This is a Recording...Device

This is a picture of something that I hadn't seen in decades. But one just like it was a big part of my early teenage years. 

I saw this Realistic portable cassette player and microphone in the last place I ever expected to see it. I came across it as part of a display in the American Girl store in Chicago. 

I was totally surprised to see it but when I did a rush of memories came flooding back to me. 

I got my first (I say "first" because there was more than one) for Christmas in 1971. I had been asking for one for a long time. At age 11 my parents seemed to think that I could handle the responsibility of owning my own tape recorder.

Sometime during the year I broke it (so much for being responsible). The next Christmas Santa brought me another one. I used that one just as much if not more. 

The summer of 73, was the one I consider my first as a teenager. Although I was still 12, all my friends had turned 13. I went really crazy about popular music that year. I used my hand held microphone held up to the speaker of my portable radio to record my favorite songs played by our local stations, WEEX and WLEV. 

In August my Sunday School teacher and her husband were going to volunteer for a week at our church youth camp, 5 hours away, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They invited me to go along paying for my camp registration. 

It was the first time I'd been that far away from home for that long. I was not a good handling being away from home at that time. Plus I had another very important reason for wanting to stick around my neighborhood. But my parents made me go. They thought it would be good for me to get away for a while and the camp was paid for by someone else. To make the time away "less painful", I took my faithful electronic companion, with me. 

At the time I went to camp I was in the middle of my first "summer romance". My girlfriend and I had several special songs including: "My Love" by Paul McCartney and Wings; and "Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts. 

Also at the top of the charts at the time were: "Live and Let Die", the theme from the James Bond movie, also by Wings; and "Back When My Hair Was Short" by one hit wonder group, Gunhill Road. 

I had a favorite cassette with all those songs. It was a "Realistic" brand cassette; the kind you bought in a 3-pack for like $2 or $3 at Radio Shack.

For those of you who don't know back in the early 70's through the late 80's Radio Shack stores were just about the only place to go for electronics, stereo equipment, parts and accessories. 

I played that tape every time I got the chance during the week I was at camp. When the batteries in my tape recorder got low (I didn't bring replacements) I had to plug it in to listen to my music. 

This was an old fashioned campground with dorms that had sets of bunk beds. The only electricity were a few hanging electric lights. The only plug I could find was on the platform of the camp tabernacle. 

This was an outside pavilion filled with benches 3 rows across and of about 40 deep. They were sitting in front of a raised stage. The platform had a piano on the left side, an electric organ on the right side and a pulpit in the middle. 

I plugged my tape recorder in on the left side and set it on the railing at the front of the platform. Every afternoon when we had free time I'd go to the tabernacle and listen to my tape wishing I was home. I missed my friends, especially my girlfriend. 

I've explained all of that to say that somehow I left my cassette player at camp. I was heartbroken. My parents tried to contact the camp officials to have them look for it but it was never found. 

So the next Christmas I got my 3rd tape recorder. It would be the last of the kind pictured at the top of this post. But the last one was special. 

Not only did I continue to record music from the radio, I moved on to recording the sound from some of my favorite TV shows. I remember recording the Bob Newhart show, The Carol Burnette show, MASH, The Odd Couple, and more. 

The most memorable recording I made was the Muppet Valentine Special which aired at the end of January 1974. 

This recording was very special to me in my relationship with my dad. I believe I've wrote a post explaining the details. Check out the February 15, 2011 post for the complete story.

I took better care of the 3rd Realistic portable cassette player I got for Christmas in 1974 than I had the others. Perhaps it was my parents' threat that I wasn't going to get another one. I kept it for several years.

Using it, I recorded a Christmas radio commercial that I wrote and produced myself. This also made a connection for my dad and me.The complete story about that can be found in my December 19, 2009 post. 

So there you have a brief story of my history with my trio of portable cassette tape recorders from Radio Shack. 

All those memories were brought back to me simply because I just happened to see a vintage Realistic portable cassette tape recorder in a display in the American Girl store in Chicago. 

It was a store that I had almost no interest in. But it just goes to show you. If you look long enough you can find something good in everything.