Diane GOT A VERY INEXPENSIVE Dreamsky from Amazon. It's very small, has a bit of a tinny sound, but compact, dimmable, and I usually wake up before radio does. My internal clock in 70+ years has set itself. You won't find a rich sounding radio or CD player unless you pay $$$$ for one. And then, it's probably not a clock radio. But it sure is better than keeping a PHONE UNDER YOUR PILLOW - phones are not a 1-stop shop!! Even though writer thinks so!!
Found my old Sony yesterday, when decluttering. Great sound and a CD player. Woke up to the Allman Brothers Greatest Hits CD for years. Think I’ll go back go it.
1
Nick, you make me want to go home and try to repair the failing tuner on my 1990s era Sony Dream Machine (or is it a Panasonic?) that wakes me up with a mix of static and NPR every morning. Even the white noise and hard to discern newscast is preferable to a soulless alarm. Thanks for this reminder of why I still don't sleep with my iPhone next to my bed. -- your friend from Cville.
1
I don’t know what “Gen-?” I’m from, but I’ve an alarm that has gone to bed with me since 1935.
Although several years were required to learn to use it, it has been reliable despite power outages and it is absolutely accurate give or take a couple of minutes or so. Furthermore, it’s greeting to the new day is a half-minute summary of the latest episode of “Today I’m grateful for...”, invariably stimulating enough to get me out of bed with attitude.
To set it requires only a whispered repetition of the desired wake-up time: “06:15, 06:15, 06:15”. Changing the time is simple, even for someone of “Gen-?”.
3
I am in the midst of an end of the summer purge, getting rid of papers and items that are cluttering up my home. I woke up this morning, looked at my Magnavox 479 clock radio sitting unplugged on my floor, and decided it was time to let it go. My parents had given it to me in 1978, my first year of junior high school. The radio represented to me the budding freedom of adolescence. I would lie awake at night, listening to WPLJ, WNEW and WLIR, discovering new music, listening to commentary and call in radio shows on Sunday night. It was this radio that delivered to me the news that John Lennon was dead. The sound on it is now scratchy, there is a low buzzing, and some of the buttons have broken off.
I opened my Times Magazine and read your article, and my clock radio is again plugged in at my bedside, waiting to wake me with public radio. I will have to find something else to put on the junk pile.
7
I wake up every morning to a radio station on a clock radio that's about 25 years old. It was the first thing I unpacked in my dorms at school and apartments in the real world. And hey: God bless the oversized snooze button!
2
Well. First these people "discovered" flip phones, now it's clock radios, and next?
"Guess what? I just figured out something totally and completely cool!!! When I want to take a picture of something, I use (wait for it) ... A CAMERA ... instead of my phone!!! How amazing is that? It's just the coolest thing ever. Now I have my CAMERA on a strap and I walk around with it hanging on my neck, and people think I'm a super-hip, like, PHOTOGRAPHER!!! I can't really figure out all the buttons and dials, but when I fiddle with the lens, people just, like, stop and LOOK AT ME, and then they take pictures of me with their phones!!! I've completely rebranded myself!!!"
Make it stop.
12
How quaint. How unreliable. How 20th century!
I have a clock by my bed. It has huge red numerals that I can read without my glasses. On a regular basis, it needs to be reset, as there has a glitch in the power supply and it blinks 12:00. Don't even think about the batteries that it eats for a sometimes functional backup.
My phone sits on the other side of the bed, on a charging stand, connected to bluetooth speakers either side of the bed. It puts me to sleep with documentaries and wakes me to live radio. It always has the correct time and it survives power failures quite adequately.
Send the clock radio to the Smithsonian.
2
sorry, I can't set mine even with the directions in hand. It sits on the night stand gathering dust but I do check the time sometimes. Also, it has a mind of it's own and changes it's brightness in the middle of the night. It has 3 brightness settings and it switches around by it self as it suits itself, I guess.
2
LOVED this article! If I could figure out how to find Nick Rubin on Facebook or Twitter I’d have shared the link. My clock radio isn’t as old as his, I’ve had it for only about 12 years, but I also love its green numbers and its effective dimmer; the controls that I can recognize with my fingers (eyes closed); the predictable unpredictability of what I hear when it “clicks” and turns itself on to wake me.
YAY Mr. Rubin!
6
Wake up to radio, but set your alarm for 15 or so minutes later. Radio is much nicer waking-up experience but doesn't always close the deal.
7
Yes, yes, yes! I enjoy being awakened by the visit of those lovely people from NPR. In earlier days the smooth, dulcet baritone of J. P. McCarthy in Detroit made beginning the day as an intern pleasurable, or at least manageable. Those who are missing such things are the poorer for it.
5
As a teenager, my first alarm clock was a round, flower-power bestickered, lime green, wind-up, with an actual bell on top - used to make sure I made it to X-period band practice on time (still in the dark during the winter). Graduated to a series of fake wood clock radios (the cool space-age white ones turned an icky brownish yellow). Oh, those heart-stopping mornings when you accidentally set the alarm to PM instead of AM. Still have a Phillips thrift store find. Every once in a while I give its topside speaker the "steak knife and tissue" cleaning treatment. Now that my brain is no longer capable of sleeping until noon and I rarely need an alarm set (laying there until 6 AM is more torture than bliss), with a mere lift of my head and some squinting, the numbers are big enough to tell me what time it is in the dark - without my glasses. What cell phone is capable of that?!
7
Mr Rubin,
This was one of the funniest and most resonant articles I've read in a long time, which took me back to the clock-radio days of my youth. I agree with you on every count! Fed up with my phone, I recently bought a classic Braun alarm clock - heaven forfend! - but now realise this was a stop-gap. What my mornings are really missing is the camaraderie of a radio-show. Thank you!
8
I've never been a radio person simply because it is unpredictable. You never know what the human is going to say and most of it I just found boring or annoying when a sibling subjected us to radio growing up. Of course it is better on classical stations, but you still don't know what is next.
I would love to wake to easy classical music, but even that could be Allegro or Presto. For the rare times I need an alarm my iPhone is perfect because I picked the exact sound. I choose my music and listen to it on iTunes or on CD in the auto.
I guess I am in trouble - I sleep with the radio on. That is OK it has an audible alarm for the very odd morning. Not confirmed but I think the Dog prefers the radio be left on too. Know it is left on for her when she is home alone. Would hate to find out what happens when they test the Emergency Broadcast Signal.
4
This is such an awesome paean to clock radios! I use one too, for all the same reasons you do, which I never could have articulated so well. Thank you!
18
I have my 1970 clock radio. FM was a BIG deal!!
6
Also available are NOAA type weather alert radios with regular stations and alarm clock functions, as well as the required battery back up. Safer in my area.
My first clock/radio was likely early 70s, analog, with a Very Bright Genuine Radium highlighted clock face.
You could see that sucker from down the street!
Right by my head. For 20+ years until I absorbed all the radiation and it did not light up sufficiently, boo.
4
well I don't know if all that's true... but it made for a very entertaining essay.
3
#1 reason to own a clock radio: You can drift off to sleep to the ball game when your team's on the West Coast.
6
Clock radios can be confusing to use. Most of them have terrible UIs. Ever try setting the alarm on the bedside unit found in most airport hotels and feeling confident that it will wake you at the desired time? The hotel Tobo wake up call is usually a better option.
2
No, it’s the older models that have more intuitive, i.e. simple, controls,that are better. I hate those hotel ones, agree that they’re often difficult or confusing to use.
2
I rely on my 25 year old Timex "Nature Sounds" clock radio to awaken (4:00 AM) had it programmed to my local Classical Music radio station until it went off the air, now is programmed to the sounds of frogs and crickets.
6
Thanks, but you just caused me to waste about 45 minutes doing google image searches looking for the clock radios I have vague memories of owning.
Most recent was bought in 70s, probably, a Zenith Circle of Sound.
Cannot be sure of the first, had in late 50s when in grade school, but remember it was ivory/creme colored.
4
My parents had a very similar clock radio when I was a kid. Ours was pastel pink — very eighties. I had forgotten about the pop. I felt it in my bones just now. My phone's alarm is has me slightly traumatized, to the point that, when I hear it outside my bedroom, I cringe reflexively. I think I'll take Mr. Rubin's advice and go back to the clock radio.
14
I played Ina Goda Da Vida at 6 AM every morning as a DJ on my high school radio station, until my classmates begged me to stop.
Had to share!
21
@Tom, that made me laugh, thanks. When my teen son came home from school one day asking if I had a song called "In the Garden of Eden", I couldn't figure out what the heck he was talking about until he whistled it. "You mean IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA, by Iron Butterfly?" "No, it's called In the Garden of Eden." I had to play it for him before he was convinced.
When it came out in my day, there wasn't a kid in our group of friends who couldn't accompany the drum solo with their two index fingers, including the girls.
5
From the headline, I'd hoped the Times was making modern clock radio recommendations,
Alas...
In my perfect world, I could purchase a clock radio that:
1. Has digital tuning - can't stand the loss of tuning accuracy from a dial.
2. Could download subscribed podcasts automatically.
3. Is priced as a slightly improved clock radio, not some tech company's high end holiday product.
7
Choose your station carefully. Mine was tuned to NPR on 9/11 and waking out of a sound sleep I heard about what occurred moments after it happened. I wasn't sure if I was awake or still dreaming.
I "retired" my clock radio at that point and now rely on my dogs. I favor deep-chested hounds, and they have to be fed smaller meals twice a day to prevent "gastric torsion", which is fatal. Hence an AM feeding.
I adjust their feeding time to when I need to wake up, and a dogs stomach is "an atomic clock". They know, to the minute, when it's time to be fed, but are considerate enough to delay waking you if you are happily dreaming away.
The oldest of technology, but it works. Brilliantly.
22
Except the picture that accompanies the article is not a bedside clock radio. It is a kitchen radio (GE Spacemaker) designed to be mounted from its top to hang underneath a kitchen cabinet. It has no controls on the top (absolutely essential for reaching out blindly and half-asleep to hit the snooze button). In fact, the clock seems to have no alarm function at all - only a radio and cooking timer function on its face. Use this radio and you will be sure to oversleep and miss work - though consoled, perhaps, by eating a perfectly timed soft boiled egg before heading out to find a new job.
41
Never said it was bedside, in fact it was clearly stated that it is on the floor.
@cfxk You’re exa about the photo. My GE Spacesaver is long gone, but my bedside clock radio remains. One thing that the photo gets right though is the teetering pile of books upon which the clock radio is perched. My nightstand exactly. Nick, you made my day!
1
The red numbers or time highlighted in red light is actually used due to scientific analysis that red light will not interrupt your circadian rhythm, easing you back to sleep should you wake up prematurely at gaze at the time. This study was done to help those working midnight shifts. The late night lighted work environments was switched to red lighting and deemed better for the bodies natural circadian rhythm and peak melatonin production.
I have alarm clocks with red light as a result.
14
Nice article to have when most other news is so Alarming............oops.
30
My wife also relies on her radio alarm clock for awakening. Only, for her, hearing an actual station is not sufficient. She needs the frequency noise of “between the stations” to get her attention. I will admit that it motivates one to get up and hit the off button, as opposed to the snooze button!
7
I am so glad to hear that someone else in the world has hung on to his clock radio. My 20-something daughter sniffs at mine on my nightstand. I prefer to wake up to traffic and weather on WBBM every morning and hear the tone when the hour strikes. Mine is a Timex with a snooze button that I got from a thrift store and I love it. Cellphone alarms just don't do it for me either.
19
@gwenstuart:
So sorry you are still in Chicago, where I used to listen to WJJD, which played the Top 40 songs and distributed paper copies of the weekly list to record stores. To save you "googling", that was in the late 50s.
3
No phone for me either. I have a Logitech Squeezebox which functions as a clock radio with alarm. I wake up to WQXR Classical Radio (NYC) every morning.
7
Another GenXer. I just acquired a Sangean RCR-20. I love it. Its a good dual-alarm dimmable clock, FM with good sounding speakers, not a tinny radio, big enough numbers I can still see in bed without glasses . You can set it to wake at a specific volume, not just whatever volume the knob is at. And, it has modern features like bluetooth, a USB charger, aux-in, station presets, and a remote. Great for listening to podcasts. Perfect clock radio for the 21st centry.
9
I love the idea of waking up to the sounds of the outside world. Set it to my local public radio station and wake up to “Morning Edition”. I can snooze for awhile if I please (something not possible with the horribly irritating buzzer). An easy & effective way to stir my brain in the morning!
17
This bit of nostalgia made me smile. A close relative lives and breathes technology, has a home and cars full of it, and a high level position in it. Yet on his night stand is his $13 ancient clock radio of his teens, used every night, the obscenely expensive, latest and greatest phone resting on top of it.
Plastic clock radios were something I never appreciated for anything but the volume level they reached, when only the blasting of rock music succeeded in rousing me for work at 4 AM. By the time I reached my forties I found waking up to an announcer yelling at me made me angry, and I switched to those that played cassettes, later CDs. Once I retired they were all banished for sounding so terrible and being ugly. An iPhone placed on a folded cloth over wood doesn't sound half bad, and I wake up to David Bowie quietly warbling Sound and Vision, the Sony Experia ad full version. Hearing his voice first thing in the morning is lovely, and bittersweet. Unless you live in the city or near a college where you can pick up interesting music, radio today is abysmal.
7
"(If I ran an oldies station, we would play that song at the same time every morning.)"
A Groundhog Day prank? How mean!
But clock radios? Yes, I approve.
10
@Chanzo I think that reminder of Groundhog Day would be hilarious! I would also ask that imaginary radio station owner to also play "Smoke Two Joints" at 5pm on Fridays, like they used to do on KFOG.
7
I think we own that same GE clock radio, although ours has a cassette player, too.
It's a shame in the accompanying graphic that rather than moving a properly sized book underneath the radio, the illustrator decided to flip the radio upside down, and then mask and invert the front panel. Even in an article lauding it's utility, the clock radio still gets no respect.
4
@Tapokata Not quite. It's the incorrect radio. It only looks inverted because it is a kitchen clock-radio that is mounted from the top underneath a kitchen cabinet.
8
YES AND YES!! Thank you for putting down the words I struggle to find when I have to defend my attachment to my clock radio. Not as sexy as yours ( mine-SONY"Dream Machine") Waking up to a station with a little bit of static -reminds me of what the day requires - some patience and listening :)
25
So now people born in the 60s qualify as GenX? Was that meant to be a joke?
1
@Commenter GenX immediately followed the Baby Boom generation. Therefore, it started with those born in the mid-60's.
5
I think these days there are those who claim the Boomer Gen ends around 64/65, and others argue 60/61. Its an interesting debate. Either way, the Gen after Boomer is X, so a 1968 baby is X? Their first presidential election would’ve been 1988? That’s not a Boomer....
1
@Commenter From Wikipedia: Generation X or Gen X is the demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the Millennials. There are no precise dates for when Generation X starts or ends. Demographers and researchers typically use birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1960s to the early 1980s.
5
Another boomer. Love my 30 year old, non-digital clock radio. The only thing I would add to the excellent list by Mr Point is for the radio to have some station preset buttons. Easier to switch stations than the finicky knobby thing on the side and won't be mistaken for the volume control.
10
OMG, right!!??
My still- functional clock radio is a 1990 Panasonic, black and stream-lined, with all the sweet features you mentioned. It’s gotten me to work on time every day, kept me company when I can’t sleep, and has entered retirement working better than my current iPad.
Radio rules!!
23
Boomer here. I love my little Sony clock radio cube, it reminds me of the first “digital” one I had in the...1970s? With those clunky numbers that scrolled down? This one looks the same but has glowing green numbers, and I will keep it until it dies. Which might be soon, it’s getting a little weird about setting the time, but once it is set, it works just fine.
9
You are damn lucky that clock radio still works. Most of my cheap electronic stuff from the 80s died out in the 00s.
Tip for a new one or anyone buying a clock radio:
- Make sure you get one with a back up battery in it, usually a 9 volt…
- Get one with a dual radio alarm option. If one alarm gets hit off by you, the second can go off in 10-15 minutes later. Saves you from being late from work or a class.
- Get one with an obvious snooze bar you can easily find and tap. A 10 minute snooze is better then a 5 and way better then a one minute. So get the clock radio with the 10 or 5 minute snooze bar.
- Skip blue LEDs (sadly, the most common now), blue light just keep you awake! Red is best but green is OK.
- Bluetooth and/or a mini jac plug is handy to play music from your phone in a pinch. But only if it has stereo speakers. Sony made clock radios with stereo speakers. Not sure if they still do…
- These things used to use a lot of energy plugged in. If it exists, get one that is Energy Star approved. If not, I unplug mine if I am gone for a week or more on vacation.
- Go for a simple design. Not a tall cube or some odd blob thing. Just a small, low, simple rectangle. Exception: if you see the round lozenge shaped white Sony clock radio with CD player used and it works, it is a keeper. The other Sony's that have rounded sides but flat fronts and backs, are great too.
13
@Mr. Point
Just try to find a decent alarm clock radio. I can't read the time without glasses unless the numbers are at least 1.7 inches. Do they exist--one or two but the quality is awful. My current (and years old) clock has some automatic setting of the time and has been adding about 1.5 minute a year--it's now 25 minutes fast. I just use it as an alarm now.
It's one of those products that was off-shored and someone decided that the only good clock to sell was a cheap one (and I mean cheap).
Common folks, I can't be the only boomer who wants larger numbers, dual alarm and AM (plus FM) radio. I'd pay $$ for one.
As a Gen Xer myself, I appreciate having a clock radio - I can see what time it is when I wake in the dark without having to pick anything up or press any buttons. I can see the time from across the room if I want, so convenient. I cannot wake to the sound of music though, I learned early on that if I used the radio to try and wake up, I would have to have the volume cranked up high enough to startle into wakefulness; alas, I must use the buzzer. I am on my second ever clock radio, the first was purchased circa 1980, this one in 2010 and it holds an iPod if I want. That first was excellent value for money, but the speaker failed after 30 years of sounding the buzzer to wake me. As I rapidly approach the midcentury mark, I find that I tend to waken prior to my alarm sounds roughly 90% of the time; it really only goes off on days when I'm really tired, or when I'm getting up at a different time than normal.
8