HALF A CENTURY AGO THIS AUTUMN TWO SMALL COMPANIES, working together, unveiled the world’s first transistor radio. It was called the Regency TR1. It introduced the revolutionary technology of the transistor to the general public, and it began the spread of all the miniaturized, battery-operated electronic devices that surround us today.

The companies were Texas Instruments and Industrial Development Engineering Associates. TI made instrumentation for the oil industry and locating devices for the Navy; IDEA mainly built home TV antenna boosters, many carrying the Sears Silvertone brand name. But TI wanted to grow from a $20 million company into a $200 million one, and IDEA wanted to get into new product areas. The unlikely pairing of the two companies created, within a very short time, a product that in its styling, its circuit design, its manufacturing technology, and, above all, its use of miniaturized components pointed the way to the future.

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