It was a Panasonic RX 4920 — the best boombox available from my dad’s Raleigh cigarette coupon catalog in 1981. I banded together all those paper coupons from my father’s decades of smoking, packed them in shoeboxes and patiently waited for the boombox to arrive.
What’s a boombox, you ask? Well, it was a handled, portable, radio cassette deck with built-in speakers. It was invented in the Netherlands by Philips in 1969, but the Japanese companies took the idea to the next level. The boombox was introduced in America in the late 1970s and became a mainstream product for youth like me in the 1980s. The use of boomboxes in urban communities resulted in them being called “ghetto blasters,” a name my friends and I commonly used then that doesn’t seem so appropriate now.
When my boombox finally showed up, I couldn’t wait to unpack it and start playing my cassettes. It was a simple device with an AM/FM tuner and a single cassette deck, but I loved it. Most all my friends had some version of a boombox as well, mostly manufactured by Panasonic, Sony or General Electric. Boomboxes were a status symbol of sorts for kids in the 1980s, much like cell phones are today. As such, the technological features grew — and so did the dimensions, with some boomboxes comparable to the size of suitcases. The fancier ones had dual cassette decks, equalizer controls and booming bass sound. The larger models were 30 or more inches wide, and some weighed more than 25 pounds. Of course, the portability of these units was not simple — or inexpensive. Many required 10 D-size batteries, and those costs added up.
As a result, most boomboxes were almost always plugged into wall outlets, but, inevitably, someone would bring one on a school bus for long and noisy trips. The boombox trend didn’t last long, though. In 1986, 20.4 million units were shipped in the United States. By 2003, the number dropped to 329,000. The Sony Walkman and similar portable headphone devices became the new, trendy and much quieter ways to listen to music. School bus drivers everywhere rejoiced.
I remember using my boombox so much that the markings for play, pause, fast forward, eject, etc. wore off, but I had them memorized anyway. I sometimes wonder what happened to it, as I have no idea where it ended up. It probably quit working and was tossed, or it may be this one listed on Ebay for $49.
I am sure Dad enjoyed those Raleigh cigarettes, even though they ultimately, and sadly, took his life. The high volumes of my Panasonic boombox might have taken a few years off his life, too — or at least his eardrums — but that boombox sure made for some enjoyable music-listening years for me.
Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707