I have one and I like it Sony clock radio. I didn't realize I paid that much for it, but oh well. It has a small footprint and does what I need. I don't listen to the radio or sound effects to go to sleep, but that's all available. I like that when the radio comes on as an alarm, it starts quietly rather than giving you a heart attack at full volume.

And would believe I only this very minute realized there's a USB port on the side and I don't have to charge my watch anymore in the bathroom. Why did I not realize this?!!

DH has one on his side of the bed. But neither one of us use it as an alarm. We use our phones. I have digital clocks in the guest rooms, but not radios.

If you shop Amazon, there are many that are quite reasonable that also serve as USBs.

No radio but I have a Cubiewink alarm clock with USB ports - bought it after using one in a couple of hotels.

I bought two light-up alarm clocks (with radio and a selection of alarm sounds), one for me and one for my daughter. I don't use it during the summer, but it's getting to the time of year when I have trouble prying myself out of bed in the morning. The light is a gentle way to wake up.

This is the clock radio that I have. I bought it fairly recently and moved my old clock radio to the living room, next to the cable box, so that I can always see what time it is there, even when the TV is turned off.

I turn my phone off at night, to save the battery and not be bothered, but I do use it as an alarm clock when I am away from home. I am thinking of buying another clock radio for the house in Cathedral City so that I won't have to use my phone there.

I have 1 that might be older than yours. I like the radio alarm. None of the alarms on my phone wake me up! I don't think it's a bad thing to have one in a guest room. You never know if someone might appreciate it.

I do and I love it. It is very old. I can see the numbers from across the room and best of all, it talks. When I set the time or the alarm it tells me what I’ve set it for — what time and music or alarm. Right now it is not in my room since I cleared out to have the floors refinished. I haven’t moved it back yet and I miss it.

I have an Echo Dot. It takes up very little room and works as an alarm clock and music/podcast source. The only negative is that it doesn't work in a power or Internet outage.

Yes, we have one and use it for its alarm. We never listen to the radio part of it.

I have to laugh. Ours is over 30 years old. DH had it when I met him. It is slowly losing the ability to be accurate, but DH is attached to it. He just adjusts it. He is such a high tech guy, so it continues to surprise me that he is hanging on to this dinosaur.

If we really have to be awake, DH will also set his phone.

I will be interested to see what others recommend.

Funny mine is probably up there in age as well. I think DH has used it in the past (pre cell phones?) as an alarm. I am a super early riser naturally so am not even sure how to use the alarm. I use it as a clock AND as a radio. I don't have a tv in my bedroom - or upstairs at all for that matter and I do like to listen to the news/weather/music when I am doing some housework upstairs. It occurred to me that although it works I might think about a 21st century replacement as well and the charging stations make sense. Then again, technology will probably change and we will be wondering how we managed with all those devices that needed to be plugged in for a charge! I am surprised that many of the clock radios do not seem to have AM only FM.

I can so relate to the term dinosaur.

I have a CD clock radio. It used to be on my nightstand and I’d use it for an alarm (the buzzer, not music). Son’s ago, I did use the CD player to listen to music while folding laundry, etc but haven’t used that in years. We used to have a small digital clock on the DVR we used with the tv across from our bed but we got rid of that a couple of years ago. I realized I really missed being able to easily see the time if I woke up in middle of night (clock radio on nightstand wasn’t easily visible without lots of shifting in the bed). I moved the clock to the dresser across the room where we can both see it and now I use the alarm on my iPad and/or phone. On rare occasion I turn radio on when I’m in my room, but not usually in there long enough to remember to turn it on.

I don’t have one in my room anymore. I put one in my guest space. It has a USB port on the front, which is the main reason I got it as the outlet is really hard to get to. I thought the alarm clock was more attractive than a power strip on the nightstand.

I have one that turns on NPR every morning at 6:30. I have a long history with clock radios. I got this one because the old one had absolutely terrible sound. But this one doesn't have battery backup so I have to reset it after every power glitch, which is a bummer. I considered a smart speaker briefly, but rejected it for two (or three reasons). One, I like to look at the clock if I wake in the middle of the night, and that isn't an option. I'm not going to ask Alexa at 2 AM, sorry. And I leave the radio on for hours, and the Alexa or whatever can't seem to display time continuously when radio is on.

I looked recently at units on Amazon, because I would like a battery backup, but they are all no name, and I suspect the sound may not be good.

We do not allow cell phones in the bedroom at night, unless there are extenuating circumstances, like awaiting a special call.

I have one, also a dinosaur. I use my phone for an alarm when I need it which is infrequent but I do use the radio. I listen to NPR during the day so if I'm home, cleaning or folding laundry in the bedroom the radio is on. I also like to see the time if I wake during the night without reaching for my phone. Mine has a dimmer but I'd like it to be significantly more dim (and smaller display) so I'm taking a look at the products mentioned here.

BTW, mine has a 'brain' that automatically adjusts for time change 2x/year. Problem is it was programmed to the OLD dates so I end up changing it back for 2 weeks then adjusting to the new dates so ultimately have to change time 4x/year!

I worked with my now ex-boss on developing about 12-15 small decorative alarm clocks that were meant to go on night stands, but they never got made because we did not have a supplier who could make them for a good price. They were mostly wood or veneer, relatively small, and very interesting shapes. I think they would have sold if we could have gotten them made. They looked like little jewels, and I made cardboard models of about half of them.

Some people at work said that people do not use alarm clocks any more, but evidently they do. I guess we would have needed to put little radios in them as well, however.

I have one of the iHome clock radios. This one was bought when Apple switched to lightning cables in place of the old connector. It has 8 levels of dimness and none of them are right for me. It is also unnecessarily complicated to set an alarm. It was designed primarily to work through a phone app, which theoretically makes it easy, but it’s not convenient. It can be set manually bit it’s a PITN. and then the lightning connector port died and so I have to charge my iPad or iPhone through the USB port on the back of the radio. On the other hand I have an old GE clock radio telephone bought around 1984 which is easy to use and works perfectly..of course I can’t charge my devices.

I've had a clock radio next to my bed since I was a school kid and am now in my mid-fifties lol. I like the clock in the middle of the night, I like waking up to the radio rather than an alarm, and I'm a devoted radio listener (for the past 25 years, CBC in Canada). We also have a radio by the kitchen and living room which is one most of the day when we're in the house (we farm), and my husband and I also have the radio on in the truck, while our kids just hook up their phones...

My old clock radio died a few years after several decades of good service, I think it was a Panasonic, and I replaced it with a Sangean which I like very much,

https://www.amazon.com/Sangean-RCR-5-Digital-Clock-Radio/dp/B0016CWV3U

I still have a clock radio. I upgraded from an ancient Sony to a snazzy Yamaha with some cool features (starts playing the radio softly a few minutes before the alarm time) and connectivity. I used to love waking up to he Morning Edition theme :-(

Becky Sharp, that's the one I now have. No battery backup, so I have to reset everything except the alarm time when the power goes off. PITA. I have another Sangean in the kitchen that's supposed to set by atomic clock, had it maybe 10 years. The clock no longer sets automatically and you can't set it manually. Both, however, do have good quality sound.

Yes, DH uses one, also tuned to NPR! We will set the phones as backup. Of course, we have cat alarm clock every morning.

You all gave me an idea of something I can buy for my husband. We have an ancient digital alarm clock with the digits only partially showing. I think I want a battery backup one with usb. Lars, two bad I couldn’t purchase one of yours, I want something nice looking.

If anyone comes across a cool looking one please post it.

Nope. I ditched mine a couple of years ago. I have my phone on the bedside table and if I wake up, I can just tap it to see the time. I use it as an alarm when I need one which is a rare occurrence.

All you public radio fans out there ---- it's pledge season. Hope you all support your local NPR station with a pledge, or a sustaining membership!

Here is the Sony Dream Machine clock radio on my night stand.

I like to see the time by simply glancing at the clock.

sushipup, yes, the lack of battery backup is a pain, but the good sound makes up for it! I can reset it pretty quickly now : ) .

I have my clock radio set to KXLU, and I used to wake up to a DJ called President Ford on Friday mornings, but I don't think he's there any more. KXLU is in my neighborhood (Westchester), and so I get good reception, but their broadcast range is not all that far. I could get good reception in Venice and Culver City, however.

I don't remember having a clock radio without battery backup.

As others have said upthread, I use mine solely to see what time it is when I wake up at night.

When I wake up in the middle of the night, for reasons unknown to me I HAVE TO know what time it is. But the less work I need to put into that the better, because the more effort I expend the more awake I become - and then it takes me forever to go back to sleep.

So it's nice for me to just glace at the clock. Often times I can see it without moving a muscle - and then I can usually fall right back to sleep. If I had to prop myself up, grab my phone, push the home button, and then get the blast of light into my retinas I might as well get up and make my morning coffee.

Instead of a battery backup, why not go with a windup alarm clock? I've had many problems with alarm clocks not working due to electrical power/battery failure and I finally just went with a windup. I also like the way they look.

https://www.amazon.com/Peakeep-Stereoscopic-Backlight-Battery-Operated/dp/B00ZQG30AK?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

You can get clocks that project the time onto the ceiling, if you don't want to turn over to tell the time. I think that would keep me awake, however.

@Lars my daughter has one that projects onto the wall and it is really very subtle but you can see it with minimal effort. I quite like that. I am a true dinosaur and like to fall asleep listening to the radio which is on a timer like for 15 or 30 minutes. And yes the one I have could be 20 years old. easily. Half heartedly in the market for a replacement.

I also use a radio/clock/alarm to wake up with, I have it set to the local Rock station because they do weather and traffic every half hour. I don't like it because it's too bright even on the dimmest setting, and have been thinking of getting a new one, so thanks for all the suggestions. And no cell phones in my bedroom, usually it's in the kitchen turned off.

I still use one. It is a Sony, digital display and tuning. One-button for DST change. I thought that I lost it when I came home to a frozen house in March after vacation, but it was fine after it warmed up. I listen primarily to sports radio, local news, and the jazz station out of Newark. I don’t have trouble waking up in the morning, so I only use the alarm in my iPad when I have an extra early flight.

How did this question end up in the Annuals Forum? Just curious.

Oh and pamghatten's post reminded me that my cell phone plays my choice of music from my playlists as an alarm and notifications (calls, texts, whatever) are turned off from 11 pm to 8 am with the exception of ones from my son or daughter-in-law (want them to be able to get through if there is an emergency). Even the dimmest clock radios irritate me and the phone is dark unless I tap it and then it goes black immediately again. I also have much more room on the bedside tables with out even the small clock radios. Win-win for me.

Sounds like an ad....

(ETA: must have been spam, because it's gone now)

Guess the ad is gone now.

I did get a clock radio for my bedroom in Cathedral City, but Palm Springs does not have a good selection of radio stations. I have this one set for NPR (which is in Santa Monica, but they also have a transmitter in Palm Springs), but I would rather have it set to a university station so that I could get alternative music with no commercials. I will not set a clock radio to a commercial station because the last thing I want to wake up to is radio commercials. Sometimes NPR is playing classical music in the morning, and that can put me back to sleep😴

I don't like my new clock radio as much the the previous one, as it apparently does not have battery back-up and California Edison has frequent power outages - on purpose! It is also difficult to turn off when I'm half asleep.

Lars -- I have two (yes two) battery-powered alarm clocks, the battery back-up on my electric alarm clocks don't work to set the alarm off, only work to re-set the clock to the correct time when the power comes back on. I am in no way, shape, or form a morning person, I can barely drag myself out of bed with four (yes four) alarm clocks and am usually running into the office with my dress tail on fire. Two are electric in the bedroom, the two battery powered ones are in the bathroom to make me physically get out of the bed (but they don't stop me from getting back in it...). Anyway, look into the battery-powered ones, they're pretty cheap and take away the worry of the alarm not going off.

Is this in the Annuals Forum because you reset the clock twice annually?

tj