The next time you power up your snazzy in-car entertainment system, consider for a moment this BBC presenter who in 1971 was sent to report on a car-based contraption that back then was at the forefront of innovation.
The BBC recently shared the wonderfully nostalgic segment from Tomorrow’s World, a popular tech show that ran in the U.K. for nearly four decades until 2003.
The piece focuses on the “car radio of the future,” though when you see the device and realize where we are now with audio gear, the “future” in this case appears to extend to about 1975.
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Tackling his task with aplomb, presenter William Woollard praises the innovative in-car radio (well, innovative then) for its compact size that allows it to be placed high on the dashboard. Also notable is the absence of switches and knobs, with touch-sensitive controls allowing you to find stations with a simple tap.
Woollard notes how, with a light press on one of its buttons, the device automatically tunes itself to the strongest signal, eliminating the need to retune while you’re driving along. Just disregard for a moment the small matter of being unable to actually select the station that you want to listen to.
The radio also incorporated technology that allowed for emergency traffic reports and weather warnings to be quickly transmitted to the motorist (so that’s where Waze got the idea from!), automatically turning on the radio to deliver the report if it’s off at the time.
Woollard evidently loves the contraption, commenting, “It hasn’t actually been designed for the hi-fi enthusiast, but when you think about the sort of sound it makes, and the quality of the design, it’ll satisfy even the most dedicated critic.”
He adds: “For the average driver, the most important thing is the quality of listening it gives, and all you have to do is fork out about £100 (about £1,800/$2,340 in today’s money) and you can buy yourself a magic carpet of solid-state music to float you through all those traffic jams.”
It’s not clear what happened to this particular radio of the future.