I ordered one of these right here on Amazon back in Jan 2004, my specimen was probably manufactured in 2003. I should use it more than I have, but it still works very well. Of all my other radios, only the old Panasonic "all-chrome"  model(RF-1600?) can shade it on AM, and the difference is *very* small, at best. On FM, the extra long whip antenna really helps here in the semi-sticks, and it does very well, if not quite up to my little Grundig G8 with DSP. Sound from the big speaker is excellent. Recently I've begun using it late on Sat nights to listen to 1120 AM from St. Louis- a long way from NE Texas! Fades in/out a bit less than my best smaller radios on that. Mine even has a fairly accurate tuning scale- tunes 650 WSM with the needle centered on the "6" of "650", 1200 WOAI with needle on the "2" of "1200"- certainly too close to try & modify. Battery life is looong, too- manual states about 400 hrs on 6 alkaline D-cells. Want to use AC instead? Power cord & transformer are built-in, no wall wart to get lost.