Alright, I guess I’m going to find something awesome every time I go to Goodwill. Bad for saving money, good for my blog. Even without a blog, I would have bought this thing right quick. A quick trip to the aforementioned Goodwill tonight, with the vague goal of finding a new used book, resulted not only in new reading material, but also this: A Panasonic desktop television, with FM and AM radio, manufactured 29 years ago in Sepetember 1984. Yeah, I couldn’t not grab this thing. There was really no other option but to practically trip over myself running to the checkout counter with it, violently shoving every poor chump without the good sense to step aside out of my way. Needless to say, victory was mine.
(I didn’t really violently shove people out of the way, but should anyone have tried taking my desktop TV thing away from me, they might’ve had a mean sucker punch waitin’ for ’em.)
I’ve found a few TV/radio combo units in my time, including a big ol’ Sony Watchman I think I’ll have to drag out and review soon. I’ve even come across the little handheld units, but I’m thinking this is the coolest one, by far. A lot of that has to do with the fact it’s from the 1980’s, right in the sweet spot, 1984.
The front panel is quite possibly the world’s most-susceptible-to-fingerprints-surface, but nevertheless, this is a sleek lookin’ beast. Works well, too. Majic 105.7 FM comes in clear as day, even without the antenna extended. The clock shows up on the TV screen, both with the TV on or off. It can be slightly dimmed or turned off completely. Expected but helpful.
Since everything’s digital now, naturally I’m not picking up any channels. Now supposedly, since they’re not digital (yet), you can pick up WAOH TV-29/WAX TV-35 with just an old-school antenna, but I know from experience that the signal doesn’t come in around here, not through that method. That’s why I spent the early part of the 2000’s Son Of Ghoul-less (thanks, rabbit ears). Still, you better believe the idea of watching Son Of Ghoul on this thing is coming dangerously close to making me do some kind of bizarre touchdown dance. Let’s wait until I actually make it happen, though. Since there is an external antenna jack, and a couple other methods of inputs, it may actually be possible to hook a digital converter box up to this. I don’t know, because frankly, I have no experience with digital converter boxes. Never had one, never had the need for one.
At first, I was a little confused as to why the TV screen was set so far back into the unit (to be completely honest, upon first glance, I thought someone had actually removed the TV screen entirely, but I soon figured it out; it doesn’t take your Northeast Ohio Video Hunter long to get his bearings). Turns out that there’s a mirror in there, reflecting the clock, basically superimposing it over the TV screen. That may be a sketchy way of describing it, I know, but I did my best to show in the pics how it works. The left picture shows the time and how it’s not actually on the TV screen as you’d first think of it (an obvious necessity, since the TV has to be off to have the radio on, and vice versa, and it’s nice to have the time present during all of that). I tried to show the angular mirror set-up in the right picture. Man this thing is cool.
All the helpful features you’ve come to expect from your clock/radio-type devices are at your finger tips. The mere press of a button turns your Panasonic desktop entertainment system on or off! Revolutionary! In all seriousness, I was a bit surprised it uses this style of on/off buttons, and not the more expected on/off switch.
See, I wasn’t lying! September 1984! Being a name brand and having a built-in television, I would guess this probably cost a few bucks back then. Not saying it was a $1000 set-up or anything, but I doubt it was only $30, either. It’s a very solidly built unit that still works like a charm. I’ve had good luck with Panasonic products in the past, and this continues the trend. Them folks put out some good stuff, yo.
Costing a mere $4, this is my third Goodwill score in just over a week. Gotta be careful, because your Northeast Ohio Video Hunter is many things, but rolling in dough he is not. No matter, because I now have a cool desktop TV/radio, and I love it so, so much.
THE NORTHEAST OHIO VIDEO HUNTER 
I have one of these. What’s. The value?
No idea. I’d guess probably not very much nowadays.