Analogue Nostalgia: A Design History of the GhettoBlaster

The Boombox Project

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:48:00 +0000

The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground was released this summer, and I have received my signed copy. In it, photographer & author Lyle Owerko, has captured an amazing selection of boomboxes, and included a short quote from me! :)

Lyle also appears in this NPR video.

Foreign Voices, Common Stories at the 2010 cultural olympiad

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:27:00 +0000

CODE Live Opening Celebration – February 4, 2010

The opening of the CODE Live Exhibition and over 40 installations on February 4th 2010 at Emily Carr University on Granville Island and the Centre for Digital Media (Great Northen Way Campus).

Analogue Nostalgia is a proud participant in the 2010 Cultural Olympiad and will be presenting its new installation Foreign Voices, Common Stories at Code 1.

Where: 577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver

When: Sunday through Wednesday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.; Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Project description: Walls of 1980s analog boom boxes, commonly known as ghetto blasters, create an immediate nostalgia as the viewer enters the installation space. Each tape deck is equipped with motion detectors to react to the presence of visitors. A myriad of stories from around the world revealing why ghetto blasters are significant cultural icons erupt from the boom boxes, using MP3 players as the source, the boom boxes as the amplification and speaker system for the messages. The ubiquitous use of such decks, which were marketed globally, although different in design, produced a sameness in cultures often called globalization, but as one listens to the radios, differences in the stories and experiences begin to register. The recordings are in several different languages as well as English, but there is also a set of recordings in foreign versions of English as a commentary on the fact that Pidgen English will soon be one of the most spoken languages in the world. Being able to tape one’s own music and share it easily and portably was an authentic way to share tastes and cultural differences in a democratic distribution. Cultural loss, cultural gain and the cultural mosaic are the subjects of this installation.

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:08:00 +0000

In an interview on getgrounded.tv at the midforms film festival last year, James discusses the origins of his obsession with tapedecks. Pick up the video at the 4:00 minute mark for the interview.

http://getgrounded.tv gets down with Longwalkshortdock - James Phillips - Tom Waits and Kool Keith

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sat, 23 May 2009 01:40:00 +0000

Pump Up The Dial: Photographic Daps for the Iconic 80s Boombox

Boomboxes. Synonymous with hip-hop. Synonymous with loud. Its standing in the cultural zeitgeist has faded over the years, but their past glories and appetite for D batteries will always be loved and adored by me. More »

Narrative Mosaic

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:36:00 +0000

photo credit: Hamish Hamilton

This is a ten minute audio montage that I have gathered from Boombox collectors from around the world. It is part of an ongoing project to have a multilingual component added to this piece.

Audio track for Narrative Mosaic

Extro

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Extro

Introduction

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:37:00 +0000

My radio, believe me, I like it loud
I'm the man with a box that can rock the crowd
Walkin' down the street, to the hardcore beat
While my JVC vibrates the concrete
I'm sorry if you can't understand
But I need a radio inside my hand
Don't mean to offend other citizens
But I kick my volume way past 10.

I Can’t Live Without My Radio—LL Cool J 1985

Back in 1985 when LLCoolJ released his debut album Radio, street culture in the US was alive with the sound of what was colloquially termed the “boombox” or ghettoblaster, depending on where you were from (In central Canada where I grew up, we called them BFR’s—big F*cking radios!). The cover of LL’s album reiterated the prominence of his hit single “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” by depicting a closeup of a JVC RC-M90, one of the biggest and best performing radio cassette players of its day.

Today, in this new millennium, 80’s culture has returned with a vengeance, and in light of this resurgence an interest in and around old school culture, so its no surprise that interest in boomboxes as cultural icons has resurfaced. Boomboxes these days adorn sneakers, T-shirts, shoulder bags, necklaces, and of course album covers and videos, from Armand Van Helden to Madonna.

I was moved to write about these radios as I collect them and have found a hobby bordering on obsession! I have learned as much as I can about them, taking them apart, as well as playing with them and using them in my everyday life. Sharp was a great innovator and is responsible for an amazing variety of radios, although I have a personal bias towards JVC, simply because in my youth JVC was the best brand available in my community, and I still feel a strong connection and nostalgia for their products. But what’s in a name? Many radios and indeed other electronics from this time were rebadged by rival companies, so you might see the same radio with 3 or 4 different names. There are many radios and many brands that are excellent for all sorts of reasons, I will try to give you some examples of what I consider technological or design innovations from back in the day.

JVC PC-100

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:36:00 +0000

When I think about the 80’s and portable radio culture, I realize how different the world is today. The world of sharing music in parks and on city streets now resides in cyberspace as we share in anonymity online. The radio that marked this change from public music “broadcasting” to private consumption was the JVC PC-100 a mini unit with a detachable walkman. Now you could share your music in the public sphere, or keep it private by ejecting the cassette deck and plugging headphones into it. In many ways the descendant of the walkman today is the MP3 player, the ubiquitous Ipod. Indeed, all the radios I have mentioned here were all built with the ability to plug a portable media player into them, so you can easily plug your IPOD into these radios and mix the digital age with the warmth of analogue amplification and sound.

Audio track for the PC-100

JVC PC-55/550

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:35:00 +0000

As portable radio desires changed, so did their design. JVC again was back in the driver’s seat in 1982with the multi piece PC or portable component systems. The PC-5, divided into five pieces with a separate radio, tape deck, and amplifier. This radio was promoted by that other famous quintuplet, the Harlem Globetrotters.
JVC followed up with another superb “executive” component system, the PC-55/550. These units were portable, but really they were meant to be separated and used at home as high quality mini stereos. This unit had many special features, Dolby B and C, a 5 band EQ, speakers with ceramic woofers, wooden speaker cases for better quality sound, and most innovatively an illuminated LCD panel display that showed the many functions and options of the unit. Great sound, although ever so slightly bass shy, this multi component unit was a wonderful sounding for all sorts of music, and has one of the best tape decks ever constructed in a portable.

Audio track for the PC-55/550

Tecsonic Super Jumbo

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Other lesser known companies also weighed in and perhaps the most famous boombox of its time was one of these and was made so by Spike Lee. “Do the Right Thing” was a seminal film about broiling racial issues in Brooklyn and the object that sparked the riot on the hottest day of the summer was the giant radio belonging to Radio Raheem. He strutted the streets, conquering all those he met with his main weapon—a volume slider. The radio he used to slay all comers was a Promax J-1 Super Jumbo, a monster with a ten band EQ and 3 pairs of speakers including 8” woofers. In reality, the cheaper build quality of this radio is less than impressive, but its black case and crazy light display win it style points for certain. Despite its great size, the cheaper plastic makes it ½ the weight it could be—much easier to carry around and duel unsuspecting rivals!

Audio track for the Super Jumbo

Toshiba RTS-983

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Toshiba also produced a monster very similar to the GF-777 called the WX-1 Boombeat RT-S983. This unit had a very unusual configuration for detachable speakers, dual decks, woofers, tweeters and passive radiators similar to the one in the Aiwa. This is perhaps the heaviest radio in existence, also with pitch control and a bass booster system as well, great looks and a great name, Boombeat! Toshiba again showed their innovation with another model, the RT-S932, which has one of the most significant technical and design innovations: a built in wireless remote control that ejects from the unit with the push of a button.

Audio track for the RTS-983

Sharp GF-9696

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:34:00 +0000

The GF-9696, a beautiful looking machine also had individual bass controls, and had pitch control to adjust tape speed for different recordings.

Audio track for the GF-9696

Sharp GF-777

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Sharp also had the famous GF-777, a giant 4 woofer (two mid ranges) and 2 tweeter monster with twin decks in the upper left corner, and removable speaker grilles. The other innovation was that the main woofers had individual bass controls as well as a general bass control and a loudness button.

Audio track for the GF-777

Sharp VZ-2000

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Sharp was again a leader in design and innovation with the VZ-2000, a massive, heavy unique player that had a single cassette deck, radio, and a dual stylus linear tracking turntable. This unit allowed one to play BOTH sides of the record without turning the record over, essentially an autoreverse feature, but with a record.

Audio track for the VZ-2000

Fisher SC-300

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Fisher also made a very unusual unit called the SK-300, a cassette deck with detachable speakers and a removable synthesizer keyboard! You could adjust all aspects of your synth sound--pitch, tone, and length of notes, you could change the sound so it can be almost any instrument as well. You can also use the onboard beats to provide a backdrop while you play the keyboard overtop and record the whole arrangement using the cassette deck! Other companies also made keyboard synthesizers as well, not surprisingly, Casio made the KX-101, and Sharp made the GF-990Image 10.5) with a double deck and a pop out “music processor.”

Audio track for the SC-300

Fisher PH-492

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Fisher also got into the game, but a bit late, their contribution was the massive PH-492, over 30” long, and 15”tall, this unit that had two very significant innovations: one, they had detachable speakers, so the speakers could be placed further apart to get true stereophonic sound, and they had individual cases so they could resonate with better acoustics having their own cabinets. The other important feature that they brought to the industry was a 5 band equalizer to further refine sound to the individual taste. With an EQ, it essentially had a pre-amp and enclosed speakers, so the Fishers were great sounding, large, heavy units that reeked of quality.

Audio track for PH-492

Conion C-100f

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Getting back to the street, we have to include one of the biggest and most famous radios of the early 80’s, the Conion C-100F from Coney-Onkyo(called Clairtone in Canada). This was a beast! 31” long 16” tall, it had all the street cred one could imagine, as well as some design innovations. First of all, it had two cassette decks, but instead of making them tandem, they were stacked on top of one another with the top deck being a horizontal slot for the tape to slide in through a spring loaded door. It had 3 pairs of speakers, two 8 “ woofers, two 4” midranges and two 2” tweeters—a full range of sound production. Two analogue VU meters, and LED meters as well, it was designed to not just catch eyes but hold them hostage! As if this was not enough, in case its size, loudness and killer blinged out looks overcame your morals, it had an incredibly loud motion alarm feature that when set, went off if someone moved the radio. Despite the political incorrectness of the term, this was a ghettoblaster, a consummate example of its time and was featured in several films including “Beatstreet” and “Breakin".

Audio track for C-100f

Aiwa CS-880

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Aiwa released several beautiful units, but perhaps the best one was the CS-880. Medium sized(22” long), it had its single cassette deck thrust up in the left hand corner and in the middle had a 7” passive radiator designed to enhance the sound coming from the twin 5 “ woofers and 2” tweeters. The Aiwa had an amazing tape deck, this unit boasted wow and flutter on par with high end home cassette players, which resulted in amazingly clear sound. Great build quality, elegant, compact design and amazing sonic performance, Aiwa made a name for themselves as smaller, high quality players. This was again a unit that seemed more at home in a home, portable yes, but not for the street.

Audio Track for the CS-880

Midforms Festival exhibits nostalgia for the ghetto blaster

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:09:00 +0000

By Gregory Adams

At the Midforms Festival, a new installation gets nostalgic for the ghetto blaster—a lost artifact in these iPod days

Panasonic RC-7200

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:31:00 +0000

In terms of design innovation, one needs look no further than the Panasonic RX-7200, a beautiful single decked, logic controlled player that boasted both a stylistic variant—the upside down design whereby the radio tuner was located along the bottom portion of the unit—and a technological innovation, a digital tuner for the radio with a green LED readout. Sized between the M70 and the M90, it also had wood paneled sides and could be purchased with a matching record stand that the 7200 mounted on top of to create an unbroken wood panel—this was not a radio for the streets, but a radio for a posh study or library, a beautiful combination of high technology and organic warmth.

Audio track for RC-7200

JVC RC-M90

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:30:00 +0000

JVC was not done yet as they introduced their top of the line RC-M90, the radio that inspired the LL COOL J song. This was it, 8” woofers, 3” tweeters, a full logic two motor cassette deck(meaning computer chip controlled as opposed to mechanical buttons), 8 radio bands, a more sophisticated LED lit music search, and huge dimensions, 26” x 14”, this radio was perhaps the best performing loudest radio of its time. It also had Super ARNS(Dolby B) noise reduction to further refine its sound, as Dolby was all the rage. The unit also had an optional wired remote control with a 16 foot cord to enable long distance(somewhat anyway) manipulation of the cassette deck.

Audio track for RC-M90

JVC RC-M70

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:29:00 +0000

JVC followed up the success of the RC-550 with another great radio destined to become the classic model for most design, the RC-M70. This radio was a stereo player, with 4 speakers, two 6” woofers and two 2” horn tweeters. All the slide controls and buttons were on top, including a click down music search function and a loudness button. A great sounding(40 watts of power), cool looking unit it had tremendous build construction( a JVC trait), and great bass response at a time when bass heavy music, funk and R & B were merging their flavors to begin the Rap/ Hip Hop movement. This radio also had a special seat belt styled click in shoulder strap and even had a special carry bag as well.

Audio Track for the RC-M70

JVC RC-550

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:22:00 +0000

JVC, or the Japan Victor Company launched themselves into the portable radio cassette player/recorder market in the late 1970’s when they released the amazing RC-550(Image 2). Dubbed “El Diablo” by the Latino community, this giant monobox was devilish. It had a 10” woofer, a 4” midrange, and a 2 “ tweeter, separate bass and treble controls, and a big strong handle as well as a shoulder strap. It had roll bars on the sides that extended forward to protect the speakers and even had shortwave bands as well. This unit was built for the streets, and signaled a change in the mindset of portable design, although not a stereo player, this unit was BIG!

ThickMag Interview: Transcript

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:01:00 +0000

When we heard about James Philips and his ghetto blaster collection we knew we had a story on our hands. He's amassed more than 50 boomboxes, circa late-70s to early-80s! Peep some pics of his favorite radios and read what boombox collecting is all about.

Sharp VZ- 2000

Thick: Tell us about some of the features of this boombox with the turntable in it.
James Philips: It's pretty crazy. It has a linear tracking, dual stylus turntable inside of it. What that means is that it has a stylus on both sides of the record, and it has auto-reverse feature. So, the dual styluses allow it to flip over a play the other side, without opening obviously.

T: Talk about this yellow sporty looking one that looks like it's the predecessor to Sony's Walkman line.
J: It's a Magnavox 8300. It's got a five-speaker system, so it's got two woofers, two tweeter to mid-ranges, and a sub-woofer. It's got a feature where you can move the sound around, so you can actually control the spatiality of the sound .It has two decks and a five band EQ as well. It has a big sports strap as well. It was meant as an original beachbox, one that you wouldn't be worried about. It was not water-proof but it was the first (boombox) with a beachy look. I'm not sure if it came out before the Sports Walkmans or not but it's very close, and much bigger than any of the sport Sony models.

T: What is rebadging?
J: Rebadging is when a company, usual in Asia, makes a chassis for a radio, boombox, ghetto blaster (whatever term you want to use) and they sell it to any company who wants them, but they maintain their intellectual property and re-sell the same chassis to other companies. So, what you end up seeing is, in different countries the same radio will be under a different name but it will be exactly the same radio.

T: What boombox did Radio Raheem rock in Do The Right Thing?
J: Well, that's a classic case of rebadging right there. It's the J1 Super Jumbo, sometimes it's called the Techsonic, sometimes it's called the Promax. I actually have both versions. They're exactly the same except for the nameplate. It is Huge, over 30” long and 17” tall!

T: What about this five-cassette changer boombox?
J: It's a Mitsubishi L-50 and it has a motorized tray that allows you to put five tapes in and close it up, and then you can select from the numbers. It works how a five-disc changer CD player would work.

T: Tell us about the trend of boomboxes with keyboards.
J: That was early 80s and I'm not sure what caused it. I've collected them all. I went after them as I have many friends who are DJ’s and who produce. I actually bought one for a friend of mine as a gift, he hasn’t seen it yet though, as its being fixed. What I like about it the keyboards, is that at that early stage you had portable studios, these radios had computer chips back then!. We think we are so capable with studio technology (now), but in actuality they had digital synths and a way to record, sure it's analog, but it's way back then. That was twenty-five years ago.

T: What are the couple that exist?
J: There's the Casio KS101, probably the most sophisticated one. They have built-in backbeat, so you can set a melody and tempo, and play music over top of it, and record that music. Pretty amazing tech. Another one is the Fisher SC 300. Both of these have detachable speakers as well, so you can take the speakers off or you can remove the keyboard in some way. The other one is the Sharp GF990 and it has a music processor that actually slides out of the base. You can make all your own sounds. Two of these radios have LCD screens on them in 1981!

T: Talk about Bang & Olufsen's one boombox.
J: Everybody that knows Bang & Olufsen, knows they're about forward-thinking design and high-end audio. But they focus much more on their design than on their actual audio quality. This little radio looks small and sleek. I think it looks like the kind of ghetto blaster you would've had if you were Mickey Rourke in 9 1/2 Weeks, like an 80s stock-broker living in NYC, the Upper-Eastside version of the ghetto blaster.

T: What are the two Holy Grail pieces when it comes to boombox collecting?
J: The JVC RCM90, it's the radio on the cover of LL Cool J's first album cover. When he said, “ I can't live without my radio,” that was the radio he couldn't live without. It's 26" long, 14" tall and weighs about twenty pounds...without batteries. It's a big powerful radio, 8" woofers, amazing bass response, and great sounding all the way up to 10. It has a two-motor Logic control deck, one of the first decks to use a computer chip in the mechanics to change the controls. It also has an 8-band radio, so like six different kinds of shortwave on top of AM and FM. The other one is called Conion C100F, but it's also a rebadge, so it's also called the Clairtone 7980, it's also called the Helix 4635. It's a big monster. The Conion has two cassette decks, a burglar alarm, 8" woofers as well, 30" long, 16" tall. It's mammoth, and looks amazing, most people love it and it stands out among the others I own. Those are the two warring radios. Basically, it's about loudness and the control of sound quality.

For me I have an Art History background and I currently teach Multimedia and Digital Art for SFU. I grew up in the 80’s but was quite young, so my older siblings and friends could afford the big radios, I could not. I began collecting recently and tracked down many of the ones I could not afford, but admired as a kid, and discovered many more that I think are amazing from either a design standpoint, or from a performance perspective. These radios all have amazing sound and have technology that looks forward to the point that all of them have RCA plugs for an MP3 player—technology they had no idea about back then! I plan to show my radios as art pieces in gallery very soon, so pay attention, you won’t want to miss a show like this!

Peace,

james

What brought it back

jwp6709@gmail.com (james phillips) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:08:00 +0000

A scant three years ago(seems like forever), my friend and roommate at the time David bought me a ghettoblaster-shaped belt buckle and a book for Christmas called The History of the Mixtape, edited my Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth. The book was a collection of mostly famous people’s cassette tape art, and I loved the book as I was one of those Jon Cusack in High Fidelity types, and made any a mixtape in my day. Anyway in Moore’s introduction, he had several pictures of an old school boombox that he called the Conan, a Conion C-100. He explained that as a band manager, he blew half of their travel budget on this giant boombox, and how great it was.

I looked at the radio and it seemed familiar, but I did not know why. I was fondling my new belt buckle, and suddenly realized that the buckle was modeled on the Conion! That was why it looked somewhat familiar. I decided that it was a coincidence I wanted to pursue and I went to Ebay. I was shocked to discover a variety of boomboxes available for sale, and shortly after I found the Boombox Hall of Fame site and then stereo2go. Before long I had a collection of at least 50 and no ability to slow down!

I have met people from around the world and have been to the homes of people in Berlin and Hong Kong, this obsession has taken me places I never expected and this show is just another rung on this crazy ladder that the love of these radios has had me climb…