Does Anyone Recognize This Tee-Shirt?

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Does Anyone Recognize This Tee-Shirt?

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!

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.

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

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."