The Radio

Bio
The Castaways Radio was a Packard Bell model 8RT2 AM radio (similar to the Aiwa AR-851) which remained their only source of contact with civilization, providing news on current events, weather reports and entertainment programs for their amusement. Its ownership is a bit in question; in most episodes, it seems to be the property of the Skipper loaned out to the respective castaways, but in one occasion, Mr. Howell claims it belongs to him. Once swallowed by a fish after Gilligan tosses it into the surf, the batteries in the radio soon wear out after several months but the Skipper produces rechargeable batteries that allow it to be recharged into perpetuity for as long as the Professor can keep fixing it, usually from Gilligan knocking it off the table. However, it is revealed that it finally does give out sometime before the castaways are rescued.

Among the news the Castaways receive on the radio is:
 * Alice McNeil is traveling around the world in the "Vagabond Lady"
 * Wrongway Feldman has returned to civilization
 * the Navy sends out a destroyer in search of castaways
 * Howell Industries has struck oil in Dust Bowl, Oklahoma
 * the Navy sends out a boat to rescue people seen on an island
 * the US Air Force will be testing a missile in the area
 * the US Air Force has picked up a strange boy in a balloon
 * Duke Williams has made it home
 * the US Navy will be holding maneuvers off shore
 * Ginger's roommate has won a beauty contest
 * President Rodriguez has been re-exiled to the Andes Mountains
 * NASA reports finding proof of life on Mars
 * the winning numbers of the Argentinian sweepstakes are announced
 * the Argentinian sweepstakes announces the winner of its sweepstakes
 * a strange film has won first place at the Cannes Film Festival
 * Howell Industries is broke
 * corrected previous news report to Powell Industries
 * Erika Tiffany Smith can't find the Island again
 * Horace Higgenbotham has eloped with Sybil Wentworth
 * the robot's recordings are scrambled by a mysterious rabbit's foot
 * the US Navy will have destroyers in the area
 * an impostor is spending Mr. Howell's money
 * the impostor has been found floating in the ocean
 * Buckley Norris is a fraud
 * correction about Buckley Norris
 * Lord Beasley Waterford is off to Antarctica in search of another butterfly
 * the Maritime Board has found the Skipper at fault, reversing their findings later
 * Jonathan Kincaid has been committed after a nervous break-down
 * NASA will be testing an orbiting spacecraft over the island
 * the US Air Force will be searching for a lost jet pack off shore

Trivia

 * Some promotional shots show the Castaways posing with another radio, a Magnavox Celestial Model FM-97.
 * The Castaways radio was a single AM band radio, which makes it impossible for them to receive any FM station signals.
 * The handle and antenna on the radio are not actually part of the radio; they were added by the prop department.
 * In Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the Professor reveals the radio stopped working ten years before, which would be two years after the series ended.
 * In the The New Adventures of Gilligan series, the Castaways are shown with access to another radio. Although the animated episodes are not considered in canon with the series, these episodes could be placed in the two years before the loss of the radio.

Episode(s)

 * Agonized Labor
 * Beauty Is as Beauty Does
 * Castaways Pictures Presents
 * Court-Martial
 * Erika Tiffany Smith to the Rescue
 * Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk
 * Forget Me Not
 * Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy
 * Gilligan's Living Doll
 * Goodnight Sweet Skipper
 * Hi-Fi Gilligan
 * The Hunter
 * It's a Bird, It's a Plane. It's Gilligan
 * The Little Dictator
 * Mr. and Mrs. ???
 * The Postman Cometh
 * Rescue from Gilligan's Island
 * Ship Ahoax
 * Smile, You're on Mars Camera
 * Splashdown
 * The Sweepstakes
 * Three Million Dollars More or Less
 * Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?
 * Wrongway Feldman
 * X Marks the Spot