Most head units still include an AM tuner, but eight-track tapes, cassettes, and other technologies have faded into history. Other technologies, such as the compact disc, would also disappear over the next few years. It may seem far-fetched, but the history of car radios is littered with abandoned technology that was once considered state of the art.
1930s: The First Commercial Head Units
Enthusiasts had already been finding creative ways to integrate radios into their cars for over a decade, but the first true car radios weren’t introduced until the 1930s. Motorola offered one of the first, which retailed for around $130—about $$1,800 in today’s money. Keep in mind that this was the era of the Model T, and you could buy an entire car for around two to three times the asking price of Motorola’s first car radio.
1950s: AM Continues to Dominate
Head units dropped in price and increased in quality over the following decades, but they were still only capable of receiving AM broadcasts until the 1950s. That made sense because AM stations held a stranglehold on the market share at that point. Blaupunkt sold the first AM/FM head unit in 1952, but it took a few decades for FM to really catch on. The first on-demand music system also appeared in the 1950s. At that point, we were still almost a decade away from eight tracks, and records were the dominant force in home audio. Record players aren’t exactly the most shock-proof media invented, but that didn’t stop Chrysler from putting one in their cars. Mopar introduced the very first record playing head unit in 1955. It didn’t last long.
1960s: The Car Stereo Is Born
The 1960s saw the introduction of both eight-track tapes and car stereos. Up until that point, all car radios had used a single (mono) audio channel. Some had speakers in both the front and back that could be adjusted separately, but they still only had one channel. Early stereos placed one channel on the front speakers and the other on the rear speakers, but systems that used the modern left and right format appeared soon after. The eight-track format owes a lot to car head units. If it wasn’t for car audio, the entire format probably would have floundered. Ford aggressively pushed the platform, and eventually competing manufacturers picked up the format as well.
1970s: Compact Cassettes Arrive on the Scene
The eight-track’s days were numbered from the start, and the format was rapidly pushed out of the marketplace by the compact cassette. The first cassette head units showed up in the 1970s, outliving its predecessor by many years. The first cassette deck head units were relatively hard on tapes, and Maxell based an ad campaign in the early 1980s on the concept that its tapes were hardy enough to stand up to the abuse. Everyone who ever put a cassette into an in-dash tape deck remembers the sinking feeling associated with the head unit “eating” a precious tape.
1980s: The Compact Disc Fails to Dislodge the Compact Cassette
The first CD head units showed up less than 10 years after the first tape decks, but adoption of the technology was much slower. CD players wouldn’t become ubiquitous in head units until the late 1990s, and the technology coexisted with the compact cassette for more than two decades.
1990s: CD Players Become Dominant
CD players became increasingly popular in head units during the 1990s, and there were a few notable additions toward the tail end of the decade. Head units that were capable of reading CD-RWs and playing MP3 files eventually became available, and DVD functionality also appeared in some high-end vehicles and aftermarket head units.
2000s: Bluetooth and Infotainment Systems
During the first decade of the 21st century, head units gained the ability to interface with phones and other devices via Bluetooth. This technology was developed in 1994, but it was originally intended as a replacement for wired networks. In automotive applications, the technology allowed for hands-free calling and created a situation where a head unit could automatically mute itself during a phone conversation. The accuracy of consumer GPS systems also improved during the first part of the decade, which led to an explosion in both OEM and aftermarket navigation systems. The first infotainment systems also started to appear, and some head units even offered built-in HDD storage. The 2000s also saw the emergence and rising appeal of satellite radio.
2010s: The Death of the Cassette and What Comes Next
2011 marked the first year that manufacturers stopped offering cassette decks in new cars. The last car to roll off the line with an OEM cassette player was a 2010 Lexus SC 430. After about 30 years of service, the format was finally retired to make way for new technologies. The CD player was the next format on the chopping block. Several OEMs stopped offering CD changers after the 2012 model year, and in-dash CD players are beginning to follow suit. So what comes next? Most head units are now capable of playing music from mobile devices and even the cloud, and others can connect to internet services like Pandora. With mobiles devices that can connect to head units via USB or Bluetooth, the phone is beginning to stand in for old physical media. Satellite radio, which saw explosive growth in the early 2000s, also suffered a declining user base throughout the decade.
