About “ŠILELIS”
“Šilelis” television sets were produced at Kaunas Radio Factory (known as Banga from 1980) both in Lithuanian SSR and independent Lithuania.
Kaunas Radio Factory aimed at developing a unique product to build its ‘image’. It seemed impossible with radios because of a very strong competition in the neighbouring capitals – Riga and Tallinn. The decision was made to build unusual and small television sets that had no analogies in the soviet market.
The design of the first 16 cm screen television sets was developed by the artists of Kaunas Arts Workshop. The later versions of 32 cm screen television set frames were manufactured from brightly coloured plastic (yellow, red or green). This design seemed to be modern even forty years later. Small television sets also served as monitors for the first household computers.
As “Šilelis” television sets were sensitive to weak television signals, the reception of television signals from Poland and sometimes even Sweden was possible in Lithuania. Other television sets could not receive the said signals under similar conditions. It was yet another and perhaps the main reason for their popularity.
The first portable “Šilelis” television sets cost approximately 160 roubles (a size of an average monthly salary). This was a deficit commodity, not easily available even for the workers of the factory, producing them.
“Šilelis”, exported to foreign countries, was labelled as “Schiljalis”. It is said that “Banga” exported its goods to 22 foreign countries – both socialist and capitalist.
In 1976 the coloured version of “Šilelis” 401D, marked as S-401D, won even two golden medals at Zagreb and Leipzig fairs. A Lithuanian-designed television set had beaten such world-leading companies as Sony and Hitachi.
The production stopped in 1995 when “Banga” went bankrupt.
