When I saw the picture of the Kobona 'Portable Radio, Retro Emergency Radio Full Band Plastic Emergency Weather Radio...' I realised that it was a budget Baijiali KK9: a radio with an interesting history.In the 1990s Bell & Howell, from Wheeling, Illinois, USA issued a low priced portable/pocket 9 band world receiver radio. The radio had a clunky method of changing frequencies. AM and FM buttons on the front were initially selected. If AM was selected then a further channel selection had to be made using a slider control on the top of the radio. This enabled listeners to change between AM or one of seven shortwave bands. 30 years or so later, the Baijiali retains this method of changing frequencies.The radio was designed and manufactured in China however Bell & Howell mainly operated within the American market. The radio was reviewed on a number of specialist forums and was generally disliked by American shortwave enthusiasts. An article written in 2011 in 'Monitoring Times' explored early reviews of the Bell & Howell radio with a headline asking whether it was the 'World's Worst Radio Receiver?' (the writer was more sympathetic than the headline suggests.) In the early 2000s the Bell & Howell company stopped trading. With the demise of Bell & Howell, a number of their radios ended up in American thrift stores. Unlike the luke warm reception of shortwave enthusiasts, bargain hunters picking up Bell & Howell 9 band radios for next to nothing were delighted. A typical comment being that it was 'a great little radio for the price.'At the same time that Bell & Howell were selling their 9 band world receiver in the USA, a similar design was launched in China as the Tecsun R-909. China had a strong presence on shortwave, and the Tecsun R-909 seems to have been aimed at Chinese students enabling them to listen to Chinese shortwave stations on a pocket sized radio. The Tecsun R-909 however, was too expensive to achieve mass sales and a series of cheaper, and lower quality, brandings of the same design emerged in the early 2000s. One of these, the Kaide KK9, was very popular. An internet reviewer claims that the Kaide KK9 may have been the best selling radio in China.Over the past decade the widespread adoption of internet radio and smartphone radio apps has led to a reduction of shortwave stations and broadcasts. It seems surprising that a DSP version of the Bell & Howell/ Tecsun/Kaide radio has been issued as the Baijiali KK9. The Baijiali KK9 has retained the legacy casing of the earlier models resulting in some anomalies. The Bell & Howell radio had a switch on the front marked DX/Local enabling weaker local stations to be tuned in when there was frequency band congestion. The Baijiali KK9 has retained the DX/Local switch - but it now doesn't do anything. The English version of the Kaide radio had a legend on the top, '9 Bands Radio With TV 1-5 Ch.' The Kaide radio was launched in the early 2000s when audio from some TV channels could be listened to on standard FM radios. The Baijiali has retained the 'TV 1-5' legend despite TV channels not being available on radio for perhaps 15 years!!The casing of the Baijiali KK9 is thin plastic. It is a similar size to the XHData D-328, but significantly lighter and flimsier. The KK9 can either be powered by 2 AA batteries or a mains adapter (not provided.) I will be sticking to the batteries. The tuning knob is unexpectedly stiff. It is not quite a finger breaker but tuning is not as smooth as on higher quality radios. At medium and lower volumes, the speaker sound is a bit tinny but ok for speech. The radio can reach a surprisingly loud volume, but starts to distort as volume increases.Though the casing remains similar to older iterations of the radio, the technology underpinning the Baijiali has been upgraded. The radio is no longer analogue but uses DSP digital technology. Reception follows the pattern of other low budget DSP radios. Strong stations tune in well: weaker stations are drowned out if their frequencies are close to stronger stations. In my test, the Biajiali located the AM and FM stations, I was expecting it to find. There are relatively few shortwave stations that a lower spec radio is likely to find in London, and the radio found them.There are multiple tuning scales on the radio and these seem to be provided as decoration, rather than for practical use. I doubt whether any of them are accurately aligned. For example, Radio 5 live on medium wave, is broadcast at 909kHz. On the Baijiali tuning scale Radio 5 Live is found opposite the 750kHz markings. It is another example of the quirkyness of this radio.Perhaps because of the quirkyness, the Baijiali KK9 comes over as a fun AM/FM radio, with shortwave bands as a bonus. The KK9 meets reasonable expectations of a low price radio in finding the main broadcast stations. It may not be a worldbeater but as a £7 radio the Baijiali KK9 is more than acceptable for day to day listening. It is definitely not 'the world's worst radio receiver.'