Username: @retro_crusty

Item Name: CHIROL Character Radio (Manufactured circa 1927)

Estimated Production Date: 1927

This radio was given to me by a friend who runs a small repair shop. They found it in a pile of old electronics they were about to scrap. At first, it looked like just another antique wooden radio, but once they cleaned it up and got it working, they noticed the character on the front — it's CHIROL. My friend managed to fix the tuner and power it up again. It doesn’t pick up much, but it works. Honestly, it feels kind of amazing to have a piece of history like this working again, even if it’s just static most of the time.

This item is a 1927 CHIROL character radio, an early example of character-themed household appliances tied to B&C Studio’s merchandising efforts. While the design is simple — a wooden frame with CHIROL’s figure embossed onto a cloth speaker grille — it reflects the studio’s attempt to integrate their characters into everyday items, capitalizing on their rising popularity at the time.

The depiction of CHIROL here is consistent with his earliest design era: a rubber hose-limbed canine with exaggerated smile and waving pose, typical of 1920s mascot aesthetics. Interestingly, the radio itself shows signs of having been assembled by a smaller third-party workshop rather than a large-scale manufacturer, which aligns with known distribution practices of the studio during that period.

Despite the evident aging — visible through the wood’s wear and the fading of the speaker cloth — the fact that the internal components were repairable is noteworthy. The contributor's success in restoring basic functionality (even if limited to static) makes this an exceptionally rare surviving piece. Most of these character radios were cheaply made for promotional purposes and seldom survived into the present day in working condition.

Items like this offer a tangible connection to how animated mascots were marketed not just as entertainment icons but as integrated parts of daily life.