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Does Anyone Recognize This Tee-Shirt?

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Fnord
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22 Dec 2024, 7:08 pm

Does Anyone Recognize This Tee-Shirt?

Image


A bunch of us over on Reddit are trying to track down either its purpose (i.e., Promotional gimmick?  Souvenir?) or its original owner.

We think it may have something to do with pre-1973 Citizens Band Radio, or a character from TV, movies, or anime/manga.

73!



lostonearth35
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23 Dec 2024, 12:33 am

In the 70s there was a US TV crime drama called Kojak. I never saw the show, I was born only around a year after the series started. But I saw references of it in some cartoons and Cracked magazine. It was about a bald-headed detective guy who sucked lollipops instead of smoking because in the 70s people were just starting to become aware of how bad smoking is for you. But I don't know if the t-shirt is related to the show. It does have a very 70s look to it, though.



uncommondenominator
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23 Dec 2024, 12:48 am

According to google, it's a reference to a child-character Kid Kai from the above mentioned Kojak tv series.



old_comedywriter
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23 Dec 2024, 1:36 am

That T-shirt references CB radio. That is a CB radio the picture, and KAI5531 are CB call letters from back when you had to have a CB license. "Kojak Kid" was his "CB handle" - an alias you would go by on the radio. It's only a coincidence that "Cobra" is a brand name of CB radios and "Kai" is the first three letters of his CB license.

Apparently this has been misconstrued over the years in the same way as the "Navajo Moose Pendant" which is actually a Hebrew word "chai."


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23 Dec 2024, 11:12 am

I've had a conference with my bf about this and neither of us know

Sorry man


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Fenn
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23 Dec 2024, 12:05 pm

Don't know about CB radios, but HAM operators often try to keep log of who they are able to contact on the radio. Collecting contacts, trying to contact other HAMs further and further away. Sometimes there are gatherings where they exchange cards with the call signs and frequencies etc. It may have been a shirt custom made by the owner of that CB call sign and nickname, so that at a gathering of CB radio enthusiast people who had never seen him (or her) but did know him (or her) by the info on the shirt could recognize him (or her) on sight.

That is my guess.

I had a friend in college and she knew all the CB numeric lingo like "10-4" and lots of others much less used in movies and tv (etc). I once asked her what her handle was (by which I meant "account name" or "screen name") and she was excited because the thought I might be a CB enthusiast (I wasn't), but for her it was a thing.

More info:

https://www.rightchannelradios.com/page ... bNFvR9LHmV


https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/in ... ball-cards


https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... cial-media


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Fenn
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23 Dec 2024, 12:51 pm

old_comedywriter wrote:
That T-shirt references CB radio. That is a CB radio the picture, and KAI5531 are CB call letters from back when you had to have a CB license. "Kojak Kid" was his "CB handle" - an alias you would go by on the radio. It's only a coincidence that "Cobra" is a brand name of CB radios and "Kai" is the first three letters of his CB license.

Apparently this has been misconstrued over the years in the same way as the "Navajo Moose Pendant" which is actually a Hebrew word "chai."


Do you mean to say that some people think there is a connection to the Netflix / Youtube Red show

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_Kai


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23 Dec 2024, 3:54 pm

I saw one at Value Village years ago.


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