Are Clock Radios A Disappearing Commodity?

     I have always enjoyed having a clock radio beside my bed.   I liked the convenience of being able to just reach over and click a button to turn on the radio, so I could listen to the news or other CBC talk shows as I lay there.  I rarely used my clock radio to wake me up, but I usually turned it on immediately after I had shaken the slumber out of my head.  

    The clock radio also had a function that allowed me to press a button which turned on the radio and it radio would play for 45 minutes or so, then turn itself off.  I often used this utility when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t go back to sleep.  I just let the talk on the radio lull me back to slumberland and turn itself off.

    A few weeks ago the CBC station I always listen to on my clock radio started to be filled with static.  At one point I tried to call CBC to tell them that their transmitter in McBride was having problems.  It was probably a good thing that the old CBC phone number I had written in the back of our phone book, no longer got me to the place I wanted to go and I gave up trying, because shortly after that, I realized that it wasn’t the CBC station that was failing, but my old clock radio.

    The loss of my clock radio really impacted my normal daily (and nightly) habits.  I made it the aim of my next trip to McBride to go to the hardware store and buy a new clock radio.  I was totally dismayed when I did go to the hardware store to discover that they had no clock radios.  They had a lot of bedside clocks, but not one clock radio.  The hardware store in McBride was the only place locally that might have had one, so I was forced to do without for a couple of weeks, until the next trip up to Prince George for a dental appointment.

    When I did go up to Prince George, I went to London Drugs, a big drugstore that sold all kind of small appliances and computers, and other non-pharmaceuticals.   I was shocked to discover they also had no clock radios.  I was beginning to experience a low-level panic, not knowing where else to try.   Luckily in the next place I stopped (Best Buys), they did have have two types of clock radios.  I bought the one with a wireless charging feature, allowing you to charge your phone by laying it on top of the radio.

    A couple of days ago, I told my sister who lives down in the States, about my troubles in finding a new clock radio, and she said she was recently in a Target store and a guy came up to her and told her he had been looking for a clock radio in several stores and couldn’t find any.  I guess Target didn’t have any either. 

    It sure began to look like clock radios are a disappearing commodity.   I guess it is the advent of the mobile phone that is killing the clock radio market.  I guess if it is more convenient for people to use function on their phones and that is what they like to do, that’s okay, but my old fashion mind still likes using a clock radio. 

    

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