Joe ...

I wasn't clear from your post if you are strictly looking for a
portable radio or not. If so, you can ignore the following.
The best radio I've found in terms of presets, performance, styling and
user friendliness for the casual user is the Boston Acoustics Recpetor
model. It goes for about $150, which is under your $180 limit. It is
not portable, however, and covers only the US AM broadcast and FM
bands, which is what your wife may be after. I'm a radio geek and
enjoy my R75 and ham receivers immensely, but still find myself using
this one for most all of my casual listening. It has great mono audio
and wonderful preset programming by means of a rotary dial. You can
set both AM and FM presets on this dial and smoothly and easily move
between them. Good sensitivity and selectivity. Very comprehensive
alarm and clock features as well. Comes in a choice of two (or maybe
three) colors and is very nicely styled in my opinion. Only thing that
is missing in the design is a connector for an earphone, so keep that
in mind if it is an important consideration for you.
... Craig AC0DS