Radio rebuild

The audio amp output transistors do have some equivalent transistors that will work without circuit modifications, but they are $$$$$. I have had great luck with the Russian PNP Ge transistors from Amazon sellers. The oscillator capacitor needs to be reduced ~20%, and the RF AMP needs realignment, but otherwise in all other circuits they work well. Less than 10% of the radios that have crossed my bench over the years require any transistor replacements. Most are capacitors, hairline PCB cracks, or tuner's rusted/gummed up. I gave up on tuner clutch rebuilding and those are candidates for conversions.
Having said all that, I agree with the conversion if you can afford it as the best thing to do. AM radio will be phased out in the 7 years, or so (Germany shut AM down in 2019, and the UK will shut AM down in the next two years), so upgrading is probably the best in the long run.