C.Crane CC Pocket

AM/FM/NOAA Weather Alert Radio – Updated Feb 2025

Description: The CC Pocket Radio from C.Crane was introduced in 2013 and has recently been updated adding new features and other improvements, including the inclusion of 3 rather than 2 AM bandwidths and is an excellent value at its current Amazon price of $64.99. It’s a Walkman-style radio which means it is primarily designed to be used with the included CC Buds. However, there is also a built-in speaker for utility use which can be very useful and is of particular importance if you use the radio for NOAA Weather Alerts which I’ll describe later. The CC Pocket covers standard AM and FM as well as the 7 NOAA Weather Band frequencies and runs on 2 AA batteries. It competes head-to-head with other top earbud-style radios and takes a back seat to none of them.

According to C.Crane’s website, “We combined ease of use, very good reception and sharp, well defined audio together in this little jewel of a radio. You can listen on the built-in speaker or the included high quality original CC Buds Earphones tuned for superior voice clarity and music. It has five, one touch memory car type buttons for each band and stands upright when needed. Rubber coated sides help with grip. Lock switch to prevent accidental on/off or station change. The Stereo/Mono/Speaker switch allows you to listen to the radio via the built-in speaker while using earphones as an antenna for the FM and NOAA Weather Bands. The CC Pocket has excellent selectivity while providing maximum sensitivity to weak signal”.

There are many features, some very unusual in a pocket radio. Some of these include three AM bandwidths (6, 4 and 2.5 KHz) for increased selectivity when stations are crowded closely together or wider frequency response when signals are not so crowded, along with selectable 1KHz tuning steps which allows fine tuning when necessary. You can also defeat the display in cases where this helps to reduce background noise. You can designate whether the display reverts to time or frequency when listening and you can disable the beep tone if desired. More common features include a battery meter, signal meter, display lighting, 9/10 KHz tuning steps, Weather Alert mode, clock, alarm timers, sleep mode, 55 memories with memory pages, a removable belt clip and an FM Stereo/Mono switch. An antenna wire for FM and Weather Band when not using earbuds is included. There is a sticker inside the battery cover with instructions for several of the initial mode setting options such as 9/10KHz tuning steps, Beep on or off, as well as clock and alarm settings. C. Crane specifies about 75 hours of play time on two AA batteries (not included) with earbuds or 25 hours using the built-in speaker.

Checking It Out: Basic operation is easy and intuitive…only the initial setup such as selecting 9 or 10KHz AM tuning steps require a peek at the sticker in the battery compartment, and some of the unique features will require a look at the Owner’s Manual (always a good idea anyway) until they become second nature to you. For example, to activate the 1KHz fine tuning steps on AM you press memory buttons 1 and 4 simultaneously. Or to select among the three AM filters press buttons 1 and 3 simultaneously. Other less-used functions require specific button presses with power off…considering the number of functions and features packed into this small package I think the user interface is as direct and simple as possible…there are no complex menus and everything happens with one or two button presses which is as simple as it can be.

NOAA Weather with Alert: You can either listen to any of the 7 frequencies available or you can set the radio to alert you when an alert message is issued by the National Weather Service…this alert mode could be a lifesaver in some situations and is one of the times you will want to use the internal speaker. I actually used this feature while working on the original article…we had tornado warnings and the CC Pocket alerted me every time a new message was broadcast and brought them all to me while remaining silent in between. Remember that while in Alert Mode there is a drain on the batteries so keep spares on hand. This is true with any battery-operated radio when using the Weather Alert feature.

Performance: The CC Pocket performs very well for its size and in some ways is singularly superb. I compared it directly against the best earbud-style radios in my collection and the CC Pocket performed flawlessly. AM and FM reception were excellent for this kind of radio…it was as sensitive and selective as any pocket radio I’ve seen. Living at a high elevation in a suburban location I can receive FM signals from a wide area which means just about every frequency has a signal on it so excellent selectivity is important, and the CC Pocket runs with the best in with overall excellent FM performance.

On AM all pocket-sized radios are limited by the small size of their internal ferrite rod AM antennas but again, the CC Pocket is as good as it gets in this category. Additionally, the CC Pocket has the advantage of 3 AM bandwidths and 1 KHz tuning steps so again…if you want to seek out signals which are crowded by interfering neighbors the CC Pocket is excellent. At night with many more strong AM signals on the dial the CC Pocket is phenomenal at separating them.

NOAA Weather performance was excellent as well. In my location there are 5 frequencies active but some are out of my immediate area and therefore quite weak…the CC Pocket received them as well an any NOAA radio I have tested.

Conclusion: I liked the CC Pocket when it was released in 2013 and the latest version has better AM reception, 3 (rather than 2) AM bandwidths and a more reliable electronic volume control. It performs as well as or better than any other pocket portables I have tested…it’s a great little radio!