1959 Sanyo Channel Master 6506
Coat pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
5 7/8 x 3 x 1 3/4 inches / 150 x 75 x 45 mm
Six transistors (Toshiba), superheterodyne circuit
One standard 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Japan
Distributed by Channel Master Corp., Ellenville, NY
A really solid, really handsome radio that's always been shortchanged by its own success: It was commonly found when I began collecting in the 1980s, and it's still commonly found today -- there must have been hundreds of thousands of these sets produced over a span of several years.
The Channel Master 6506 was made by Sanyo and preceeded by the Sanyo 6C-11, which looks exactly like the Channel Master except for the name. Another Sanyo very similar to these is the 6C-18.
The 6506's first runs date to 1959. Shown below is an ad from the Terre Haute Indiana Tribune featuring the 6506 and dated June 8, 1959. On a Channel Master 6506 brochure page shown below, in tiny verticle type in the upper left corner are the words, "Copyright 1959, 1960 Channel Master Corp." And collector Joe Haupt states on his Flickr page for this set, "I have found one advertisement for the Channel Master model 6506 transistor radio that dates to December 19, 1958 in the Hays, Kansas Daily News," which would be Christmas advertising for a 1959 radio.
Later versions of this model got much cheaper looking (the 6506A, -B and -C), and I think that's what many collectors remember when we think of this set, plus the fact that most units of any version of the 6506 were often found in pretty bad cosmetic condition. Too bad, because the original 6506 is a gorgeous radio.
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