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Radio Shack

O

OKCRadioGuy

Has anyone notice that Radio Shaft seems to be only carrying the Accurian in some of their stores now? Talking to the help in several stores they have indicated the sales on the radios are VERY poor, which is a shame since they are really good analog units also.

Do a search in your local area and notice how few stores actually have the units in stock. The online store has none at the moment. Does anyone else smell a "Sold Out When Gone" then discontinued?
 
Does anything sell well at Radio Shack? Batteries I suppose... Every time I go into one, there's some old ------ at the counter and the poor salesman is desperately trying to install a battery in whatever they brought in. The last time I was unfortunate enough to have to visit the Shack, I had to show the guy behind the counter how to use a volt/ohm meter to test someone's battery. I wasn't going to get out by the end of the year otherwise.

I just have my own experience to back this, but Radio Shack's customer base seems to be OLD. I wouldn't expect the hearing aid crowd to be buying HD Radios.

I'd have to guess that for ANYONE searching for new technology, Radio Shack is the LAST place they would go!

The plight of Rat Shack is parodied in this article by The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how

(Interesting... The ------ word above is another word for flatulence. Wouldn't have thought that one would trigger the profanity filter!)
 
The old buzzards with the bucks is who HD should be targeting - there's a huge TSL with a beautiful music format - you could dump that on an HD2 channel and sell the airtime all day long!
And then the old buzzards would snatch-up them there HD radios like roadkill at good ole Allied Radio Shack.

I've yet to see a beautiful instrumental format on HD2 or HD3 - and I know Clear Channel is committed to NOT allowing it on their stations, so who's gonna show'em how to do it - AND - make money at it.
 
Before Christmas I went "In Search Of HD" at Rochester metro electronics retailers - BB, CC, and The Shack (various locations.) If I recall correctly none of the Shacks had the Accurian and two of three told me, after lengthy internal discussions and delays, it was "disco'ed."

This may or may not have been accurate but the store personnel's interest in the Accurians was practically zero.

As far as BB, the clerk actually tried to talk me out of the Insignia bookshelf unit, as I've noted here before. He tried to steer me to a non-HD JVC unit.
 
I was told by Radio Shack that they were discontinuing shortwave radios. This was about 1995.

By the way, Radio Shack has NEVER had the Accurian at every store. It's never been in the factory-owned stores in my rural area, though the dealerships (Mom 'n Pop owned stores that carry the Radio Shack brands) carry it. There's a good reason...NO HD STATIONS WITHIN 60 miles! Even so, I have no trouble pulling in LOTS of HD stations from Winston Salem, Greensboro, Charlotte, Hickory, Asheville, Greenville/Spartanburg, Black Mountain, Spindale (NC), etc. And at least one of the small local FM stations in this part of NC will probably go HD this year. Meanwhile, the HD station I listen to mostly, WFDD Winston Salem (88.5) is adding an HD3 stream!
 
Mike Walker said:
I was told by Radio Shack that they were discontinuing shortwave radios. This was about 1995.

By the way, Radio Shack has NEVER had the Accurian at every store. It's never been in the factory-owned stores in my rural area, though the dealerships (Mom 'n Pop owned stores that carry the Radio Shack brands) carry it. There's a good reason...NO HD STATIONS WITHIN 60 miles!
Click to expand...

Actually I think there is a better reason: 0, zero, zilch, ni, interest in the radios anywhere.
But I just got my new Circuit City circular in the mail, plenty of stuff, HD TV's galore, cameras, car stereo with iPod connections no less, computers, games, wireless computer routers, DVD theater projectors, wait is that a radio?..., nope it's a security system, man this place has everything...except an iBlock radio. I guess they must have sold them all out just like QVC did ;D
 
According to the assistant manager of my local Radio Shanty store they've been selling on average about two HD Radios a month with 4 sold in December. They offer both the Accurian and Boston Acoustics.

"For some reason the majority of buyers have been Hispanic", she said.

I'm not sure what that means but I thought it was interesting that she volunteered that fact.

db
 
dbdigital said:
According to the assistant manager of my local Radio Shanty store they've been selling on average about two HD Radios a month with 4 sold in December. They offer both the Accurian and Boston Acoustics.

"For some reason the majority of buyers have been Hispanic", she said.

I'm not sure what that means but I thought it was interesting that she volunteered that fact.

db
Click to expand...

I thought maybe it was a cultural thing so I asked my wife about them (She's from Lima, Peru) and she said ¿que? (what??)

Maybe my wife can get a job in one of our local Rat Shacks, they must need extra help to keep up with the demand.
 
This is typical Radio Shack. By the time they actually get a high quality product on their store shelves, it is quickly discontinued. They just did that with their "Tivoli clone" analog AM/FM table radio. It is a fantastic product and really does give the Tilvoli a run for its money -- but by now it's long gone. I got mine last month as a "Manager's Special" Closeout for $24.99, compared to the original list price of $69.99. I took the display model; it was the last one they had!
 
KB1OKL said:
But I just got my new Circuit City circular in the mail, plenty of stuff, HD TV's galore, cameras, car stereo with iPod connections no less, computers, games, wireless computer routers, DVD theater projectors, wait is that a radio?..., nope it's a security system, man this place has everything...except an iBlock radio. I guess they must have sold them all out just like QVC did ;D
Click to expand...

It's funny how the noise floor against HD radio tends to INCREASE as the lack of credible content against HD radio tends to DECREASE.

Case in point he maunfacturing of "Vapor" news items which show the impending demise of HD radio.

The sudden influx, in the last couple of months, of hard core, half informed noobs with their insane claims of how local HD disrupts their 300+ KM DX listening. (Maybe they can get WQHT in New York to file a compalint because the've lost their Boston listeners)

The ratcheting up of the rhetoric against ANYONE who doesn't routinely CONDEMN HD radio. (I'm sure StephanieNYC was delighted to find out that even though she doesn't like HD, the Anti-gang felt free to "maul her in the street" because she was not "anti HD", politically correct enough for the collective.) Hence the public assault from the anti, lynch mob.

The fact is, the onslaught of "between gigs" jocks, DXers, Ham radio operators from New England and just plain uninformed Bozos is unreal.

On a more personal note, the idiocy of the "Collective" is effectively drowning out the voice of (what might be) the legitimately wronged. Yep, that would be Savage. Maybe a few others. They actually MIGHT have a problem. The "Can't get WQHT/New York in Boston" because of "local HD radio in Boston" folks clearly are just lost. But in their zeal, they are destroying the ability of those who might actually need help from getting it.

----

Here's a thought. We, as a nation, are doing HD radio. It's most likely NOT going to change. Many of us have bemoaned "Never Twice the Same Color" TV. We have it and made it work nonetheless. Get over it.

When you say "I hate HD radio", what is your alternative? Killing MY preferred local service?

Keep in mind that when you eliminate HD radio, you kill MY service to an audio source I receive and like. (And the number of "I's" grows every day). Why does YOUR DX preclude my local choices?

Clouseau
 
KB1OKL said:
Maybe my wife can get a job in one of our local Rat Shacks, they must need extra help to keep up with the demand.
Click to expand...

You can snipe with irrelavant garbage all day, but it just defines who you are.

Without startiong a flame war, is this the best you got?

Perhaps, like yours truly, you should just read a little more and only post when you have something worth reading.

If your contention is that they only sold 2 radios then it could make sense to me.

If your just posting smack, then it's very "Harmonesque". :)

Food for thought.

Clouseau
 
Savage said:
This may or may not have been accurate but the store personnel's interest in the Accurians was practically zero.
Click to expand...

Hey, if I had to sell at Radio Shack, I wouldn't be very interested in HD Radio either. Now, if Radio Shack started carrying hearing aids, THAT would generate some excitement among the employees. Finally! Something we can sell, instead of just getting other people's earwax all over our fingers changing batteries!
 
When you say "I hate HD radio", what is your alternative? Killing MY preferred local service?

Keep in mind that when you eliminate HD radio, you kill MY service to an audio source I receive and like. (And the number of "I's" grows every day). Why does YOUR DX preclude my local choices?

Clouseau
Click to expand...

The digital alternative to adjacent channel HD Radio, that won't "kill MY service to an audio source I receive and like" is to quit HD Radio and switch to digital ON CHANNEL FMeXtra. Adjacent channel hogging HD Radio is problematic and unnecessary. Just switch to FMeXtra.
www.dreinc.com

I rarely DX.
 
SUPERCASTER said:
When you say "I hate HD radio", what is your alternative? Killing MY preferred local service?

Keep in mind that when you eliminate HD radio, you kill MY service to an audio source I receive and like. (And the number of "I's" grows every day). Why does YOUR DX preclude my local choices?

Clouseau
Click to expand...

The digital alternative to adjacent channel HD Radio, that won't "kill MY service to an audio source I receive and like" is to quit HD Radio and switch to digital ON CHANNEL FMeXtra. Adjacent channel hogging HD Radio is problematic and unnecessary. Just switch to FMeXtra.
www.dreinc.com

I rarely DX.
Click to expand...

There are no FMeXtra stations within several hundred miles of my location. As a listener, it's just not available. Radios are Double the cost of HD and only available from broadcast suppliers. NONE in stores. DRE won't allow it. If this system ever becomes a viable option, maybe. That is a VERY long time away. I actually OWN an FMeXtra Radio. Next time I receive an FMeXtra signal will be the first.

I actually tried about a year ago to find an FMeXtra station because I wanted to travel there and observe it.

No one at DRE or Bext or Energy Onix was able to tell me definitively where the system was in use. They might have known, but I never got a response to emails. I sent several and a phone call or two besides. Sorry, it's NOT a viable alternative at this time.

Clouseau
 
clouseau said:
There are no FMeXtra stations within several hundred miles of my location. As a listener, it's just not available. Radios are Double the cost of HD and only available from broadcast suppliers. NONE in stores. DRE won't allow it. If this system ever becomes a viable option, maybe. That is a VERY long time away. I actually OWN an FMeXtra Radio. Next time I receive an FMeXtra signal will be the first.

I actually tried about a year ago to find an FMeXtra station because I wanted to travel there and observe it.

No one at DRE or Bext or Energy Onix was able to tell me definitively where the system was in use. They might have known, but I never got a response to emails. I sent several and a phone call or two besides. Sorry, it's NOT a viable alternative at this time.

Clouseau
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have one of those useless FMeXtra radios too. Won it at NAB. If anyone wants it, I'd be inclined to sell it cheap.
 
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