The History of the Boombox, NPR Music 

Back in '84 i bought a Conion c100f (the biggest boombox of the time) for only $250 off of a truck selling boomboxes along a highway in Tampa, Florida. Pulling over and stepping inside that truck and seeing all those brand new silver boomboxes on display was literally boombox heaven, i felt like a kid again in a toy store.

Thanks for the video I tracked down every boom box 6 years ago I ever wanted on eBay and so far I have 15 and I thank GOD for them they are my stress reliever

This brings back memories. I remember walking around Washington D.C. on vacation as a kid (8 or 9) in the 80's. This tall black guy had a huge boombox on his shoulder listening to hip hop. He was dancing around with his friends. I guess he was moving around too much. All the batteries fell out the back. Everyone around started laughing. LOL

The Sharp GF-777 Was The Pinnacle Of All Boomboxes.

I'm very glad I bought my 1984 Panasonic RX-4920 boom box for $7 at a thrift store. I absolutely love it

This is a great piece on n 80's Cutural icon. Seeing these boxes, takes me back to my youth when I would be transported to another place by the music my BoomBox was playing. It was my therapy. "Long live the BoomBox". THAFUZZ ;-)

Only reservation I have about this piece is that at ground zero NYC shown there, they were initially playing soul Funk and disco on boxes; earliest rap and hip-hop tracks heard a little later late 70s

A boombox can change the world!

I've been on a boombox search for almost two months!!!! I wont give up!!!

I love it!!!! I am going to use this in my classroom as we talk about the history of audio technology!

Excellent piece of work. Thank you for uploading it.

He straight dissed my lasonic trc-975! It's over 30 years old and still rockin, everything works too! Foh

Thanks for sharing , i have a sweet spot forever with these

I still listen to cassettes on my ghettoblasters... to me hip hop is in its true form when its comeing from a cassette and boombox.Thats how hip hop was supposed to sound.

Still walking around witch my sharp gf 777 through the city in 2024, 15 years now

its not over yet. tdk boombox check it out. people will start realizing again that being able to take music loud around with you so you and all your friends can hear it is awesome

Can I nominate this piece for some kind of award? great work!

@Ruth Yoerg The funny thing is 80s boomboxes will still be working like new when iPods or MP3s are dead and gone, xD id like to see the disposable iPod or MP3 still working after 30+ years!

i used to have about 60 boomboxes but had to downsize,i'm down to abot 30 now,mainly sharp,Jvc ext..collecting has always been in me since as far back as i can remember,probebly the late 70s when i was a kid..i've no idea why or how i got into them,its like they found me,rather than me finding it..its strange ! this is a good video,they should make more of these !!

It's my goal to find or make a 'modern boombox'. Something that retains the beauty and charm of the 80's and 90's whilst having all the technology of the 2010's. Pop in my SD card with all my tunes in to my monster boombox and just play. TDK have tried, and in my opinion, have not quite gotten it right. Some of us want a return to the monsters of yesteryear, a musical item that brought everyone together. I want heavy steel, not shiny plastic. It's got to go the distance.

The transistor radio was the first boombox

Now we are in the age of technology. We keep moving forward in time. These boom boxes are almost a collector's item.

Way cool video Thank you for the memories...You rock!!!

I was born in 1992 and we had these around until the early 2000s here in Cameroon, West Africa. Funny this is we actually called them "radios" here lol. Only heard the term 'boombox' today lol. Very nostalgic

I used to carry just a simple Casio tape recorder playing Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and walk with it since I didn't have an actual boom box.

Nice Collection!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOve the boom box....I had several of them over the years and I still have my Fisher keyboard boom box!!! I miss some of my classic ones though ;( Memories!!!!!!!!!!

great mini-docu!

Love this....still kickin my 1981 Hitachi trk 8600...still going strong:-)

This is go great, Roy!

Theyre pretty popular down here in san diego chicano park, there is even record shops packed with djs, nostalgic collectors, or musicians looking for LP records and cassettes.

Google "boombox museum". I had one of the JVC classics. It sounded great. Still have some of the NYC tapes made on it, early 80s.

At 8:09 the lasonic tr931 is what I had . It was huge , it was loud and wherever I went with it somebody if not everybody could hear it.mine was the first generation by the way back in the 80s and it didnt say jumbo on it. It spoke for itself.

Loved the old boom boxes back in the day. It was great to see all the 'crew's with their cardboard boxes breakdancing on the street with the boom box providing the music. Somehow it's hard to picture that with an ipod.

I remember when people used to take their boom boxes ever where and they brought their music with them too.

Amazing collection! grat! :-)

Tomy needs to come back! They had some fun things they made, but they need to do a little more on quality in the way of gears, this was a cool vid! 😊

You think these video and comments are old? I still listen to tapes and FM radio in my spotless Crown CSC-850L boombox in 2023.

Nice video. It's about time the boombox got some props.

i still use my boom box in 2016

the slower the tape decks open, the better. EQ LED .. MUST HAVE. Shortwave 1 and 2.. NERD BONUS. HELL YES.

What was really important was the popularity with buskers who do hip-hop dancing.

The model shown at 4:19 was my choice for mobile sound back in the day. It's still at my parent's house, in fact. The tape player won't spin anymore, but I refuse to get rid of it. Still looks amazing to this day.

My dad has one of those,and it still works!

Man we had to take up a battery collection everyday LOL my buddy had the Sanyo with the center woofer

, mis those days when there was no cell phones, not just anybody had the coolest cassettes, miss my 80s

The Walkman and the iPod have removed the joy of musical interaction, made it too individual, too private. That said, the music these days isn't conducive to partying on the street corner. Anyone reading this from TDK, JVC...anyone, please...bring us a true modern boombox, none of this iPod dock crap.

I'm so feeling that Boom Box is my life do you have any to sell

never missed losing my cd players never missed losing my mp3 players but my lasonic trc-931 just went missing and i damn near shed a tear.

The best thing about boomboxes is that you can position it right in front of your face. I'm sorry but no matter how good of a home audio system you have in your living room, it still can't give the same effect as a boombox sitting on your desk only a few inches from your face.

I mean.. Is this the only boombox documentary here on RU-vid?!

@hardcorehouse Nothing like the old school BOOMBOX... many last minute classic roller skating partys were started due too the youth of yesteryear playing classic traxs & a huge crowd gathered. If not for the foundation of the BOOMBOX.... 2days youth would not have the ipod. Dont you agree with me hardcorehouse? We had some awesome times back in the 70's early 80's N.Y.C.. Break dancers, poppers & up rockers....many classic moments.The youth of 2day wish the had it so good!

WE SHOULD MAKE A NATIONAL DAY TO TAKE OUT THE BOOM BOX OR BOOM BOX EVENTS AT LEASE TWICE A YEAR... If you look around you would see many people with vintage stuff sporting. Like I said BRING EM OUT....

Now in 2022 the Almighty Boombox returns! 👌🏾🤗

How times change What a time iy was great

I have a realistic 2250 but you can bearly hear anything with the volume up any ideas on what i could do to get it loud again?

DAMN, SO COOL !!!

so mesmo atraves desses documentarios, para termos nocao da evolucao tecnologiacas.

my boombox at 6:39 clairtone 7980 ...BEAST!

One of the other reasons the boombox fell out of popularity was most took D cell batteries while the walkman took 2 AA's and lets face it, spending 10-20 dollars to load the boombox gets expensive with alkaline batteries and the only real way of powering them in that era, a nicd D cell of that era was exactly equal to a AA now for energy capacity. Today we can fit 5 times that into a D cell so the environmental impact of a boombox is minimal on battery usage.

We used to connect equalizers on them so when we get them on it would blast everyone.

whats that Jazz song that starts around 5:21. Sounds SO familiar!

good histoy documentaey I liked it

BELIEVE ME: THE BOOMBOX IS GONNA COME BACK.

This was lit these youngins dont know history just what they see instead of know....

Nice production - I miss the era of the 'boomboxs' I just got into music during the middle of the 80's. My first stereo was a National RX-C37 model that I've still got and it still works. I love my ipod but also think that sooner or later we will see the next evolving of these. You can see it already with the portable bluetooth speakers..music is meant to be heard.

So true :) I do miss my old JVC M90. I've only found one new boom box that's alright, but I know what you're saying. Analog sounds better over all and the older boom boxes don't look anywhere near as cheap and tacky. And I want my 10 band graphic equaliser back.LOL. Those old speaker cones sounded more natural than the new ones. Something about 2 big subs and a simple tape deck. not portable indeed.LOL.

That's my childhood breaker from 1984

I found a Sharp Gf 8686 is it as good as the Gf 9696?

Nice that's one day I'll do the same

you gotta know your limits with a boombox

lol We need a modern day, but retro boombox. That doesn't suck like the lasonic i93.

Cool :D

Now they have boomboxes that play mp3s. I wonder what they will play in the future

the first time I heard Kashmir was through the means of Puff Daddy On the Godzilla film Sound track.

would like to get my hands on a ol school 50 pound boombox

Companies like Panasonic used to have some of them.

I have over 300 nice boomboxes, I need more.

Some boom boxes featured guitar amps.

sorry I made grammar mistakes I mean : good history documentary I liked it so 5 stars

That was a very nice video on boom box history and I think that with things like Facebook and Google+ people are wanting to reach out and have their say once again. As socialisation becomes easier with the internet we'll see the return of the Boom Box, although it'll be with longer battery life and play through different formats such as MP3, IPad USB, and Laptops. Music is so much easier to access online. Still I can't go past that old true analog sound. Love the JVC Boom Boxes. :) Thanks allot.

interesting...

@trankillodad I take mine to an event every year called the Zombie Attack. It's done every year on Michael Jackson's birthday. I walk around playing Thriller and it has become an annual event for me ha ha...

Expensive at the time . During the 1980s heyday.

The best was the Conian..anyone remember those.

old technology is much much better than new ones.

I don't like the shade that is thrown onto Lasonic boomboxe models. They are great.

Just bought a Hitachi 3D80, one of the most menacing BBs of all time. If you were to run it off batteries it'd cost you $20 bucks a day.

no matter what people say boomboxes existed back in the 1980s because the streets were relatively safe. Nowadays, you get shot by just going to church or go watch a movie so you will not have people walking around with boomboxes, let alone gangster types with enemies.

That was that

my boombox is on the way

i thought, i can get intensity if listen on my comp...

that point is now there at least 7 that walk around the school

i want one, can you sell me one!

❤❤

As a bboy, this is golden...

you gotta know your limits with a boom box

Tapes just sound extra dirtty cant go wrong with that when it comes to hip-hop

haha i have one, tho it cant really be called a boombox by general terms cause its small but shit it looks and feels like one to ME!!!!!!!!!

@ctfmuzik just buy acasette adapter ;D