Sony ICF-253

I'm a radio broadcast engineer for four FM stations. I needed a handy bedside radio to check my stations after getting paged in the middle of the night. I have my 4 stations on the first presets, plus my favorite NPR station on #5. I bought another brand and it was awful. The tuner wouldn't receive FM stations that I could hear fine on a $10 walkman. This Sony works great. I work 1/2 mile from a 50,000 watt station on 94.9. Most radios have trouble receiving our station on 94.1 with a tower 19 miles away. This Sony does the job nicely without overload problems from the strong 94.9 carrier. The AM section also works very well for a clock radio.

The controls are easy to use. The back-lit LCD display is hard to read from an angle. My night stand is about 6 inches above my head. I need to lift my head up about a foot to read the display. Other than that, it's a great little clock radio.