Regency TR-1 Transistor Radio
Updated: May 11, 2021
by: Bill Buxton
First released in October 1954, the Regency TR-1 was the first transistor radio commercially available. In some ways, it was the result of a solution in search of a problem. While the history of the solid-state transistor began around the early 1900s, the first demonstration of a working transistor is generally agreed to have taken place at Bell Labs in December 1947. However, it was not until 1950, with William Shockley’s development of the bipolar Junction transistor, that transistorized devices became generally practical. The challenge then became one of finding products that could really benefit from the technology. Since miniaturization was a key benefit, it should not be a surprise that the first transistorized product available in the United States was a hearing aid, released by Sonotone in 1952. While hearing aids were a very appropriate application for the technology, they were not a mass market product. Texas Instruments was one of the companies licensed by Bell to produce transistors. Naturally, it wanted to find such a product— a “killer app” in today’s terminology—something that could show transistors off to great advantage and thereby help rapidly build up demand.
The portable transistor radio was the killer app Texas Instruments landed upon. The manufacturer Texas Instruments chose to work with was Industrial Development Engineering Associates of Indianapolis, Indiana, through its Regency Division. The four transistor TR-1 was the result.
The TR-1 was designed by the Chicago partnership of, Painter, Teague and Petertil. David Painter, Victor Petertil, and Jim Teague (no relation to Walter Dorwin Teague) had worked together as employees of the Chicago design firm of Barnes & Reinecke, where Painter had been vice president of design. They had struck out on their own, and the TR-1 was an early, and probably their best-known, project.
The TR-1 is now a collector’s item. It was a well-made device—mine still works, which is more than I can say for a large number of my other devices that are more recent and retailed for far more money. (The original cost of the TR-1 was $49.95) For me, its historical interest is greatly enhanced by the more recent devices that have evolved from its design. For example, Sony’s 1957 TR-63 can be seen as a reimagining of the TR-1 (just as Dieter Rams’ 1958 Braun T3 transistor radio followed the same basic form) however, with the design simplified, much of the decoration being removed, and the tuning dial moved to the center, rather than being offset to the side. Continuing the evolutionary design path, the T3 was a strong influence on the overall design of the original 2001 Apple iPod, as is frequently mentioned (see The Roots of the iPod Classic’s Design Language).
Just as a study of the development of the transistor illustrates, the evolution of portable music players (as evidenced by the TR-63 – TR-1 – T3 – iPod chain) suggests that innovation is far more a process of evolution than pure out-of-the-blue invention by some genius. The cumulative history encompassed in this story reinforces that the success of any one part—technology, design, or business—was dependent on the evolution of an eco-system of mutually dependent aspects, and that success all around came as much from classical scholarship concerning the past as it did insightful visions of the future.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of this collection is to provide the means to reiterate this too seldom told, and much less understood, story.
The Regency TR-1 transistor radio introduced me to Bill Buxton. The visionary designer at Microsoft was in Chicago for the August 2013 Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) annual national conference. Conference Chair Paul Hatch, principal designer at the Chicago office of TEAMS Design, had invited Buxton to speak on the main stage.
I served as co-chair of the IDSA Design History section, and Hatch had invited me to the conference planning group he convened the previous year. With Bret Smith, the Design History chair, we decided it would be exciting to create a timeline of Chicago design for the conference. Smith, professor of industrial design at Auburn University, organized a team of faculty and students to create and produce the large panels. I contributed information and photos and edited some of the text.
One afternoon at the conference, I was stationed at the display of 15 timeline posters that presented Chicago design from 1870 to 2000. Hatch came into the room with Buxton and introduced me by saying, “Vicki will know the answer to your question.” Buxton told me he had a collection of technological innovations and owned a Regency TR-1. It was designed by some Chicago designers named Painter, Teague & Petertil. Did I know anything about them? I was delighted to point to a photo of the radio on the posters and exclaim, ‘YES, I know about them!’”
And so began our email correspondence. When he returned home, Buxton emailed me his two articles and some documentation. Years later, when I embarked on this Chicago Design Stories project, I contacted him to ask permission to post his writings. By this time, he had learned more and generously offered to update his articles. Oh, by the way, his presentation at the IDSA conference about how future technologies should enhance human life instead of adding frustrating complexity was awe-inspiring.
Learn more about Bill Buxton, a partner researcher at Microsoft Research, at BillBuxton.com. His 2007 book, Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, presents a holistic approach to design thinking. The study examines verbal and visual storytelling, physical prototypes, and other methods of discovery and analysis to help designers zero in on the right questions in developing technologies that surround and interact with people in everyday environments. (1) View his collection of technology products here.
