Those of us who are old enough to remember listening to Radio Luxembourg and Radio Caroline on our transistor radios will have felt a glimmer of nostalgia with their sudden 'rediscovery' during the outage.

Headphones were a single-cable earpiece that you would use with the radio smuggled under your pillow when your parents had told you to switch the light out and go to sleep.

Sometimes you would just place the tranny under the pillow and, turned down, listen to it like that; the best music brought to you by the pirate stations! Of course, you’d wake up in the morning with flat batteries if you were not careful

Thanks to the recent invention of the transistor radio, President Charles de Gaulle’s speeches was heard by the conscript soldiers serving in Algeria during the 1961 putsch of the generals who then refused to follow the orders of the military rebels and in some cases even threw their insurrectionist officers in jail.

Nowadays, of course, if you use the word ‘tranie or tranny’ some might think that you’re referring to gender – how times have changed.

Well, people dug out their transistor radios on Monday, dusted them off and looked for batteries. Others lacking one or the other, or both, shot out to buy one and stock up on batteries.

Yes, in this age when people rely on Internet for their news, this blast from the past saved us from not having a clue about what was happening and just how far and wide it was having affect.

On a personal note, I was a Telegraphist/Wop (radio operator) in the forces back in the 70s, trained in radio telephony (voice) and CW (morse) so the dear old radio will always have a special place in my heart. In fact, my mother was even a radio operator in the RAF during The War and we, like two lunatics, would communicate in morse by tapping on the table over a cup of tea in the sitting room.

Anyway, never be without batteries, candles matches… and a transitor radio!

(Editorial/Opinion: The Transistor Radio)

Keywords: Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline, Pirate Station, Best Music, Outage, Batteries, Candles, Matches

editorial, Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline, Pirate Station, Best Music, Outage, Batteries, Candles, Matches

Reader’s comment: “Gosh. How things have changed. There are lots of words we used to use , that we wouldn’t dream of saying these days. Do I sound like my granny? For the record I’m 59 later this month.” – Melanie Briggs Kid

Reader’s comment: “PS: Does the word Trump make you smile? – Em Jay Bee Kaye