How much watts does it take to play a radio?

Answer 1

That pretty much depends on now much audio you want out of it . . . will you be

listening to it on neodymium earbuds or through a pair of theater speakers ?

Like so many other modern miniature electronic devices, the power that radios need

is mainly the power it takes to 'interface' them and make them perceptible to the

human senses.

-- A boy scout crystal radio takes NO watts to operate. All the power it needs

comes straight from the radio transmitter you hear with it.

-- Then there are jogger's radios, that fit in a hole in your tooth, draw maybe

0.015 watt, and run for 6 months on a button cell or a single AAAAA battery.

-- You can also choose a ghetto-blaster boom-box, with enough audio to serve

the DJ at the neighborhood block-party. If it takes 500 watts of audio to keep

the folks in the next town awake all night, then you'll need to supply it with

about 500.1 watts of power, and keep a truck load of batteries handy.