Retro table radio breathes new life with a Pi zero and becomes talkative
A late 1940s DeWald table radio is given a new life by the Instructable user MisterM using a Raspberry Pi Zero, some RGB LEDs, and a pair of PC Speakers. The radio can read out notifications from various internet-connected services using Pyvona, a Python wrapper for Amazon’s IVONA text-to-speech engine along with IF This Then That (IFTTT) integration. The RGB LEDs light the radio’s dial with a different color depending on the keywords detected (Red for the word ‘YouTube’, Orange for ‘Sunset’, etc ) in the notification text.
Pi Zero powered talking radio
Sorting out the audio was little bit challenging because the Pi Zero does not have a 3.5mm audio output. So the author used an inexpensive USB audio adapter along with an external amplifier and speakers. It’s fun to watch the talking radio in action (Video posted below).