TOSHIBA 8TM-294 ‘CHECKERBOARD’
«Smart… finest taste are the best descriptive words for this elegant radio. It’s remarkable beauty is paralleled by its superior quality performance».
The above quote was taken from the original Toshiba sales brochure for this radio (see below)
This horizontal Toshiba 8TM-294 was manufactured by Toshiba in Japan in 1959. It features a unique ‘checkerboard’ style speaker grill with sparkling blue grill cloth beneath it. Time has taken its toll on this example and the grill cloth is rather faded. It has an under-painted slide rule tuning dial visible from the front and top with a sharp red station selector. The tuner and volume dials are located at either end of the cabinet. Toshiba is marked on the front in gold script beneath the tuning dial. It has a beautiful red and gold Toshiba cloisonne badge in the center of the speaker grill. The cabinet is a two tone gray tinged with gold and dark blue. The back of the radio is marked ‘8TM-294, Transistor 8, Toshiba, Japan’ and ‘Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd’.
It’s a fine looking radio!
This radio can be found with two model numbers, 8TM-294 and 8TM-294B. I believe the 8TM-294B was manufactured in 1960, a year after the 8TM-294. They look almost identical in appearance but I’ve noted that on the later model there is a small slot cut into the cabinet on the right hand side about half way down. I have seen several of these radios with the same slot but I’m not sure what purpose it serves.
I have seen this radio with ‘Toshiba’ marked on the front in black script on a light gray cabinet as opposed to the gold script and darker gray cabinet on this example.
Although the styling is suggestive of a twin band radio the 8TM-294 operates on the broadcast band only. It measures 3.5″ H x 6.25″ W x 1.75″ D.
The following ad was taken from a December edition of Life Magazine. Toshiba claims this is the worlds smallest, most well designed radio! Ha ha they were having a laugh of course…
Following is a Toshiba sales brochure dated 1959/60. Note the different badge in the center of the speaker grill.
The date code in the serial number reveals a manufacturing date of November 1959. The actual serial number is 06134.
