CONSUMERS : Backup Music for Shower-Time Singers

For those who enjoy singing in the shower, there’s a new water-resistant radio that you can hang on the shower arm to provide in-stall accompaniment to your crooning.

Called Shower Radio, the AM/FM radio has seals to prevent water absorption, and has a 3-inch water-resistant round speaker that shouldn’t be immersed in water or come into continuous contact with it.

“If you splash water from the shower on it, that’s fine, but you shouldn’t turn the shower head right on the radio and soak it,” said a spokeswoman for Sony Corp., which has just introduced the product.

The radio has a large rotary tuning dial and is powered by two AA batteries. It comes in white and retails for $34.95. It is available at four retailers in Southern California: Future Tronics, Affordable Portables, the Broadway and Adrays.

Two Little Books

Two new little black books hit the market recently--one, a day-by-day pocket diary that also gives specific information about activities in Los Angeles and includes small area maps; the other, a guide to “the only 400 telephone numbers you’ll ever need to find most of the information you’ll ever want.”

Black book No. 1 is the new Los Angeles version of Per Annum Diaries, which have already published a Manhattan and a Greater Boston diary and are releasing one for Chicago. Los Angeles Diary costs $28 for a leather-bound one; $12 for simulated leather.

In 50 pages, the book offers 2,200 listings of city services, restaurants, theaters, stores and so on with their addresses and phone numbers. In the back is a freeway system map and street maps of several Los Angeles areas: downtown, the Wilshire District, Hollywood, Beverly Hills-Westwood, Culver City, Santa Monica, and Van Nuys-North Hollywood and part of Burbank. Also included are area code and ZIP code maps for the United States.

Per Annum Inc. is the brainchild of Alicia Settle, who moved to New York from England and couldn’t cope with the available maps of Manhattan, so she developed “put a city in your pocket” diaries. The company also publishes a Metropolitan Diary with similar information on 12 U.S. cities.

Los Angeles Diary is available at selected book and stationery stores and specialty shops in the Southern California, among them Fowler Bros. in downtown Los Angeles, the Card Factory in Beverly Center, Book Soup in West Hollywood, Beverly Stationers in Beverly Hills, Zero Minus Plus Inc. in Santa Monica and Beckel’s Luggage in Woodland Hills. The Los Angeles book or any of the others may also be ordered from Per Annum Inc., 114 E. 32nd St., New York, N.Y. 10016; (800) 548-1108.

Black book No. 2 is called the Ultimate Black Book, and author Godfrey Harris, president of a public policy consulting firm in Los Angeles, claims it is based on “the old saying that if you know 400 people, you ought to be able to reach anyone in the world.” The book contains 34 subject listings, ranging from agriculture to travel and includes each organization’s phone number. It costs $5.95, which includes postage, handling and sales tax.

To order, write the Americas Group, 9200 Sunset Blvd. Suite 404, Los Angeles 90069; or call (213) 278-8038.

On the Green

Golf Scorecard, a credit card-size electronic scorekeeper recently introduced by Seiko Instruments, should be of special interest to golfers who hate to keep score with a pencil and pad. This little computer does it all for you, and company spokesmen claim it is the most compact computerized version of electronic scorekeepers on the market.

The Golf Scorecard provides a diagram of an 18-hole course and can keep score for up to four players. It simultaneously displays the number of the player, the hole number, par, strokes and putts on an 11-digit screen. It totals the scores and lets you clear them individually. You can also review all 18 holes if you wish.

In addition, the scorekeeper features a digital clock and calendar, programmed from Jan. 1, 1988, to Dec. 31, 2037. It retails for less than $30 and is available at Gumps in Pasadena, Adrays and Sav Mor, or through catalogues from Haverhills at (800) 621-1203 or Roberta’s Fortunes Almanac at (800) 331-2300).