rckchp ) writes:
I want to record an after midnight radio progran for later daytime
playback.... need a small radio with a built in casette recorder with
a built in on/off timer function....any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Cassette recorders are getting scarce. Even in their prime, it was
rare to find a good shortwave receiver with a built in cassette recorder
(in case that is your question). But now few are interested in cassettes,
so they are disappearing.

You get more luck if you don't need a single unit. You can always get
a cassette deck at a garage sale for a few dollars, and hook that up
(if some garage sale boombox doesn't suffice). Of course, the timer
complicates things.

You should maybe widen your search. People have had success using
VCRs to record audio (they obviously give hours and hours of recording
time, if set right). So long as the radio doesn't have to change
frequency, you can just leave it on, and with the audio feeding the
VCR's audio input jacks (some VCRs require a video signal, that
you'll have to do something about, in order to record audio), and
set the VCR's timer to go off at the right time.

Except that it doesn't have a line-in, lots of MP3 players now have
some sort of recording ability, off the built in microphone. Again,
that doesn't deal with the timer, but that sort of thing seems to
be taking over when recording is needed.

I suspect many at this point use their computers to record audio. Again,
if the radio is being left on a single frequency, just leave it on and
feed the audio into the computer's soundcard. Then get the computer
to start recording at the specified time. At least some operating
systems have that capability.

Michael