The fifty year old Talking Clock Radio

In 1971 Panasonic Introduced the first consumer Talking Alarm Clock Radio, the RC-6900.
Let's open it up and find out how it worked.
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FAQ
Q) Why are there comments from a week ago when this video has just gone live today?
A) Patrons usually have early access to videos. I'll show the first version of a video on Patreon and often the feedback I get results in a video going through further revisions to improve it. e.g. Fix audio issues, clarify points, add extra footage or cut extraneous things out. The video that goes live on youtube is the final version.

[@Arbiter099]

The 1970s will never stop being 30 years ago

[@DrPronghorn]

Truth.

[@KariIzumi1]

Same

[@Helladamnleet]

It's been more time between now and the premier of That 70's Show than the year the pilot took place in.

[@philismenko]

As someone who hasn't lived through when the 70s were 30 years ago, it always feels like 30 years ago

[@gogomonow]

Same, but I'm young so the 80s will always be 30 years ago for me.

[@greengolfkid]

"You're not all that interested in a box maybe that's just me" Who do you think is watching your channel, of course we are interested in the box.

[@SyntheticFuture]

WHAT'S IN THE BOX???

[@bsquared4604]

and the brochure!

[@ohnoitschris]

You don't see "Made in Japan" much nowadays

[@AbandonRule]

I came down here to comment I am interested in the box !! :-)

[@WaffenCashCash]

My thought exactly!

[@bryede]

You've gotta think the engineer who came up with the concentric magnetic discs was pretty proud of himself. That's a very compact way of appending 2 recordings.

[@djosearth3618]

Ya, very half-way clever that but $130 is an insane amount even today, geez modernity sure went ahead and just spoiled us in tech-liciousness! ;] Sad that operational units are so rare.. no doubt due to the fact of all the physical wear to the magnetic discs not to mention being unshielded in that electromagnetically chaotic environment right above a 'light' bulb with equal practicality as a heater. I couldn't figure out where it was playing the O'CLOCK from, which I'm now doubting I even heard ;]

[@supermcflabberjabber]

@@djosearth3618 I would assume the O’clock part would be on the minute (outer) disc as there would be no minute to announce then.

[@uncleTedK]

His boss took credit for it. The engineer committed sepaku.

[@dakotathacker3821]

very cool for sure

[@Crusader1089]

@@djosearth3618 in the seventies there was less electric interference than today, so it would be less of a problem. For the blind that price tag would have been worth it, I'm sure

[@stephenkayes8981]

I'm from Buffalo. I used to get vacuum tubes from that store back in the 90'S.

[@vincebarnhart8290]

Fellow Buffalonian here. Amazed that place made it as long as it had! Really went through some tough times in Bflo as a specialty shop.

[@Wheresthepepsibismol]

I need some vacuum tubes when I get a guitar amp that requires tubes

[@gordontaylor2815]

@@vincebarnhart8290 It probably benefited from being right next door to the Tonawanda GM plant (at least if I'm looking at Google Maps correctly). Nowadays that address is home to Pooley Inc., which Google lists as an industrial equipment supplier.

[@Beehashe]

My grandmother was blind, back in the ‘70s she received this exact model from Lighthouse for the Blind. I used to hit the button all the time to hear it tell the time!😀

[@AgentPepsi1]

Heee Heee... I would have done the exact same thing!! :)

[@captainsergeant]

Fun fact: The lighthouse for the blind has made a lot of equipment for the U.S. military over the years.

[@DocNo27]

@@captainsergeant Not just military - government in general...

[@jeffk7734]

I am also blind and I did that all the time as well on the first talking clocks/watches/calculators. Did your grandmother have one of the Sharp Calculators that came out in 1982 that included the clock and calendar? A neat trick with that calculator is that since the calendar would include the day of the week you could enter in different dates from 1901-2099 and you could find out what day of the week a certain date landed on.

[@jeffk7734]

@@DocNo27 This from what I have heard is mainly uniform clothes for the government.

[@BrienMalone]

My first thought when I saw 50 year old talking clock was “They had a talking clock in the 1950s!?” Whoops... Calendar check. I forgot I’m old.

[@grahamlive]

Exactly what I thought. Despite being almost the same age as this clock.

[@tony_w839]

@@grahamlive that's not old, I was twenty when this clock was marketed.

[@jasonblalock4429]

The Dark Side Of The Moon turns 50 in a couple years and I really don't know how I feel about that.

[@jijokoshyksjijo3989]

yep.. 1950s was the 1st thing came to my mind ..😂

[@westelaudio943]

They could have built this in the 50s. From the curcuitry it's nothing but a tape player, and electromechanics were already very advanced back then. So a clock mechanism with oxide discs instead of hands and a swiveling head would have been well within possibility.

[@hafuketo9458]

8:21 "That would announce the time every hour on the hour if it is depressed" A metaphor for how awareness of the passage of time is linked with depression...

[@mjouwbuis]

Reminds me of Marvin the depressed android.

[@mcswabin207]

I am amazed on how well that packaging aged over the decade.

[@veganguy74]

I wonder if the woman who recorded the lines ever imagined her voice would still be heard on one of these things all these years later.

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

It would be super cool if she were still alive. Even cooler if she watched this video.

[@Helladamnleet]

@@olmostgudinaf8100 Even cooler if she still uses one of these. Although I don't think even if I made the literal only talking clock ever I'd want to hear myself announce the time for the next 50 years.

[@bumboclat]

@Jante Le-Man google does not find a single result for that name

[@EllaBananas]

@@bumboclat Not a single result? come on theres always some unrelated thing that comes up. *googles it* Wow. Thats impressive. Exactly 0 web results. actually just tried without the period there is one result about where to buy clean big dogs (wtf?) But still thats like borderline conspiracy theory fodder. A name which returns 0 results as if it were purged from the internet. Or more likely its just not a real name.

[@mackpines]

We’ll have to dig her up to find out. 😊

[@shazam6274]

I worked at Panasonic in my youth, when these and all the products in the mini-catalog were very popular. I was one of the few people in the US who were certified to service these at Panasonic. It is essentially a cassette recorder where the head moves along the two magnetic "tape" discs. Other than normal "wear & tear", the biggest problem came from people spilling drinks into it, which would "gum up the works". Literally, the spilled stuff would adhere the two disks, and sometimes even the moving head, which would wrinkle and rip the disks. A clean-up and replacement of the disks would restore functionality. The worst damage, usually unrepairable, was putting a plant above it with "Grow Sticks" for fertilizer. The fertilizer and resulting drip water would not only corrode much of the mechanism, but also the PC board below, and sometimes electrically short things out as well. FYI: The disks were available in several other languages. This and the TR-001 (which was made with Panasonic's own custom thick film hybrids and modules, $$$$ unheard-of outside the aerospace industry) were part of the philosophy of each factory having an outstanding top-of-the-line, unique product. The first two letters of the model number identified the factory, i.e. RC=Clock Radio, TR=B&W TV, CT= Color YV, SE=Stereo Combination with mini record player, etc. Yes, only either the wealthy or the disabled had these. Only the very, very wealthy had the TR-001, which was kind of impractically small and came with a slide-on 1.5x magnifier.

[@aromalrays6530]

“Congratulations, Jacob, yes, of course you can have cake.”

[@Havron]

Jacob had taken care to ensure that he had eaten his meat. He understood that it was impossible to have any pudding otherwise.

[@collinhunter9792]

@@Havron if you dont eat your meat, you wont get any pudding. you wont get any pudding if you dont eat your meat courtesy, pink floyd, billy connolly

[@calico9046]

@@collinhunter9792 “you! Yes, you. Stand still, will ya?”

[@flintytheraccbold]

@@collinhunter9792 also if you don't eat meat you will die

[@asafschneider3395]

So at least now we know how those spooky number stations voices were produced

[@bloccoaspirale1867]

Has there ever been a more modest marketing statement; *"just slightly ahead of our time"*

[@rich_edwards79]

That's Panasonic for you. The Volvo of consumer electromics. Quality, reliability, but not too much by way of excitement. I've always had a soft spot for their stuff.

[@gavincurtis]

Even in this video, it still is ahead of its time. Almost one hour in fact.

[@watershed44]

@@rich_edwards79 Same here, back in the 60s through the 1980s, Panasonic was really a very high quality brand with very long lasting durable, and innovative items.

[@brentfisher902]

@@gavincurtis Just wait for 6 hours in the UK an it will be on time...

[@stevec00ps]

Is that a birthday reference? Happy Birthday if so!

[@rocka3743]

If so, happy birthday Mat! .. or should I say, hope you had a great birthday!

[@Blasterxp]

Congratz!

[@needfortweed8734]

'appy birthday indeed... According to the interwebs his birthday was the 18th of January...

[@Boojakascha]

Happy Birthday, Mat. I love you

[@paulmathison2906]

Happy birthday Mat!, whenever it was. Another interesting video thanks for sharing.

[@nibblrrr7124]

9:38 It's like your very own creepy number station, from home! Love it!

[@gbso692]

"It seems that the tinfoil hat wearers are actually on to something." - Techmoan, 2021

[@71dembonesTV]

I've been hearing a lot of that the past 5 years or so. Validation is nice even after years of being told to get my head checked and stay away from sharp objects... 😳

[@michealpersicko9531]

I've been recommending they check into a psych hospital seems like they might be a little beyond outpatient help ;) lol jk.

[@ericpode6095]

I'm going to wrap my smartphone in tinfoil so "they" can't spy on me.........

[@michealpersicko9531]

​For the best effect you need to wrap it in 3 layers of tinfoil then put in your microwave twice once on 60% for 9 seconds let it cool down then put it back in for 40% for 20 seconds.

[@DOCTOR_SONG]

Well either im a genius or a nutter because in my old house i had a pirate radio studio and to sheild out the 3000 watts of RF from the antenna from the audio chain i used 3 layers of tin foil rolled out on the floor walls and celing and even sheilded the windows . which was a bit tricky since i wanted to be able to open them so i used conductive computer case stripping to make the contact around the window sections. Well what i ended up with was an EMF faraday sheilded room which not only had noticeable physiological benifits but some very interesting properties due to the variable capacitance that would occur between the 3 layers of foil. Now i should mention that many functions in the station were controlled by means of toggle switches and momentary contacts linked to various relay banks to interconnect remote and local functions. And indicator lights ,temprature control,timing and multi stage selectors All electromechanical . what is peticularly interesting to me was how something i might call electromechanical logic effect would happen where once the system was in operation for a few hours of broadcasting certain functions like mic switching and air monitor muting and record play triggering would automatically activate at the proper times without having had the actuating toggles or buttons pressed. In this highly unorthodox and rule breaking configuration of relays, switches, earth ground,power supply grounds, + supplys and - supplies and insaine ammounts of "mix and match consumer and commercial grade devices,transformers and you name it homebrew sensors all interconnected as one neural network so to say it would appear that or at least seemed that the studio could learn how to perform switchings at the proper times on its own. I do not understand how it could be possible. The only theory i have is the layers of foil were distributing charges in specific ways that were influenced by the pressure applied by my feet depending where i was standing and throwing switches on one of 3 panels. Its a mystery and required further investigation but most unfortunately that whole machine as well as my lifes work was destroyed by what turned out to be arsonist fire. One day i hope to reproduce the system and possibly continue the research but i just wanted to share this with everyone. Maybe there is a " logical" explanation that im overlooking or perhaps something greater. Its hard to believe i know but im not lieing or exaggerating. Some sort of memory logic or ghostly intervention? Im a scientific type so i doubt the ladder. Tin foil its not just for conspiracy theories anymore.

[@theclearsounds3911]

At first I wondered why they tell you not to put it on top of a TV. Then I figured it out; the degaussing coil inside the TV will eventually demagnetize the magnetic disk inside, ruining the talking feature! This is a fascinating look into old technology. Well done!

[@spam7797]

No. I *AM* that interested in the box. Never doubt your instincts!

[@interstat2222]

We all are! Never doubt the Techmoan viewers!

[@thecommenter578]

As DankPods would say: "someone's been in there"

[@JDMOON55555]

Ayyee dankpods fan

[@DaneH64]

Thank God someone else thought that too lol

[@Fly0High]

Well this is the Sexy Speaker's mother... So...

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@Fly0High Other than a slight speech impediment she still sounds pretty good.

[@metroid768]

I fell there's a cross over of fans of , techmoan, technology connections, 8 bit guy, dank pods and AVE

[@dpfreedman]

Brilliant out-of-the-box thinking by Panasonic's engineers! Concentric magnetic discs read in an arc, an impressively clever and non-intuitive way to implement existing technology in a unique way to solve a challenging problem. Very impressive. Another big "thank you" to Techmoan for bringing us these obscure devices.

[@tinplategeek1058]

Just like Marvin, the talking clock speaks when it is depressed

[@BertGrink]

"I have this terrible pain in all the Diodes down my left side"

[@jasonblalock4429]

Life? Don't talk to me about *life!*

[@timelordtardis]

@@jasonblalock4429 No one did! 😁

[@steve0592]

@@BertGrink Has TM checked those?

[@Matt47247523457]

Here I am, brain size of a planet and I can only converse with a talking clock

[@AtheistOrphan]

Somewhere, in a recording studio long ago, a woman sat down and recorded all those announcements. I think of that whenever I hear the infamous ‘Lincolnshire Poacher’ numbers station.

[@BBC600]

I wonder who was the voice behind this device and if the master copy of her time announcements still exist somewhere?

[@billr3053]

Except that the number stations were made using a digital chip - see video "Number Stations Revealed - Part 1 of 6: The Spanish Voice Behind The "Atencion" Numbers Station". Well, perhaps with looped tapes before that.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@paulhorn2665 In Pittsburgh, PA (USA) you can still call a local number and get the current time and temperature. It's provided by our local electric utility.

[@MrDuncl]

It's still a trade. Think of the men or women who had to record all the Satnav announcements. I saw a funny clip on a program looking back at the last twenty years over Christmas. A voice actress was paid to do all the Satnav announcements for Volkswagen. When he wanted a new car her husband, who up to that time had been a Volkswagen fan, said there was no way he was having her telling him where to go all the time and bought a Volvo.

[@simonbeasley989]

Very nice piece of technology, looks years ahead of 1971. And if I'd bought it and found that catalogue in the box I'd have been very happy!

[@matthewf1979]

You know, those magnetic film discs could probably be reproduced with a little help of some semi-functional originals. That thing is cool beyond it’s years!

[@NathanDavisVideos]

Especially for something that was made back 50 years ago!

[@idleprepress]

Some old 8 inch floppy disks may help, but the thing is to write all the cycloid-like tracks right and even, the head inside is a read-only one for sure and you'll have to reproduce the entire assembly which provides the travel to it in order to build a proper recorder.

[@petraoleum5816]

I can't be the only one that sees you turn on an old radio and expects it come with period audio!

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

The song at ~9:32 dates back to 1983, and this is as close as it gets. If personal FM transmitters are legal in the UK, he would be able to do it. This would be an interesting way to do it going forward.

[@dcfuksurmom]

Nothing more annoying than firing up an old radio you're working on and hearing cardi b (it's name is not worth being capitalized)

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

@George V Cohea, personal FM transmitters ARE legal in the UK, as long as they are limited to (IIRC) about 5mW (translates to about a10m range in open space). I had one in my phone (Nokia N900) and used one in my car for playing music from another phone through the car radio before I had Bluetooth.

[@DanVR001]

Ah yes, the good old days where the radio/clock would only talk to you, unlike today where they also listen in to everything you say.

[@santajimi]

That's kinda creepy. Alexa! Play The X-files theme.

[@Lucien86]

That's one technology that's not actually improved that much. It didn't work then and it basically doesn't work now. At least when I try to use it..

[@devintariel3769]

@@santajimi I can't do that Dave

[@mrb.5610]

I don't mind them listening ... it's telling others that bothers me ...

[@burnttoast111]

@@RSCOZZY Imagine a version of 1984 where people purchased electronics for Big Brother to spy on them...

[@rlstoer]

In case my comment below wasn't long enough... To Techmon or anyone else trying to repair one of these: I noticed in the video that your outer disk overlaps your inner disk, it should be the other way around. That will cause issues for sure. To convert to 50Hz you should be able to locate a 50Hz Telechron clock movement from the 1970's and swap the gear pack. That clock was common to almost all analog clock radios of the day. You don't even have to rewire anything as the gear mechanism is magnetically coupled. Also read my other post about the micro-switches. I have detailed photos of the inside of a working mechanism. Let me know if they would be of any help.

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

Thanks for the additional technical info! I noticed the disk overlap was in opposition to the tape head movement, and couldn't believe they'd designed it that way. Guess it got messed up during the repair (kind of amazing that this odd mechanism still worked fine with reversed overlap and with the splicing tape).

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

Me "I'll just throw this on while I program" Then I just sit two inches away from the screen watching this gripping epic of will the clock talk.

[@renemunkthalund3581]

7:18 That "Touch'n Call" button looks so contemporary!

[@mal2ksc]

It was the inspiration for the Staples "easy" button. (It's a joke, please don't sue me)

[@fredbloggs5902]

Interesting that this came out in 1971 and the TI voice synthesiser chip came out only 7 years later in 1978. The pace of technological development is truly astonishing.

[@VulpesHilarianus]

They had the technology to do this for about two decades before this device came out. Back in the late '50s and through the '60s some schools being built new in the U.S. were outfitted with a magnetic tape system like this that would play the bell sound or time announcements. I remember that an elementary school I attended, built in 1962, used an automated system like that. It was just that nobody thought it was worth scaling that system down from something that was the size of a fax machine until 1971.

[@fredbloggs5902]

@@VulpesHilarianus - not for $150

[@VulpesHilarianus]

@@fredbloggs5902 $150 was still quite a bit of money back in 1971. Adjusted for inflation that's around $960 in today's money. You could buy an entire living room wood furniture set for less than $150 in 1971. Without those speakers and wiring going all through the building they could cut down the costs, but the pricey part was always going to be that magnetic disc and the read head.

[@fredbloggs5902]

@@VulpesHilarianus - a chest of 5 drawers alone would cost you over $100 in 1971.

[@TheOzthewiz]

@@ohioplayer-bl9em Well we have had "Space Lasers" being shot at us forever, but we had been told it was just lightning! Kudos to Marjorie Taylor Greene for setting us straight!

[@nvo7024]

Love the sight of that dark-grey Hitachi tucked into the corner, as discretely as possible. The ultimate elephant in the room.

[@sjhart14]

That is such a gorgeous display, wow.

[@lunakoala5053]

Techmoan is like a cat. More interested in the empty box than anything else.

[@_Scintill8tor]

I hope he doesn't go and sit in it though. ;-)

[@Scodiddly]

That's pretty much a mandate for a secondary Techmoan channel - the boxes are shown in loving detail, and there's always a cat sitting in them.

[@AlexiBexi]

well, I love boxes

[@j.harbottle8928]

Yep a well made box ! not like modern everyday boxes at all lol

[@lulzwhatehphuxor3341]

thought the same thing, luckily there was already a comment going :)

[@sidefish8362]

I was interested in the box, particularly the old Panasonic logo.

[@j.harbottle8928]

@@sidefish8362 won't see them again in our lifetime, used to like their radios a lot

[@FesixGermany]

Meow! Oh look, Alex is here too!

[@andychow5509]

I was interested in the box. Pretty amazing that it survived in such good condition, plus the offset of the o in the old panasonic logo. Very interesting.

[@bumboclat]

For everyone asking why the recording is so much gone, just try to watch a childhood VHS. magnetic recordings are just not made for eternity.

[@bumboclat]

@@franky9928 digital vs analogue, both have pros and cons. I keep digitalized VHS content on multiple hard drives while the originals continue to degrade over time, noticeable.

[@northeden8661]

This video is your signature series. That little box is pretty much the very heart of your channel. Don't stop.

[@azz710]

I bought a TR001 when it first came out in the USA. I had to save up several months for it. The real distinction in this product was not so much the size of the screen but the fact that Matsushita claimed that It was the first consumer product with most of the circuitry on large-scale integrated circuits. The fresnel lens that clipped over the front of the TV was disappointing, but the performance of the set was excellent, with a clean, undistorted picture, and a sensitive tuner. It also ran on four rechargeable AA cells in easily swappable slide in cartridges.

[@StrangerHappened]

Thanks. For how long this device was functional? If it broke, did you bring it to a service and how much did they charge you to fix it?

[@azz710]

@@StrangerHappened Let's see... I think I used it for about five or six years, but I kept it, unused, and checked every once in awhile. It worked all the way up to 2009. when the old analog TV channels were retired.

[@sam64evo]

is it just me or has youtube missed up haha says comment is 5 days ago ehh? this video was out today not 5 days ago haha

[@invisi1407]

@@sam64evo as usual, these videos might've been available to Patreon members before it becomes public on KZbin.

[@sam64evo]

@@invisi1407 ahhh right i see

[@DeneF]

Sounded like this 50 year old after a few drinks. Many thanks. Great video.

[@lolajoker]

I used to love those little Panasonic catalogs. I had this very exact 1971 one. I had the Maywood clock radio and got the catalog with it. I then wood get the new one every year until about 1975.

[@michaelfrench3396]

What an amazingly ingenious mechanism! My dad retired from the Navy in 198 2 I think. He retired as a master chief and he was an electronic warfare officer. He designed radar dammers and stuff and when he got out of the Navy he ended up running and then owning a custom fishing rod business and wholesale place. And I remember asking him when I was little why he didn't stay in electronics when he got out of the Navy and he said because once everything went solid state it got boring because you had chips for everything. I kind of understand what he's saying now. It's amazing the ingenuity and just how clever these engineers were to make things happen that we can do today with a little tiny chip.

[@user-ry9xh5do9p]

It depends on how you define electronics. Once everything went solid state hardware was separated into material science and software. My department chair told me before but I was too ignorant to believe.

[@michaelfrench3396]

@@user-ry9xh5do9p The point my father was trying to make was that he used to have to make his own board s by the vacuum tubes wire everything design your own circuits figure everything out and not just have to be either on the software side or the hardware side. You had to be all sides.

[@user-ry9xh5do9p]

@@michaelfrench3396 Being on both sides... Actually I used to think this way but this old school method wouldn't be able to accomplish today's systems complexity. That's why it had to be separated, layered, modulized. Previous engineers were clever but today's engineers can focus on more sophisticated things. Look I'm saying what's right or wrong. It's just an evolution. I'm saying maybe you could look electronics in a different way. :)

[@michaelfrench3396]

@@user-ry9xh5do9p Oh it didn't have anything to do with anything other than it was more fun for him when he had to solve all the problems instead of just some of them. So instead he built fishing rods. 😂😀👍

[@hunterdavis3003]

Fascinating. Ya know there’s really nothing quite like a techmoan Saturday

[@danieldelonge6002]

A Techmoan Sunday is quite refreshing too🙂 Greetings from the Baltic Sea island Ruegen, Germany..

[@padenmcdonald579]

As a blind person that relies on devices that speak the time, this was very interesting.

[@Jason-Scott]

Have a good day Paden 👍🏻

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

Would be nice if KZbin would add the ability to have multiple different audio tracks, so people would be able to make spoken description tracks for visually impaired viewers.

[@juango500]

how did you, how did you watch the video? or, seen the appeareance of the clock? I have several questions.

[@padenmcdonald579]

I didn’t see what it looked like. I just listened to the video. As far as getting around my devices, I use screen readers. VoiceOver on the iphone and NVDA on windows.

[@dylanfinch2951]

@@juango500 My father is illiterate, so he has a lot of things to help him, that were made for the blind. His phone has a text-to-speech function, where he clicks on something once and it reads the words to him, and if he double clicks, it clicks it. I would imagine that if a blind person watches a video like this, they probably make a mental image, or imagine the feeling or shape of the object based on how the person in the video describes the item, and just listen to it like a podcast.

[@ravenmadd1343]

I love the fact it has the original documentation. I bought an Atari 2600 on eBay a few years back in the original box, I was delighted it had the original documents including the receipt from Argos :)

[@MattGamesYT]

Can't believe that has a full colour brochure in 1971! I've got loads of equipment from the 70's and 80's and not one of them has something like that in colour! I think that's probably worth more to history than the clock radio 😅

[@SuperScottCrawford]

It's because they were available in color, not colour.

[@MattGamesYT]

@ScotSpeed In England we like to spell things incorrectly 😄

[@DesandSam]

I think he means because they were aimed at the American Market (perceived to be rich) rather than the UK (perceived to be a smaller market with less affluent customers).

[@stonyrerootkit1013]

I see your Colour... and raise you some Aluminium!!! 💎🖤💋🎩🤓

[@ethelryan257]

@@DesandSam That might be part of it but, being old enough to remember, it had more to do with Panasonic trying hard to prove their products were better quality and more technically advanced than the (still important) American electronic companies' offerings.

[@hdofu]

Wow that little booklet was the insanely good magazine-style print for the 70s, most of the stuff you find in boxes from back then would be you try to look at, sneeze and they blow away like dust bunnies.

[@mr.berlingo8211]

Fascinating, the ingenuity of these old analogue devices.

[@gavincurtis]

Tehmoan: "yeah...there is definitely something going on in there" Me: "Going to get to see what is inside"

[@hairycoo56]

'Fifty year old talking clock' *hears 1971* *dies inside*

[@interstat2222]

Yeah. Doesn’t seem right somehow.

[@zappawench6048]

I was born in 1971 - big "5-O" this year. Sux.

[@ian_b]

@@zappawench6048 Today is my 55th birthday. It doesn't seem possible I got this old in so short a time.

[@theonlybilge]

@@ian_b If time seems to be going by faster as you age, there's a reason: it is. Because each year is a smaller portion of your life as you age, they seem shorter relative to your total lifetime. It's good to practice mindfulness and living in the moment, it makes it feel a bit slower. Or you could get yourself a cyborg body and live forever with a healthy brain.

[@PowerGlove79]

Me too, my friend, me too

[@jaimiehorton9669]

This was fascinating, thank you for sharing it. I'm from Buffalo actually and I've seen that building before, never open though. I imagine people who were blind really appreciated this new technology.

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Hello there, neighbor! I'm from Lockport NY and I'm sure I've been past that building many times. I'll have to keep an eye out for it the next time I'm in the area.

[@DOCTOR_SONG]

Can i come over and see your fasinating gadgets when this damn flu thing is done with? You have the best toys EVER!

[@djorges]

I love seeing the packaging and the brochures as well as how the internals were designed. I was the kid in my family that took everything electric or electronic that was headed to the trash and had to see how it worked. Later I worked on nuclear missiles in the USAF. I guess all that messing around paid off. More content is always welcomed, well not 8 hours - Good stuff.

[@ToumalRakesh]

Oh my god my grandparents had one of those, never knew it was supposed to talk!

[@Danileith123]

That Radio Equipment Corp building is 20 minutes from my house.

[@bryanrmcf]

“How was Hawaii?” “MEH.”

[@eskee1]

5:20... those names are extremely meaningful and helpful to people "in the know"

[@Sheppards1984]

Those silly names remind me of Ikea furniture names

[@annother3350]

They were always a bit more grandiose in the 70s / 80s. I bought an old phone called something like The Viscount 😂

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@annother3350 - We had a bright green BT Viscount in the 1980’s. Check out eBay.

[@paulstubbs7678]

Sounds like Ikea is stuck in the '70s

[@evansn79]

IKEA names are often just scandanavian towns/villages/peoples names.

[@annother3350]

@@AtheistOrphan I've got the 'burnt orange' one!

[@Raveheart]

Back in the days when they were proud of their manufacturing facilities and were showing photos from it in their brochures. Imagine nowadays Apple (and others) would proudly brag about that suicide net around the 1st floor of their buildings.

[@sofa-lofa4241]

Or employees smashing up the factory and causing $7 million in damages because they were promised $30 per month wages... And got paid $8 instead I bet the employees at Panasonic got a decent wage in the 70's

[@illuminate4622]

When capitalism was still working

[@coolwhip455]

@@illuminate4622 Well we don't really have Capitalism anymore. What we do have is Cronyism combined with Neo-Liberalism that has put 99.9% of the wealth in the hands of a few Oligarchs who use the power of the government to eliminate any and all competition.

[@illuminate4622]

@@coolwhip455 it's strange when the government should be the one setting uniform rules and keeping up the competition. Securing functional and safe playing field for everyone. Hmm

[@danielbelfort5088]

@@illuminate4622 They missed that chance ca. early facebook & Alphabet days... Now even if they wanted to regulate this would be an impossible gargantuan task. Just compare last year's hearings with the MS Explorer hearings back in the day. It's very obvious that todays judges/politicians are just fulfilling an obligation to constituents and public while they have no idea what they're doing up on that court stage. They wanted to appear as if they were slapping the big guys hands but by their rhetoric and type of questions asked you can pretty much deduce it's only hot air and political make believe.

[@dotheymakethatformen]

Love your content! Seems like you could use a KCC Athena frequency converter. It inputs 115v/230v 50/60hz and outputs 115/230v 50/60hz (output is user selectable) so it could replace your stepdown transformer for lower powered devices.

[@clayp6415]

I have always been interested in older analog technology. There were many products that were ahead of their time, but couldn't be accomplished well enough due to technology limitations of the time. Appreciate your videos very much , I find these obscure electronics incredibly fascinating.

[@enp82003]

30 years from now reviewing a piece of tech. 1. Well the plastic has broken down to it's oil base 2. It needs a firmware update that is no longer available. 3. The oem none replaceable battery died so it won't turn on.

[@kandace4088]

bonus requires app (with a required login). i look forward to my gifted photo frame becoming a brick in a few years.

[@rutgerb]

@@kandace4088 extra bonus. Apps and phones will be something completely different in 30 years time.

[@mon94key]

Don't forget you won't be able to charge the device as wireless charging becomes the norm and your house has no sockets!

[@quintessenceSL]

This is actually a concern for the collectors automobile market (with at least some saying there won't be much to restore past 2001 long term). Too many plastic parts, too many specialized electronics, and more and more of of the electronic codes needing factory tools to diagnose. It's a peculiar thing when $40,000 (or more) item becomes disposable.

[@mfbfreak]

So far, we've been lucky when it comes to antique software. It surprises me that 30 year old DOS drivers are still somewhat easy to find.

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

Back when I was a kid someone got me a talking/moving Dalek for Christmas. I took it apart, as you do, and it was a fascinating bit of 70s/80s technology. It had a miniature record for the voice and one electric motor with some gears for both the moving and the talking which struck me as an ingenious bit of cost saving. This was just at the end of the time before the prices of microcontrollers and digital memory went into freefall and everything was done digitally.

[@espurious]

I had a K-9 toy using the same tech. The record even had a B side with more phrases.

[@Twotakesit]

I still have my Dalek, It's red and talks but didn't move. Like you I took it apart to see how it worked and it stopped working :(

[@jeffk7734]

Do any of you remember the old See & Say toys from around that same time? Similar technology. I had several of those as a toddler and pre-schooler. I ran across one years later where the string was missing.

[@MrFlugi]

17:56 : So there you go, that's the Panasonic RC 6900 me: NO, that's The Tele-Time!

[@robertlawrence9000]

Fascinating! That booklet has so many interesting devices!

[@trippymchippy8586]

I was born the same year as this clock. I can't talk too well either these days.

[@grayhalf1854]

Things that reach half a century frequently aren't in the best of shape. I should know, I'm 50 today! 😱

[@sofa-lofa4241]

Happy 50th birthday Martin! I'm a few weeks behind on that one and I doubt I'll get a present as nice as a Techmoan video

[@grayhalf1854]

@@sofa-lofa4241 thanks very much! And many happy returns to you in advance! 🙏

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

Commiserations! ;-)

[@grayhalf1854]

@@andrewgwilliam4831yep, pretty much, thanks! 😀

[@mgscheue]

Happy birthday!

[@dcbcherrygate]

Fascinating as ever. If 50 is the new 40 then the old saying is now "life begins at 50". Trouble is after that everything begins to wear out, spread out or fall out......

[@ghettoandroid]

What a beautiful design! I love 70s industrial design.

[@disgruntledfaerie]

"I bought this in a non-functional state." Jeez, you mean you came to Wisconsin and didn't tell me?

[@LeftyFunkenstein]

lol

[@xn0gaming]

Ok, thats funny. :D

[@QlueDuPlessis]

🤣😂🤣😂

[@fredbloggs5902]

The UK is pretty non-functional as well at the moment 🤣

[@dan3a]

Cheese.

[@QlueDuPlessis]

NO! Show me the box! It's not just you! There is something adorable about vintage cartons in pristine condition.

[@garywatersjr8959]

A little inside to Panasonic. My Grandpa used to sell their products, according to him and the sells person from Panasonic USA who set him up to sell products, those names were the code names used between the US and Japan before the product was sold. This was so competition couldn't figure out what new products were coming to market. Those names are names of people who worked in Panasonic or random names of other people.

[@artej11]

Didn't you have that magnetic powder gizmo for visualizing tracks on recordings? Would be lovely to see all those tracks spiraling out.

[@Nolroa]

If you saw the video,(I leave the link here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4uyqaFunMyLbtk ) in order to use that device, it was necessary to somehow remove the tape from the cartridge or the player where it is located, which it seems that he could not do.... Or remove it so that he can reassemble the whole radio again without damaging any part that cannot be repaired or get a replacement... It would have been interesting to see how another round tape disk device (a floppy disk) stores the information, but that would require destroying the floppy disk.

[@artej11]

@@Nolroa There is no need to here, that magnetic recording disk has no shell, and floppy is too dense to visualize with that gizmo (I already have asked).

[@Nolroa]

@@artej11 The part of removing the recording disk tape is necessary, otherwise, other magnetic elements inside the radio such as the speaker magnet, could give a bad read and the way the track is recorded in the magnetic disk could not be seen by the gizmo.

[@ro63rto]

A family member came back from Japan after working with a Japanese singer in the early 80's, with lots of gadgets. One was a Seiko pyramid talking clock. Wish I had claimed it for myself.

[@sambaker3233]

I remember seeing one of those at my dads office when I was a child! The top of the Pyramid was the button. Wellington, New Zealand.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@sambaker3233 They definitely made that so you don't slap it

[@dougbrowning82]

I have one of those, but it's a rebrand.

[@ChipGuy]

I enjoyed that new looking packaging as well. Even the design of that clock would appeal again to people these days. Very good find.

[@rlstoer]

I actually used to sell (and later repair) these when I worked at Lafayette Radio in 1971-72. They started out at $159.95 (USD) but they didn’t sell. I doubt they ever planned on selling many as it was a “halo” product but they must have put so much money into the mechanism that they skimped on other features that people spending that kind of money expected. We didn’t even carry them at the original price as they were too expensive for what was a one trick pony (even though it was quite a trick at the time). As perspective: Electronics were more expensive at that time but a really nice clock radio was $69.95-$89.95 and a decent low-end model could be had for $19.95. What constituted ‘really nice’ in the early 1970’s was a flip-card digital clock (sometimes including a calendar), a nice design (probably with genuine wood veneer) and good sound quality. That’s what people who would spend that kind of money were looking for and the RC-6900 had none of it. It used the same Telechron analog clock movement found in the cheapest clock radios with luminous hands but not even a lighted face so you really couldn’t read it at night. The only lights were for the time call button on top and the radio dial. It was also bulky and not very attractive but despite its large size the radio was kind of tinny sounding. With virtually no sales the price dropped, first to $129.95 and eventually to $99.95. That’s when we started selling them and they sold Ok at that price. They were only in the line from 1971 to ‘72. I think that’s probably how long it took to sell the initial run. Other than the disks getting damaged or erased, what normally fails (and what’s almost definitely wrong with Techmon’s) are bad contacts on the micro-switches. A simple ohm meter can be used to check them. I haven’t found a source for them but you can pry off the flat cover and clean the contacts. The covers are glued on and may break when being removed but the switch will still work. They can be carefully glued back on with a little CA glue. The other common problem is an internal break in the wiring to the play head (Note how it flexes every time the time is announced). This often results in a partial callout of the time (usually the last part, cutting off the beginning). Fortunately the head wire is extra long so (unless it’s been done before) you can unsolder just the head end, cut off the offending piece, strip and resolder the wire to the head. The electronics are actually fairly dependable other than the occasional electrolytic capacitor. BTW: The underwater sounding voice is normal, they sounded that way when new. It’s due to the non-linier way the head moves across the disks. The black pad that the head slides onto when it is pulled back is supposed to keep the head clean. It seems to do a good job as dirty heads are not usually a problem on these. Good video!

[@ChristopheVerdonck]

Underrated comment, (had to auto-scroll down & do a Ctrl+F to find this, i Really hate the KZbin sort and autoload algorithm)

[@KarriKoivusalo]

I really like having names for the devices, I can imagine it could be easier to discuss with the service helpdesk, instead of something like "DVDA-42069ADHD" it might be much easier to remember it's "Ivan the Terrible" or somesuch.

[@broadsword6650]

That recorded voice is downright spooky if you’ve listened to “The Lovecraft Investigations” on BBC Sounds and their delve into Number Stations. And if you haven’t listened to it, listen to it. It’s fab.

[@magreger]

I to was wondering about the head cleaning. Guess you'll just have to show it from now on lol. Entertaining as always. cheers!

[@MickeyMousePark]

20:39 when he did the close up of the head in the addendum you can see what appears to be a head cleaning pad (the black part) so back in the day it had a self cleaning head...

[@Charlesb88]

Or he can mention in the vid he did it off screen but simply chose not to show it.

[@TheMechanicalPhilosopher]

He clearly should start a separate head cleaning channel.

[@mehere3160]

Her voice reminded me of those number stations. I want one

[@Web_Audio_Moto]

Another Buffalonian here - used to go to Radio Equipment with my son on a regular basis just to go through the aisles of rando stuff they had. Lot of projects over the years. Sad day when they finally closed up. Brilliant seeing them mentioned here at Techmoan

[@woofgbruk5947]

I would love to see scans of that brochure!

[@mjg263]

Yesss!

[@sw6188]

Me too! I was just about to add this as a comment when I saw you had already mentioned it. 70s Panasonic catalogs are hard to find.

[@cerealpimp73]

I'm just glad that Jacob got his cake. Congratulations, Jacob.

[@itsyaboipandaz]

What's the big pile? We will never know

[@RussianBot69420]

The cake is one big pile on the floor, Jacob never got his cake.

[@Shamsithaca]

Gosh this man is my spirit animal. I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF. Also, man would i love to collect everything on that brochure.

[@beauregardslim1914]

You need to figure out a way to have it say "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42". Great stuff! These weird-old-tech episodes are my faves.

[@arootube]

Countless devices and puppet skits later and people still ask if he tried basic cleaning.

[@volvo09]

asking someone who is familiar with how this stuff operates if they did a basic task is like asking a good mechanic "did you check the battery", "did you check the spark plugs" after he's been working for a day on a ratty old car that's been mothballed. Of course he did that.

[@Kalvinjj]

Or telling him to replace the caps

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

"Did you try to turn it off and on again?"

[@tbaker9409]

The production quality of your videos are always quite amazing. I'm sure you've heard this before, but I wanted to tell you anyway! Thanks for all the fantastic content!

[@stranahanhigh8910]

I love my RC 6900 - still works great!

[@ctoforhire]

My first car was a 1982 Nissan (Datsun) 280zx. As it was a hand me down from my parents, the car was loaded with every feature - T-tops, leather interior, premium sound and the most futuristic feature, the car talked. Thinking back to the sounds made by the playback system it used when saying things like "Your Door is Ajar" or "Your lights are on", it had to be the same mechanism. Thanks for taking me down memory lane!

[@efficiencygaming3494]

The first clock that literally tells you the time. Simply wonderful.

[@numbers9to0]

You know, if you uploaded 8 hrs of video, we would watch 8 hrs.

[@danilko1]

50 years old... both you and I are still talking... So, I guess we are doing pretty well, without having someone open us up and messing about.

[@nmanbamboo1980]

I grew up in the 80's with my dad repairing electromechanical stuff like that. Love those FM tuner sections with the cable string looping all around the device. And yes you said it ,,, I too I am still fascinated with stuff like that.

[@SuperPussyFinger]

This channel is a work of genius.

[@timothykanarsky8468]

Awesome piece of bespoke engineering! Crazy how much thought and custom parts went into that playback mechanism, which today would be done with a $2 microcontroller and DAC!

[@siliconinsect]

It's an analog hard drive!

[@michaelthomsen8771]

The double stacking of the discs is pure genius utilization of one play head!

[@dickterpene8697]

Looks amazing with the green light.

[@buddyclem7328]

8:12 "Aw! Congratulations, Jacob. Yes, of course you can have cake! Oh no. There it is. It's just one great big pile on the f..."

[@sofa-lofa4241]

That was Jacob's prize for winning the cake destroying competition

[@lillywho]

That radio sounds like the kid from Doctor Who.... "Mummy?"

[@RetroRepairGuy]

I can just imagine waking up from a beautiful dream to its spectral speech. Great way to start the day! lol Love the show!

[@andrascsirmaz3043]

I'm in total love with this device... what a marvellous thing to engineer! Totally worth 800$ - think about the fact that this was high-tech back then.. :)))