Back on the horse
It might not be my best video ever, but it’s great to get any new video completed.
Hopefully from here on it’s onward and upward.
UPDATE: Took off the rather boring intro and moved the information to the video description...also swapped out the Sony radio audio demo from a bingo advert to a bit of Smooth FM
Comments (102)
I've been watching you for several years now and though I am not very technically minded I am of a similar age and find your videos incredibly interesting and very enjoyable. Your Saturday morning videos have become my new Saturday superstore! I wish you very well and the quid i give you now is the very least I can do. Hope you're feeling better and thank you for the fascinating videos. Cheers and take care, E
Thanks E, your contribution is very much appreciated.
You made me want to buy a prison radio so I did. Now I got to buy a cc radio grr. Lol
Well done, Mat. It's a nice little video. Take plenty of breaks though. Cheers, S.
I am new here. I am wondering if the watch time and like I gave to the Patreon version (hosted on YT) still contribute to the channel statistics?
Welcome! If you're pressing the 'play' icon on Patreon it will yield the same viewer count as watching on YouTube. You need to like the video within YouTube to boost the algorithm.
Brilliant.
Bravo! Removing the intro and just including the "maybe my voice will improve" bit is brilliant.
Looks like Hackaday picked up the video: https://hackaday.com/2025/03/22/card-radios-remembered/
I think Twin Cam found some of that weight you lost. Anyway, there were all sorts of tech products in the '80s and '90s which were advertised as "credit card-sized" -- but they never mentioned how tall of a stack of cards they were comparing it to!
Comment about Twin Cam is bit cruel and unnecessary.
Good to see you back, Matt. New Patron here. I thought it's the very least I could do after all these years of watching you.
Thanks for joining, you’ll find quite a few extras here too.
Considering this was released in the 80s, these probably were on the literal cutting edge of coke consumption at least a few times
Welcome back! Really enjoyed the video, it made me remember about some headphones that had a built in radio and telescopic aerial in the 80s which i'd completely forgotten about. So glad you're on the mend, but don't be tempted to overdo things!
Welcome home!
Were these intended to actually fit in wallets etc? Not everyone even had a credit or bank card, so it definitely felt 'new' at the time, but a lot of wallets or purses had spaces for cards... I bet it would have fitted in the slots in my dads wallet. And obviously - great to see you back!
When these came out two signs of a successful "Yuppie" were a bulging Filofax full of charge cards and business cards. Of course the most Yuppieish item of all, a mobile phone the size of a brick was only attainable by the most successful Yuppies.
Great to see you back doing what you love. Sending all the best to you and your lady wife. Oh! And don’t forget to fuss the cat form us.
Great video for your return, Mat! When I first started watching, I was reminded of a similar radio my boss in 1984 showed off. It was stereo, and the earbud connector slid onto the card. I found it was the Sony FM Card Walkman. See an example here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1221116317/vintage-sony-fm-card-walkman-radio-srf?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
Looks like that one is rechargeable too, so definitely one to avoid now unfortunately.
If it's not working, get that bugger prised open.
Wonderful to see you back! Looks like you lost some weight. Sorry about how you lost it but it does become you. Hope you're feeling loads better! BTW: The hallmark virus that affects taste is COV!D. Ivermectin has been shown to be effective.
Ivermectin 'treats infections caused by roundworms, threadworms, and other parasites' and not COVID. Paxlovid is proven to be effective in lessening the effects of COVID. Just saying... 😁
Great video!
Great video and great to have you back in action! The intro about tech shopping in the 80s is so true. Back then, I could happily spend an afternoon seeing what weird new stuff might be on the shelves. Today that variety has all but disappeared, replaced with little shiny black rectangles that all do basically the same thing.
Great to see you back at it and sounding much better, Matt. I remember these, but could never afford one at the time.
Actually, it IS one of your best videos ever, because after your unusually long absence, it is a genuine delight and pleasure, not to mention relief, to see you back here! Good video too. I remember buying a Sony card radios for a girlfriend back in the 1980s. She eventually dumped me - but kept the radio...
Whoohoo, the reappearance of the techmoan Time Machine, a great way to get back into the videos after a short hiatus. Great to see you back on the mend Mat, god speed for a speedy recovery.
I think it would be better to keep the intro, or at least move the information about your absence into a pinned comment, because most people probably won't read the video description.
I’ll pin it, the only downside to that is that a lot of people will respond to the pinned comment with unrelated comments rather than posting them separately. If enough do this it makes the comments unviewable on some platforms.
So glad you back upright and taking nourishment! Great video, never saw these back in the day.
"..swapped out .. to a bit of s." 😉
Good spot
it's great to see you back and better.
Yeehaw! Glad you are doing better.
Used to love the electronics section in Boots, they always had quirky stuff in there, got one of those On Air microphone radios they did in the loft somewhere. Great to see you back Matt and see the good old BNIB time machine again 😊
great video. Wonderful to see you back!
Great to see you back Matt!
Great video as usual. I had a Casio card sized calculator as a lad in about 1985 but didn't remember the radio versions.
Very enjoyable and nostalgic video as I bought exactly the same card radio. I did however buy mine from WHSmith and didn't get it as cheap as yours. Guess I should have gone to Boots! I do still have my original RD-10 but haven't tried to use it for many years. I do remember WHSmith had two small personal radios on the shelf behind the counter at the time, the Casio RD-10 card radio I bought and a small solar radio. I have been trying to find the make and model of the solar radio I didn't buy for years without success.
Please don't change the video but I had to laugh when you said you were getting the time machine out. You came across as some kind of lunatic, it's a combination of your voice and your appearance, I genuinely felt you truly believed you had a time machine. I know it's appeared in a few videos so i know of it but I was thinking "Nurse, he's out of bed again!". This is all in good humour though, I hope you recover fully. Maybe in six months when you are fit, well and have forgotten about how ill you were you can look back and see what I mean.
Glad you are on the mend to make videos again. Have missed you.
Great video. Fascinating. Rechargeable batteries on all devices are going to fail at some point- they build the devices now so they can't be replaced on purpose because they like repeat custom. That's why I found an mp3 player that used an AA battery recently- more future proof than all the modern stuff. Just incase they send the update that renders all smart tech even more dumb than it is- compatible issues etc. One update in theory could render all -connected to the internet TV's and phones etc - duds and so it's good practice to go old skool back in the day stuff- CD players are probably the most future proof ironically if you can source replacement belts.
Which mp3 did you get?
My favourite kind of Techmoan video: something from a time that I remember that I didn't own. I'd actually completely forgotten about these things. Interesting observation about the erratic quality of button batteries. My car was new in 2015. The original battery in the key lasted for about seven years but I've had a couple of replacements since. Was it my imagination or was Mat's voice steadier near the end of the video?
I was thinking that.
Welcome back from the brink! We enjoy your videos. — Bob in Bellingham
Great to see you back. I had the RD-10 FM Radio back in the day. It stopped working in the early 2000s,, but for some reason I kept it in a junk drawer. I threw it out only a few years ago. Thanks for the memories.
Really glad to see you back and creating again! No doubt the past few weeks have been tough, so it’s reassuring to see you finding your way back to form. I’m sure you’ll pace yourself - but hey, who am I to say? You do you! I would’ve loved to have something like that as a kid, though more for the novelty of the credit card form factor than any real practicality. I guess it was all about showing off, like a statement of what was technically possible at the time. That said, the device has held up surprisingly well. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been shocked if the battery compartment had just snapped from old, brittle plastic.
You missed a trick with the calculator. You should have entered 5318008 ;-) Good to have you feeling better.
0.1134 is another classic
Great video! Glad to see you back. I hope you continue along your path to good health! You mentioned the button-battery problem. Some are DOA right out of the box. That has been my experience, as well. I have several devices using 2032s (Tile Trackers, keyfobs for 4 cars, etc.). Several months ago, I bought the geekiest of items - a digital battery tester. The old analog one with the needle, I was told, could discharge button batteries just by using it. The digital version apparently not. I was not wild about spending $20 on such a device from Amazon but I also was annoyed with not knowing the cause of early failures in items like Tiles. So, I bit the bullet and bought one. I confess. It works great. And, I test each battery before I load it into a device where it is troublesome to replace the battery. So far, this has worked well. The bottom line is that the battery tester was worth $20 to be used to test batteries BEFORE installation rather than afterward (which was my original intention). I assumed (mistakenly) that a battery from a package and within the date range would be fresh. I found too often that is not the case. Thanks, again, for the trip down memory lane!
With battery testers you actually need one that puts a load on the battery. For the standard size cells I still use one with a meter I bought from Tandy in the 1980s.
Loved this, I was born in 1980 so I have similar memories of consumer electronics, used to spend hours poring over the latest Argos catalogues at the various electronics! Those card radios are lovely little things, I don't remember the "proper" models but it did remind me of this freebie I treasured after collecting Quaker tokens, I'd listen to it in bed aged 9 - AM only but I enjoyed Atlantic 252 :-) https://cerealoffers.com/Quaker_Ltd/Harvest_Bars/Harvest_Crunch_Cereal_Bars_Rad/harvest_crunch_cereal_bars_radio.html
Oooh, there's one on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256860904868
Back in the early 80s, on my first work trip to the NEC in Birmingham, I came back with a giveaway credit card sized solar powered calculator, no radio, though. But I did keep it in my wallet for many years until it finally died. It's good to have you back!
When we went to Japan in 2006 they were selling those Card Radios in the Sony Centre in Ginza (the famous one which they demolished to make room for all the anticipated Olympic crowds). There are about four different pictures available. In U.K. currency they were about £40 which seemed expensive as a novelty but I did get one later on eBay. p.s Regarding credit card calculators you could do an entire video on the competition between Casio and Sharp to produce the first calculator meeting the ISO credit card dimensions. Not just in height and width but in thickness which is 0.84mm maximum.
Great! Thanks for the video! I'm really glad you're doing better. it might be worth cutting out or replacing the gambling ad played by the Sony radio with something else though.
That’s what was on the radio…but I’ll swap it out if it offends.
Great to have you back. I also remember the excitement of going into Dixons on a weekend. Got my first portable cd/cassette player there, in around 1986. It was a time of marvel
Agreed, great to have you back 👍
Found a few options: https://www.ebay.com/itm/286124084178 https://www.ebay.com/itm/256826139054 https://www.ebay.com/itm/235910968407 (a bit chunky)
Now we're talking! 🥴 https://www.ebay.com/itm/226254173025
What Mat said at about 3:25 really struck a chord: I used to visit Tottenham Court Road in about 2008/9 and there were still a couple of electronics shops there that were like Aladdin's Caves: piled high with random boxes, you'd always be able to do a deal, really knowledgeable staff. Now the place is just full of the same phone shops repeated every other shop 😞
Anyone else remember "New Computer Express" magazine ? It was published fortnightly because the computer market was changing so rapidly in the 1980s. Another fun thing was going in John Lewis and finding a £700 computer (Texas TI99-4A) discounted down to £60 just a couple of years after launch.
Good to see you're getting better.
hurrah! Good to see you back in the saddle!
As a kid in the 80s those radios would’ve been ‘the bees knees’
Nice video. Not sure you needed to explain your situtation to even that extent in the beginning, but something had to be there for sure.
I’ll see if there’s any way I can snip it down a tad.
Back for good this time! 😃 Also cool that you can show us an example of a nifty little gadget from the 80s that you actually had back then--plus 3 more bonus gadgets.
Awesome, well-designed and -edited video, and very cool little piece of tech! Back with a vengeance!
Again, looking and sounding much better than the previous video! But still a funny voice and a bit shaky I noticed... Take it easy! There was something with that form factor, a bit later, in the early 1990s, I had a pocket computer called the Brainbox, also the same size. As a kid, you got it for free when opening an account at the Dutch Postbank. I'm wondering about the antenna in those radios, but guess that the fact an AM radio needs a larger antenna that that's the reason why the AM versions were thicker.
Good to see you back. I'd totally forgotten about card radios!
Hah - I had a card sized pocket organizer, which really just stored phone numbers and names. I think it had 2K or something of storage. I had forgot about it until I saw the calculator..!
I had one of those. Those were cool!
It's awesome to see you back, but I agree please take it easy and don't feel like you have to rush back into things. I loved this vide, I had one of the Casio radios back in the day too and so it was a nostalgia trip for me.
Good to see you back on your feet again. I hope everything is going back to normal soon.
Great to see a video from you Mat Really enjoyed the video very interesting. I would love to have one of them. Great to see you getting stronger. 🙂👍
✓ Time Machine ✓ Peel Music X2 ✓ Pink Floyd "Money" ✓ Miniatures It's everything I could have hoped for. 😀 There are many more versions of these card radios than I originally thought. The video is well done, interesting, and your story about your school days is a nice touch. I can now imagine you with your secret agent ear bud: https://ibb.co/QjPs02bR It's nice to see a new video, although I'm sure it was energy-draining. Please take care 🤍
Yeah Grace I'm gonna need you to go ahead and alert me when you see one of these for a reasonable price on eBay. Haha. A lot of my best internet purchases have come from weird stuff you find there.
I popped onto eBay to see if I could pick that Sony up for under $70. I don't even see the damn thing. There are a few variations but they cost a lot. And, as much as I now want a card radio, ultimately I can pick up a tiny radio nowadays for $10 so I won't. This is a great video. I was glad to keep seeing more variations! Regarding growing up in the 80s being a great time for tech, I think growing up in the 90s was a great time. I got all the cool shit from the previous decades for free because it wasn't cool anymore. The 90s, unless you were looking at video camcorders or PCs, was to me a pretty boring time period. It was mostly refinements of the stuff in the 80s that succeeded. So I got all the cast off crap _for free_. I don't remember the 80s, I was barely conscious then, but I like to think I got a fair experience of the technology cause my parents were cheap in the 90s. Lol. I also got a fair dose of the 70s, because that's what the 80s were like if you were poor, presumably. Then in the early 2000s everything went digital and we had a 1980s like explosion of tech which settled down by 2014. Mat do you remember the flip video cameras? Those changed the WORLD. And they were gone as quick as HDDVD. So I like to think being a kid in the 90s got me the 80s tech for free and having money in the 2000s when everything was going MP3 and digital video and JPG was the absolute best possible way to do it. I got a digital camera in 2002 that took compact flash cards that could hold so many photos (finally!) and I thought I was so cool that I could take hundreds of pictures unlike those losers stuck with smart media or the floppy cameras. I had a pocket PC that played videos and MP3s and shit. Man that was awesome as a young adult.
And another thing! You know what? Kids today won't get that rush of consumer electronics. Even video games last forever now. Minecraft is like 15 years old and it's the SAME GAME. Not even like Minecraft 2. It's the same game! They get on their Xbox or whatever and just launch the same game for 10 years. All phones are black slabs. They all do the same stuff (some do flippy things which is cool though). It's all refinement now. Very little new is really being released. They're all refining things from 2014. I guess cars? IDK vapes? There must be something they're into like I was into the latest electronics but I can't imagine what it is
As others have said, great to see you again - and a first class video as well.
Hurray, it's great to have you back Mr Moan. I'm really pleased that you're getting better and to have a new video. This brought back memories of something I'd totally forgotten. It was a credit card sized calculator but it told the time and had alarms and stuff, but most importantly, you could play music on it*, which appealed to me greatly. At the time these electronic toys were really big. Well, really small but very popular. (And as you said, a nice gadget would make you popular!) * as in play it like a little electronic organ with the number keys.
Good to see you getting closer to recovery Mat
This is a wonderful piece of kit; thank you for sharing.
Just glad you are better. 👍
Great to see you back, but please try to take it easy until you're 100%. Tho I do understand being out of the game can make one a little stir crazy. Cheers!
So great to have you back! Cheers to your continued recovery.
Great to see you back!
Fantastic, looking forward to watching this later. Regards
Oh it’s very good to hear from you! I hope you continue to feel better!
So good to see you back and to know you are recovering. 🙂
🎉
Good to see you back Mat, but please don't push yourself and your health to get more videos out. We can help support you whilst you recover and get back firing on all cylinders!
Great news, welcome back !
I haven't watched yet but it's great to see you back.
Glad to have you back.
Glad to hear it Mat, wishing you all the best!
Good to have you back