LGR - Radio Shack Retro Tech Catalogs 1979-1991
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Keith
It's so neat to see this. I own a pair of Realistic Nova 6 bookshelf speakers that my Uncle bought back in the early 1970's and they travelled with him all around the world as he was military. They are now my garage speakers and still hold their own! I also have a set of original 4024 (I see a set of 4024a in the 1979 catalog) Realistic Mach One 15- speakers, we have one of the radios seen in the 1979 flyer and I had a bunch of the early-mid 90's RadioShack RC stuff. We also have RadioShack intercoms still from the early 80's and later models from the early 2000's, still in use today.
My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 1950's/1960's so places like RadioShack were a go-to for repair parts. We are very lucky that both of our local RadioShack's rebranded in the early 2000's to another audio/video company which still stocks a lot of the obscure tech accessories that were lost when RadioShack disappeared. I know it's 4 years late, but LOVE videos like this!
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It's so neat to see this. I own a pair of Realistic Nova 6 bookshelf speakers that my Uncle bought back in the early 1970's and they travelled with him all around the world as he was military. They are now my garage speakers and still hold their own! I also have a set of original 4024 (I see a set of 4024a in the 1979 catalog) Realistic Mach One 15- speakers, we have one of the radios seen in the 1979 flyer and I had a bunch of the early-mid 90's RadioShack RC stuff. We also have RadioShack intercoms still from the early 80's and later models from the early 2000's, still in use today.
My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 1950's/1960's so places like RadioShack were a go-to for repair parts. We are very lucky that both of our local RadioShack's rebranded in the early 2000's to another audio/video company which still stocks a lot of the obscure tech accessories that were lost when RadioShack disappeared. I know it's 4 years late, but LOVE videos like this!
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John
I don't know how many times I've needed a small electronic component and my first thought was to go to Radio Shack, and then I realized they were all gone. We had them still in Clayton, NC, where I was living at the time, until about 2013. I haven't seen one since.
But some of that old Realistic gear was damn good--don't sell it short. My PC still runs off two Minimus-7W speakers that I bought secondhand. I changed out the old dried out capacitor inside, but once I did they worked wonderfully. They're running off a modern TI D-amp device. 1983 tech meets 2020. And people still pay good money for those old receivers when they get offered for sale.
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I don't know how many times I've needed a small electronic component and my first thought was to go to Radio Shack, and then I realized they were all gone. We had them still in Clayton, NC, where I was living at the time, until about 2013. I haven't seen one since.
But some of that old Realistic gear was damn good--don't sell it short. My PC still runs off two Minimus-7W speakers that I bought secondhand. I changed out the old dried out capacitor inside, but once I did they worked wonderfully. They're running off a modern TI D-amp device. 1983 tech meets 2020. And people still pay good money for those old receivers when they get offered for sale.
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Rob
Here in 2020. Many could care less about the Shack, but it was one of my favorite stores growing up in my teens in the early 1980's, as I was into building & repairing electronics. I had kept, to this day, what few catalogs I had of them over the years, one from late 1980's, a couple from early 1990's & one from Y2k (with the hot model gal on cover. Unfortunately the R/S store in my town folded in May of 2017, but fortunately I had heard of the liquidation & went the last couple weeks of its life & bought a big load of stuff that was 50-90% off. Miss them good ol' days at the Shack that, at the end, became the last sad ol' day.
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Here in 2020. Many could care less about the Shack, but it was one of my favorite stores growing up in my teens in the early 1980's, as I was into building & repairing electronics. I had kept, to this day, what few catalogs I had of them over the years, one from late 1980's, a couple from early 1990's & one from Y2k (with the hot model gal on cover. Unfortunately the R/S store in my town folded in May of 2017, but fortunately I had heard of the liquidation & went the last couple weeks of its life & bought a big load of stuff that was 50-90% off. Miss them good ol' days at the Shack that, at the end, became the last sad ol' day.
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Cris
I loved Radio Shack as a teen in the 1980s. It was a magical wonderland for a kid with an electronics hobby. Then I got a job at a Radio Shack around 1990-1991- I didn't like it. We were paid by commission and we were graded on things like selling extended warranties (Tandy Service Plan) and getting EVERYONES address to put them on our catalog list. Man I just wanted to play with the electronics, not hassle people! Still, I did have fun from time to time. First time I used a cell phone was in 91- one of those old brick phones. This is really bringing back some memories.
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I loved Radio Shack as a teen in the 1980s. It was a magical wonderland for a kid with an electronics hobby. Then I got a job at a Radio Shack around 1990-1991- I didn't like it. We were paid by commission and we were graded on things like selling extended warranties (Tandy Service Plan) and getting EVERYONES address to put them on our catalog list. Man I just wanted to play with the electronics, not hassle people! Still, I did have fun from time to time. First time I used a cell phone was in 91- one of those old brick phones. This is really bringing back some memories.
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Faint
1981 I started HS and our mall had a Radio Shack, right next to the Hobby shop with DnD, then across the way B. Dalton with actual books. Man I used to have a tackle box filled with parts from the shack, I'd take an crappy $10 handheld and mod it with an ear piece. You could buy one, with a braided cord and solider it right on the game board, I used to have the kit to make circuit boards with the chemicals and everything, and so many switches! Then I discover bread boards, which was so much easier. Now it's all chinese crap mislabeled on amazon
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1981 I started HS and our mall had a Radio Shack, right next to the Hobby shop with DnD, then across the way B. Dalton with actual books. Man I used to have a tackle box filled with parts from the shack, I'd take an crappy $10 handheld and mod it with an ear piece. You could buy one, with a braided cord and solider it right on the game board, I used to have the kit to make circuit boards with the chemicals and everything, and so many switches! Then I discover bread boards, which was so much easier. Now it's all chinese crap mislabeled on amazon
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Aqkura
I was born in 1962 and for someone like you (born after the '80s) the catalog from 1979 seems weird. Dolby was something that has just come out for use by the regular consumer and it was considered a special feature in your stereo system back then. My father and one of those CB phone style in his car (because of business purposes, not personal. And the TRS-80 PC was a rarity to have it in your home (you were considered to be rich -or your parents were to that effect- if you had one at home. Back then PCs were for company use only.
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I was born in 1962 and for someone like you (born after the '80s) the catalog from 1979 seems weird. Dolby was something that has just come out for use by the regular consumer and it was considered a special feature in your stereo system back then. My father and one of those CB phone style in his car (because of business purposes, not personal. And the TRS-80 PC was a rarity to have it in your home (you were considered to be rich -or your parents were to that effect- if you had one at home. Back then PCs were for company use only.
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Cratecruncher
Dad used to drag me into the local Radio Shack on weekends to get his electronics fix. He bought me one of those 50 in 1 Electronics Projects kits and I was hooked. It's a shame these stores are no longer around. Just recently, I had to wait a month to get a handful of capacitors from China to restore my computer's 5. 1 speakers so I could hear your voice without distortion. I used to be able to drive right around the corner. I miss Radio Shack.
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Dad used to drag me into the local Radio Shack on weekends to get his electronics fix. He bought me one of those 50 in 1 Electronics Projects kits and I was hooked. It's a shame these stores are no longer around. Just recently, I had to wait a month to get a handful of capacitors from China to restore my computer's 5. 1 speakers so I could hear your voice without distortion. I used to be able to drive right around the corner. I miss Radio Shack.
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Dale
Those early -As Seen on TV- promos are likely related to Home Shopping Network/QVC from the early 90's. I remember getting most of my earlier electronics from QVC in particular, as it was one of the few outlets my mother had a Credit Card specifically for. We'd watch stuff come up for sale together and once in a while she'd actually call in and buy something for me.
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Those early -As Seen on TV- promos are likely related to Home Shopping Network/QVC from the early 90's. I remember getting most of my earlier electronics from QVC in particular, as it was one of the few outlets my mother had a Credit Card specifically for. We'd watch stuff come up for sale together and once in a while she'd actually call in and buy something for me.
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vadermask//mass
I loved Radio Shack! They had the battery of the month club where you could get a free battery that changed each month! Plus buying all those little DC motors, LED lights, resisters and capacitors, etc. We used to make little boats out of scrap styrofoam and small DC motors and race them in the creek in our apartment complex! Radio Shack r00lz!
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I loved Radio Shack! They had the battery of the month club where you could get a free battery that changed each month! Plus buying all those little DC motors, LED lights, resisters and capacitors, etc. We used to make little boats out of scrap styrofoam and small DC motors and race them in the creek in our apartment complex! Radio Shack r00lz!
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Ronnie
Again, look at those prices in the 1979 magazine!
Those are like today's prices 2020. The LED with inflation around $4. 59 or the LEVEL II 16k TRS-80 Computer. With inflation. $988. 00 in 1979 now in 2020 is $3, 512. 64 seriously Radio Shack? The little quick printer $1, 774. 10. They have some cool items but, wow Somebody was greedy!
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Again, look at those prices in the 1979 magazine!
Those are like today's prices 2020. The LED with inflation around $4. 59 or the LEVEL II 16k TRS-80 Computer. With inflation. $988. 00 in 1979 now in 2020 is $3, 512. 64 seriously Radio Shack? The little quick printer $1, 774. 10. They have some cool items but, wow Somebody was greedy!
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