# How Long Do Presets Stay In Battery Radios **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-presets-stay-in-battery-radios/408638 "2007-06-19T20:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rediff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47774/32.png) [@Rediff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rediff)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-presets-stay-in-battery-radios/408638/1 "2007-06-19T20:44:39Z")
I have two radios one is a Sony walkman and as soon as I remove the batteries to replace them all the presets for the AM / FM tuners go back to the factory defaults. The other day I was cleaning a closet and I came across an old Panasonic walkman that had radio on it and I put batteries in it to see if it still worked. To my surprise ALL the preset stations were still there. Nothing reset and I that Panasonic walkman hadn’t had batteries in it for at least three years? Why the difference? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-presets-stay-in-battery-radios/408638/2 "2007-06-19T20:47:14Z")
One manufacturer chose to store the presets in some form of nonvolatile memory, which does not need a constant supply of power to retain its contents, the other chose volatile memory, which does. Why? Probably cost. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-presets-stay-in-battery-radios/408638/3 "2007-06-19T20:51:42Z")
I was staring at the thread title trying desperately to try and figure out what it was saying. I’ve already fallen behind in techno pop culture. I can’t affiord to lose more ground. OK – a couple of errors in the title. I can deal with that.