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Personal AM/FM stereos going extinct?

I

islanddxer

Pretty much been to the ends of Long Island looking for a decent, personal stereo.. Actually, I can't seem to find personal radios sold anywhere in these big box stores. Best Buy doesn't even sell them, just shelves of iPod/iPhone accesories. How can an iPhone even replace a radio? If I'm lucky enough to find a radio, it's usually of the speaker variety with an antenna, or it's some junk brand like Coby. This all started after my Sangean DT-110 died, after almost 5 good years of service. I think I bought it in Radio Shack, which now hardly sells any radios anymore. I see I will now have to make a trek to J&R in NYC to get another DT-110, or wait to order one. I feel lost going out without my radio. I don't have, nor do I want, an iPhone type device, especially for radio, between data plans and spotty cell reception, internet radio just can't compete with good ol' broadcast radio. So why are all these stores like Best Buy, Target, Walmart (Big Box) as well as Radio Shack (small box?) shunning broadcast radio? Certainly this cant help Radio Shack which continues to struggle, because years ago it lost focus and tried to copy these Best Buy mobile stores. I think this whole iMania has really hurt radio. Really can't stand what Apple has done to the marketplace. What used to be a simple trip to a local store has now turned into a mail order wait or a trip to NYC. At least I live near New York, just think how bad those folks in the Midwest have it, mail order everything...
Radio is still the most reliable medium in natural disasters, after Sandy, many cell towers were down, people couldn't charge their phones because there was no power, but radio was still there, kept me informed, and got me through it. I think these stores should be mandated to sell at least one portable, battery powered, AM/FM reciever. Best Buy doesn't even sell "Boomboxes". One things for sure, iMania has made shopping for radio, much more difficult. Lets not forget, Apple also killed off recordable media like minidisc and cassettes. Disturbing times we live in. :(
 
Name the last time the electronics industry came out with a really cool AM/FM radio. Go ahead. It's been at least 20 years. It's not just the stores, but the manufacturers.

The Consumer Electronics Industry has been at odds with the radio industry for a very long time. Lately, the battle is about activating FM chips in cell phones. The CEA hates the idea. But they're not very interested in HD Radio either.

The CEA and the industry is simply not interested in AM/FM any more. It's old tech. There's more money to be made in other devices. So an entire generation has been raised without its own cool AM/FM radio. To them, radio is something that comes with a car, not something you buy. It's a very big problem, and something the radio industry is powerless to fix.
 
I know I rarely listen to radio at home these days, and in the car, I either have NPR on, or I plug in my MP3 player. It's just so easy to get music now - don't have to drive to the record store and shell out $14, just go online and pay $1.00 to $1.29 - no need to buy the whole "album" if you don't want to.

45 RPM singles cost $1.00 when I was a kid. Adjust for inflation, and it means that I'm able to buy a song for the 21 cents. The other advantages are - no commercials, and a great play list from a Program Director with the best taste in music (me).
 
Personal headset radios pretty much vanished around 1998. That was the last time I bought one and even THEN, I had to do some looking......

Surprisingly, I did see them at my local Walmart a few years back. They had a LOT of dust on them, but yours for $30.

Go to eBay and you can find a zillion new or old stock headset radios for cheap. But for the most part, everything they say here is true - most manufacturers are looking beyond radio. Just like consumers. And in about 10 years, there likely won't be new radio sets of ANY kind manufactured. And if you think radio is hard to sell to the kids now......

There's talk of giving radio one last go as an individual medium and making radio all digital (IBOC), but I think that chicken has flown the coop. And it would be a MUCH bigger mess than the DTV changeover because radio is portable and listeners won't put up with spotty digital terrestrial signals that break up everywhere or have nowhere near the coverage of analog signals.

Conventional terrestrial radio is in it's sunset years, I'm sorry to say. But as apps become more popular, I see it eventually moving to the web entirely (as with nearly all electronic entertainment options.)
 
Hi! How are You? I could not agree more, I was shopping for a radio myslef a year ago and could not find some very good quality like in the beautiful days of radio, it was the good days, now iphone and such, not a fan at all, I am old fashion lets say. I am 45 years young, by the way, for me radio is the best medium bar none. I know an online or a catalog store that sells personal radios still and They are quite good as I have heard, They are CCrane, I heard about Them for the first time in 1998 when I was listening to Coast to Coast with Art Bell, I was listening online though but sometime on the radio I had(Venturer Multi Band Radio). Here is the link of the Store in question: http://www.ccrane.com/
P.S. If You already bought a Radio, I am happy for You, but the link provided will help You and Other Persons here on the Board in the Future.
Take good care to You All. Be safe.
 
I bought a Sangean DT-400W a couple years ago at Fry's.  It works great and would recommend it! I carry it almost every time I leave the house (good substitute for a cell phone, especially with the WB functionality).  If you don't need WeatherRadio functionality, the DT-210 is also available on the shelf for a slightly lower price.
 
I recently found a Sony SRF-59 at a local Kmart store, grabbed one before they all are gone. These days, it's phones, digital camera/camcorders, home entertainment cr@p, at (Not Really) Best Buy, Radio Shack, HHGregg,...these days I look at Ccrane and EPay-I mean-Ebay.
 
caringman said:
Hi! How are You? I could not agree more, I was shopping for a radio myslef a year ago and could not find some very good quality like in the beautiful days of radio, it was the good days, now iphone and such, not a fan at all, I am old fashion lets say. I am 45 years young, by the way, for me radio is the best medium bar none. I know an online or a catalog store that sells personal radios still and They are quite good as I have heard, They are CCrane, I heard about Them for the first time in 1998 when I was listening to Coast to Coast with Art Bell, I was listening online though but sometime on the radio I had(Venturer Multi Band Radio). Here is the link of the Store in question: http://www.ccrane.com/
P.S. If You already bought a Radio, I am happy for You, but the link provided will help You and Other Persons here on the Board in the Future.
Take good care to You All. Be safe.
Click to expand...

I bought another DT-110 at J&R. I am also old fashioned and dont go for the whole i-mania thing, heck, I still use minidisc. Yes CCrane is also a good resource.
 
Bumped up, I guess. Conversely, my elder sister thinking me the young, hip, and enlightened one, asked me "Um, do you know where I can buy a "walkman"? I can't seem to find them anywhere.." which I told her the same thing I am telling you- they do still exist. They also can be found by the bunches at Goodwill. They are like 35mm film cameras- absent but not forgotten. Unless I am dreamt it, I believe I saw a new walkman type AM/FM at either Walgeens or Walmart. You know who else has them? Frys
http://www.frys.com/search?search_t...ring=sony+walkman&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&cat=0

that was just the link for Sony Walkman search terms. They probably have other brands too.

I too am old fashioned and prefer analog over digital any day. I cursed the day they forced digital TV transmission, there went my DXing fun. iphone- don't have one either.
 
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