A shower radio is a

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

-powered

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

that is

waterproof Waterproofing is the process of making an object or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environme ...

ed to allow it to be used in a

bathroom A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically i ...

or other wet environment. More generally, a shower radio is a

shower speaker Wireless speakers are loudspeakers that receive audio signals using radio frequency (RF) waves rather than over audio cables. The two most popular RF frequencies that support audio transmission to wireless loudspeakers include a variation of WiF ...

with an integrated radio functionality. Some versions also include a

CD player A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or aud ...

and/or a

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

. Shower radios generally lack headphone jacks and AC adapter ports, which could short out or electrocute the user. For the same reason, they also tend to lack external antennas. The first mass-produced shower radio was

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed in 1985 by Andrew R. Mark, of

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. The product was marketed by

Salton Inc. Russell Hobbs, Inc. (formerly Salton, Inc.), was an American company based in Florida which manufactured home appliances, most notably the George Foreman grill and Russell Hobbs appliances. In June 2010, Russell Hobbs, Inc. was taken over by ...

under the brand name ''Wet Tunes''. There are varying designs; some are meant to be hung from a pipe or shower rod, while others can be stuck to the wall of the shower using a suction cup or something similar. Shower radios may be analog or digital. More recently, water-poweredWater-powered Radio hits the market
/ref> and wind-up radio designs have been produced to completely remove the requirement for batteries, though smaller capacity rechargeable batteries are used to some extent on hand-crank devices. Shower radios can be paired with FM transmitters since it can allow people who listen to their

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

or similar to be able to enjoy their favorite

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

while protecting their iPod, smartphone or other portable media player in a dry environment not too far from a shower. For this reason, most

portable media player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s aren't water-resistant enough to be used in showers, sometimes FM transmitters can be used with

desktop computer A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...

s and

laptop computer A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

s in a room not too far from the

paired with an FM transmitter, though

bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

serves a somewhat similar purpose for other shower radios that support bluetooth.

References

See also