Radio Flyer
Template:Short descriptionTemplate:About {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Radio Flyer is an American toy company best known for its popular red toy wagon. Radio Flyer also produces scooters, tricycles, bicycles,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> horses, and ride-ons. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
HistoryEdit
Antonio Pasin immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1914 when he was 16 years old.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He started building wooden toy wagons in Chicago in 1917, selling them to area shops. He was working as a craftsman at the time, mostly selling phonograph cabinets, and built small wooden wagons to carry around his tools. After he received numerous requests from customers of phonograph cabinets to buy the wagons as well, he refocused his business on the wagons.<ref name="smithsonian">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His business grew until the Liberty Coaster Company, named in honour of the Statue of Liberty, was formed in 1923. The demands for these original wooden wagons, dubbed the "Liberty Coaster," quickly outpaced production. Incorporating the mass manufacturing techniques of the auto industry, Pasin began making metal wagons out of stamped steel in 1927.<ref name="Andrews McMeel Pub">Template:Cite book</ref> At around that time, the red wagons sold for slightly less than $3, or about $40 in 2016 dollars.<ref name=smithsonian />
In 1930, the company was renamed Radio Steel & Manufacturing. The renamed company produced steel-bodied wagons and used assembly line manufacturing techniques. The new Radio Flyer wagons were named as a tribute to two famous men of the day: Marconi and Lindbergh.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Italian inventor and engineer Guglielmo Marconi developed, demonstrated, and marketed the first successful long-distance wireless telegraph and in 1901 broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Combining those two marvels, Pasin christened his new metal wagons "Radio Flyer".<ref name="Andrews McMeel Pub"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1933, Pasin set up a large manufacturing facility on Grand Avenue in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood.<ref name=":0" /> That year, Chicago was the host of the World's Fair, Century of Progress, and Radio Steel was asked to be a part of the celebration. Antonio Pasin took on major debt to fund the construction of a Template:Convert tall wood and plaster Coaster Boy statue depicting a boy riding a Liberty Coaster wagon. Below the Coaster Boy exhibit Pasin sold miniatures for 25 cents.<ref name=RP-interview>Template:Cite news</ref> During World War II, steel was essential war material; from 1942–1945, the company shifted production to portable five gallon Blitz cans for the US Army.<ref name="encyc-entrep">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1987, Radio Steel changed its name to Radio Flyer after its popular flagship little red wagon.<ref name="encyc-entrep" /> Pasin died in 1990, and his grandson, Robert Pasin, has been CEO since 1997.<ref name=RP-interview /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Today, the company produces a wide range of children's products, including scooters, tricycles, ride-ons, horses, battery ops, and wagons.
In 2015, Fortune named Radio Flyer number one in the top 25 best small businesses for which to work.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The wagonEdit
The Liberty Coaster Company began producing the wooden bodied "No. 4 Liberty Coaster" in 1923.<ref name=hist-begin>Radio Flyer in the Beginning corporate history</ref> In 1927, Pasin replaced the wooden body with stamped steel, taking advantage of assembly line manufacturing techniques and earning him the nickname "Little Ford".<ref name=scott-encyc>Template:Cite book</ref> 1500 wagons a day rolled off assembly lines even during the Great Depression.<ref name=The1930s>Template:Cite book</ref> Since 2002, the company has produced plastic as well as metal-bodied wagons.<ref name=innov />
A number of designs and styles have been produced by Radio Flyer, often inspired by the automobiles or popular culture of the day. The "Zephyr", produced in the 1930s, paid homage to the Chrysler Airflow.<ref name="The1930s" /> The 1950s saw a yellow wagon inspired by the movie Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and a blue wagon produced in partnership with Disney's Mickey Mouse Club.<ref name="hist1950">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wagons from the 1970s borrowed the stylings of the muscle cars of the day, including the Fireball 2001 inspired by Evel Knievel.<ref name=NTHoF /><ref name="hist1970">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The 1990s saw the introduction of the "Quad Shock Wagon" echoing sport utility vehicles.<ref name=NTHoF /> The "Ultimate Family Wagon", introduced in 2007, includes a sunshade and an adjustable seat; the design won a Chicago Innovation Award in 2007.<ref name=innov>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Radio Flyer Wagon was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York in 1999,<ref name="NTHoF">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and its creator, Antonio Pasin, was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2003.<ref>Toy Industry Hall of Fame Inductees, 1985–2004</ref>
Radio Flyer TricycleEdit
The Radio Flyer Tricycle features the same bright red color and graphics as the little red wagon.
- Radioflyr.jpg
Radio Flyer Tricycle
- Damaged(yetChained)RedTrike.jpg
Radio Flyer Tricycle
Other productsEdit
- The Inchworm is a wheeled ride-on toy propelled by the bouncing motion of the rider. It is styled as a Geometer caterpillar, or inchworm. It was initially produced by Hasbro in the 1970s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- The Radio Flyer Ziggle, introduced in 2013, is a ride-on toy for kids 3 to 8 with four caster wheels and no pedals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kids propel forward by wiggling and twisting their bodies in a back and forth motion and moving the handle bars at the same time.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
The readily recognizable little red wagon manufactured by Radio Flyer is used in several artistic works, including in film and on television. A character in the 1992 drama film Radio Flyer flies to safety in a converted Radio Flyer wagon. Radio Flyer wagons appear in a store display in the 1983 film A Christmas Story. The June 24, 2013 episode of Let's Make a Deal parodied this wagon as a Zonk being offered under the name "Zonk Flyer".
SculpturesEdit
StatueEdit
The Template:Convert Coaster Boy wood and plaster statue of a young boy and wagon was constructed by Radio Flyer for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, Century of Progress.<ref name=RP-interview />
Red wagon playgroundEdit
Riverfront Park in Spokane, Washington features a large red wagon that doubles as a playground slide. It is Template:Convert high and Template:Convert long. The interactive sculpture is modeled after the Radio Flyer wagon, and was sculpted by Ken Spiering and installed in 1989.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
"World's Largest Wagon"Edit
The "World's Largest Wagon" is a sculpture commissioned by Radio Flyer in honor of their 80th anniversary. It is nine times the size of a little red wagon, and weighs Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Company website
- A detailed history of Radio Flyer
- Worlds Largest Wagon
- Distributed in UK and EIRE by Asobi