Editing RadioShack (section)

=== Tandy Corporation ===
{{Main|Tandy Corporation}}
{{plain image with caption|Radio Shack 1974 logo.svg|Former RadioShack logo (1972–1995)}}
Tandy Corporation, a [[leather]] goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand. [[Charles D. Tandy]] saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics, purchasing the company in 1962 for US$300,000.<ref name="RSHistory">{{cite web|title=RadioShack History |url=http://radioshackcorporation.com/company/history.php |website=RadioShack Corp |access-date=August 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012185240/http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/company/history.php |archive-date=October 12, 2011 }}</ref>
At the time of the ''Tandy Radio Shack & Leather'' 1962 acquisition,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/02/05/radioshack-cuts-the-cord-after-90-years-files-for-bankruptcy/#3ce88a194d6d|title=RadioShack Cuts The Cord After 94 Years, Files For Bankruptcy|last=Gara|first=Antoine|work=Forbes|access-date=October 16, 2018|language=en}}</ref> the Radio Shack chain was nearly bankrupt.<ref name=NYTimes>{{Cite news|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/for-radioshack-a-history-of-misses/|title=A History of Misses for RadioShack|last=Solomon|first=Steven Davidoff|work=DealBook|date=September 16, 2014 |access-date=October 16, 2018|language=en}}</ref>

Tandy's strategy was to appeal to hobbyists. It created small stores that were staffed by people who knew electronics, and sold mainly private brands.<ref name="Financial Post">{{Cite news|url=https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/inside-radioshacks-slow-motion-collapse-why-the-fall-of-the-94-year-old-electronics-chain-didnt-have-to-be-this-way|title=Inside RadioShack's slow-motion collapse: Why the fall of the 94-year-old electronics chain didn't have to be this way|date=February 6, 2015|work=Financial Post|access-date=October 16, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> Tandy closed Radio Shack's unprofitable mail-order business, ended credit purchases and eliminated many top management positions, keeping the salespeople, merchandisers and advertisers. The number of items carried was cut from 40,000 to 2,500, as Tandy sought to "identify the 20% that represents 80% of the sales" and replace Radio Shack's handful of large stores with many "little holes in the wall", large numbers of rented locations which were easier to close and re-open elsewhere if one location didn't work out. Private-label brands from lower-cost manufacturers displaced name brands to raise Radio Shack profit margins;{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}} non-electronic lines from go-carts to musical instruments were abandoned entirely.<ref name=newsinvestors>{{cite web|url=http://news.investors.com/management-leaders-in-success/071210-540013-charles-tandy-the-spark-behind-radioshack.htm?p=full |title=Charles Tandy, The Spark Behind RadioShack |author=Seitz, Patrick |work=Investor's Business Daily |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209193559/http://news.investors.com/management-leaders-in-success/071210-540013-charles-tandy-the-spark-behind-radioshack.htm?p=full |archive-date=February 9, 2015 }}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Customer data from the former RadioShack mail-order business determined where Tandy would locate new stores. As an incentive for them to work long hours and remain profitable, store managers were required to take an ownership stake in their stores.<ref name="newsinvestors" /> In markets too small to support a company-owned Radio Shack store, the chain relied on independent dealers who carried the products as a sideline.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/05/news/companies/radioshack-franchises/index.html|title=My RadioShack franchise store will be fine|author=Ben Rooney|date=February 5, 2015|work=CNNMoney}}</ref> [[Charles D. Tandy]] said "We're not looking for the guy who wants to spend his entire paycheck on a sound system", instead seeking customers "looking to save money by buying cheaper goods and improving them through modifications and accessorizing", making it common among "nerds" and "kids aiming to excel at their science fairs".<ref name="Financial Post"/>

[[Charles D. Tandy]], who had guided the firm through a period of growth in the 1960s and 1970s, died of a heart attack at age 60 in November 1978.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/06/archives/charles-tandy-60-industrialist-started-work-at-12-400-radio-shacks.html|title=Charles Tandy, 60, Industrialist|work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1978 |access-date=October 16, 2018|language=en}}</ref>

In 1982, the [[breakup of the Bell System]] encouraged subscribers to own their own telephones instead of renting them from local phone companies; Radio Shack offered twenty models of home phones.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19821018&id=dmRNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6582,1056994|title=Advantages, disadvantages of owning your telephone |work=page C1, Life/Style, Lakeland (Florida) Ledger - October 18, 1982 }}</ref>

Much of the Radio Shack line was manufactured in the company's own factories. By 1990/1991, Tandy was the world's biggest manufacturer of personal computers; its [[original equipment manufacturer|OEM manufacturing]] capacity was building hardware for Digital Equipment Corporation, GRiD, Olivetti, AST Computer, Panasonic, and others. The company manufactured everything from store fixtures to computer software to wire and cable, TV antennas, audio and videotape.<ref name=lonestar>{{cite web |url=http://nemesis.lonestar.org/tandy/radio_shack_farewell.html |title=Goodbye, Radio Shack |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209194615/http://nemesis.lonestar.org/tandy/radio_shack_farewell.html |archivedate=February 9, 2015}}, 2015, Frank Durda IV, former Senior Project Software Engineer with the Tandy Electronics System Software division</ref> At one point, Radio Shack was the world's largest electronics chain.<ref>{{cite book |title=Tandy's Money Machine: How Charles Tandy Built Radio Shack into the World's Largest Electronics Chain |date=1992 |first=Irvin |last=Farman |location=Chicago |publisher=Mobium Press |isbn=978-0-916371-12-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tandysmoneymachi00farm }}</ref>

In June 1991, Tandy closed or restructured its 200 Radio Shack Computer Centers,<ref>{{cite news |author=Marianne Taylor |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/06/30/superstore-idea-taking-hold-for-pcs/ |title=Superstore Idea Taking Hold For PCs |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 30, 1991 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}</ref> acquired [[Computer City]], and attempted to shift its emphasis away from components and cables, toward mainstream consumer electronics.<ref>{{cite news |author=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-01-27/business/9201050531_1_radio-shack-consumer-electronics-transistor-radios |title=Tandy's Radio Shack Retooling Image |newspaper=Sun Sentinel |date=January 27, 1992 |access-date=February 12, 2015 |archive-date=February 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212003930/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-01-27/business/9201050531_1_radio-shack-consumer-electronics-transistor-radios |url-status=dead }}</ref> Tandy sold its computer manufacturing to [[AST Research]] in 1993,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-19-fi-47364-story.html |title=Tandy to Sell Its Memtek Division for $65 Million: Electronics: The sale is in line with the company's plans to divest its non-retail businesses. |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 19, 1993 |access-date=February 12, 2015}}</ref> including the laptop computer [[Grid Systems Corporation]] which it had purchased in 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/17/business/tandy-to-buy-grid-systems.html |title=Tandy to Buy Grid Systems |newspaper=NY Times |date=March 17, 1988 |access-date=February 14, 2015}}</ref> It sold the [[Memorex]] consumer recording trademarks to a Hong Kong firm,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/12/business/company-news-tandy-to-sell-memorex-name-to-hong-kong-company.html |title=Tandy To Sell Memorex Name To Hong Kong Company |newspaper=NY Times |date=November 12, 1993 |access-date=February 12, 2015}}</ref> and divested most of its manufacturing divisions. House-brand products, which Radio Shack had long marked up heavily, were replaced with third-party brands already readily available from competitors. This reduced profit margins.<ref name=lonestar/>

In 1992, Tandy attempted to launch big-box electronics retailer [[Incredible Universe]];<ref name="nytimes_tandy">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/27/business/tandy-ventures-into-the-unknown.html?pagewanted=all |title=Tandy Ventures Into the Unknown |work=The New York Times |date=October 27, 1992 |access-date=July 26, 2015 |author=Hayes, Thomas C. |quote=Unlike the small, 2,500-square-foot Radio Shacks, where fat gross profit margins and slow inventory turnovers are the norm, Tandy's two new Incredible Universe stores stress volume. They sell a dizzying breadth of branded products, from video games to washing machines, for low prices in 160,000-square-foot warehouse settings. .... "This is the most aggressive thing that this company has done; the most innovative thing since Radio Shack," said Eugene G. Glazer, a technology analyst at Dean Witter in New York. "It's very clear that the formula that worked for Tandy in the 1970s did not work well in the 1980s and will be radically changed in the 1990s."}}</ref> most of the seventeen stores never turned a profit. Its six profitable stores were sold to [[Fry's Electronics]] in 1996; the others were closed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lubbockonline.com/news/123196/tandy.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970526052351/http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/123196/tandy.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 26, 1997|title=Tandy decides to sell or close the Incredible Universe stores |work=lubbockonline.com}}</ref> Other rebranding attempts included the launch or acquisition of chains including McDuff, Video Concepts and the Edge in Electronics;<ref name=nytimes_tandy /> these were larger stores which carried TVs, appliances and other lines.<ref>{{cite news|author=Christine Winter |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/12/01/tandy-dandy-after-long-slump/ |title=Tandy Dandy After Long Slump |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 1, 1985 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}</ref>

Tandy closed the McDuff stores and abandoned Incredible Universe in 1996, but continued to add new RadioShack stores.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19970125&id=gE5IAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CP0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7008,1983274|title=Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search|website=News.google.com|access-date=March 25, 2022}}</ref> By 1996, industrial parts suppliers were deploying [[e-commerce]] to sell a wide range of components online;<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kumagai |first=Jean |url=https://blog.adafruit.com/2014/02/04/slideshow-a-day-in-the-life-of-digi-key/ |title=Slideshow: A Day in the Life of Digi-Key |publisher=Adafruit |date=February 4, 2014 |access-date=March 18, 2016}}</ref> it would be another decade before RadioShack would sell parts from its website,<ref name="mistakes5">{{cite news|author=Aimée Picchi |url=https://cbsnews.com/news/5-mistakes-that-doomed-radioshack/ |title=5 mistakes that doomed RadioShack |work=CBS News |date=February 3, 2015 |access-date=February 10, 2015}}</ref> with a selection so limited that it was no rival to established industrial vendors with million-item specialised, centralised inventories.

In 1994, the company introduced a service known as "The Repair Shop at Radio Shack",<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Kathryn |date=August 23, 1994|title=Fix-It Service Remodels Radio Shack|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/23/business/fix-it-service-remodels-radio-shack.html|access-date=May 24, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> through which it provided inexpensive out-of-warranty repairs for more than 45 different brands of electronic equipment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/08/11/tandy-adding-repair-service-for-electronics/|title=Tandy Adding Repair Service For Electronics|work=Chicago Tribune | date=August 11, 1994}}</ref> The company already had over one million parts in its extensive parts warehouses and 128 service centers throughout the US and Canada;<ref name="10K1994">{{cite web|url=http://www.secinfo.com/d2U1e.a5.htm |title=Radioshack Corp - '10-K' for 12/31/94 |publisher=SEC Info |access-date=February 23, 2015}}</ref> it hoped to leverage these to build customer relationships and increase store traffic. Len Roberts, president of the Radio Shack division since 1993, estimated that the new repair business could generate $500 million per year by 1999.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/23/business/fix-it-service-remodels-radio-shack.html |author = Kathryn Jones |title = Fix-It Service Remodels Radio Shack |access-date = May 25, 2009 |work=The New York Times |date=August 23, 1994}}</ref>

"America's technology store" was abandoned for the "you've got questions, we've got answers" slogan in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19940519&id=IIpaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dEsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5614,3990028|title=The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search|website=News.google.com|access-date=March 25, 2022}}</ref> In early summer 1995, the company changed its logo; "Radio Shack" was spelled in [[camel case]] as "RadioShack". In 1996, RadioShack successfully petitioned the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] to allocate frequencies for the [[Family Radio Service]], a short-range [[walkie-talkie]] system that proved popular.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19970310&id=CgBRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L-sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4260,2603775 The Big Picture], Gainesville Sun, "WorkLife" page 12, March 10, 1997</ref>

==== Battery of the Month ====
From the 1960s until the early 1990s, Radio Shack promoted a "battery of the month" club; a free [[wallet]]-sized [[cardboard]] card offered one free [[Enercell]] per month in-store.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19691124&id=N94jAAAAIBAJ&pg=1292,2214851|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal|title=full-page Radio Shack advertisement|page=15|date=November 24, 1969}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Like the free [[vacuum tube]] testing offered in-store in the early 1970s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19730118&id=DMhdAAAAIBAJ&pg=4048,2396113 |title=Advertisement for local Radio Shack store opening |publisher=Observer-Reporter, Washington, Pennsylvania |page=B5|date=January 18, 1973}}</ref> this small [[loss leader]] drew [[foot traffic]]. The cards also served as generic [[business cards]] for the salespeople.

==== Allied Radio ====
In 1970, Tandy Corporation bought Allied Radio Corporation (both retail and industrial divisions), merging the brands into Allied Radio Shack and closing duplicate locations. After a 1973 federal government review, the company sold off the few remaining Allied retail stores and resumed using the Radio Shack name.  [[Allied Electronics]], the firm's industrial component operation, continued as a Tandy division until it was sold to Spartan Manufacturing in 1981.<ref name="AEHist">{{Cite web|title=Allied History|url=http://www.alliedelec.com/alliedhistory.aspx|publisher=Allied Electronics|access-date=August 3, 2010|archive-date=June 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612200920/http://www.alliedelec.com/alliedhistory.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

==== Flavoradio ====
[[File:Realistic 12-166 Flavoradio (9389739500).jpg|thumb|right|Realistic Flavoradio]]
The longest-running product for Radio Shack was the AM-only Realistic Flavoradio, sold from 1972 to 2000, 28 good years in three designs. This also made the Flavoradio the longest production run in radio history.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} It was originally released in five colors in the 1972 catalog: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, avocado, and plum. For 1973, vanilla and chocolate were dropped (and thus are rare today{{when|date=January 2023}}) and replaced by lemon and orange. At some point two-tone models with white backs were offered but never appeared in catalogs; these are extremely rare today.

The original design had five transistors (model 166). A sixth was added in 1980 (model 166a). The case was redesigned for 1987, making it taller and thinner, and it came in red, blue, and black. The final model, 201a, came in 1996 and was designed around an integrated circuit. They were first made in Korea then Hong Kong and finally the Philippines. The Flavoradio carried the Realistic name until about 1996, when it switched to "Radio Shack", then finally "Optimus". When the Flavoradio was dropped from the catalog in 2001, it was the last AM-only radio on the market.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blahut |first1=Bohus |title=Radio Shack's Classic Flavoradio |url=http://www.retrothing.com/2010/04/radio-shacks-classic-flavoradio.html |website=Retro thing |publisher=Grahame & Blahut |access-date=June 2, 2016}}</ref>

==== CB radio ====
[[File:Realistic and RadioShack TRC-222.jpg|thumb|right|(From left to right) Realistic and RadioShack model TRC-222, both CB with 40 channels]]
The chain profited from the mass popularity of [[citizens band radio]] in the mid-1970s which, at its peak, represented nearly 30% of the chain's revenue.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bartimo|first1=John|title=Radio Shack Polishes its Image|journal=InfoWorld|date=August 20, 1984 |volume=6 |issue=34 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HS8EAAAAMBAJ&q=CB+radios |access-date=February 8, 2015}}</ref>

==== Home computers ====
In 1977, two years after the MITS [[Altair 8800]], Radio Shack introduced the [[TRS-80]], one of the first mass-produced [[personal computer]]s.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=McCracken |first=Harry |url=https://techland.time.com/2012/08/03/trs-80/ |title=Please Don't Call It Trash-80: A 35th Anniversary Salute to Radio Shack's TRS-80 |magazine=TIME |date=August 3, 2012 |access-date=February 15, 2015}}</ref> This was a complete pre-assembled system at a time when many microcomputers were built from kits, backed by a nationwide retail chain when computer stores were in their infancy. Sales of the initial, primitive US$600 (equal to ${{Inflation|US|600|1977|fmt=c}} today) TRS-80 exceeded all expectations despite its limited capabilities and high price.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Welsh |first1=Theresa |last2=Welsh |first2=David |title=Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution|date=2007 |publisher=The Seeker Books |isbn=978-0-9793468-1-1 |pages=2–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yjr5lAji1wC&pg=PT4 |access-date=February 8, 2015}}</ref> This was followed by the [[TRS-80 Color Computer]] in 1980, designed to attach to a television. Tandy also inspired the ''Tandy Computer Whiz Kids'' (1982–1991), a comic-book duo of teen calculator enthusiasts who teamed up with the likes of Archie and Superman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/whiz_kids_comics.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102210139/http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/whiz_kids_comics.html |title=Radio Shack Comic Books: Tandy Computer Whiz Kids|archive-date=January 2, 2015|work=radioshackcatalogs.com}}</ref> Radio Shack's computer stores offered lessons to pre-teens as "Radio Shack Computer Camp" in the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/10/technology/radioshack-computer-camp/index.html |title=My week at RadioShack Computer Camp in 1983 |publisher=CNN Money |date=February 10, 2015 |access-date=February 14, 2015 |first=Andrew |last=Bergmann}}</ref>

By September 1982, the company had more than 4,300 stores, and more than 2,000 independent franchises in towns not large enough for a company-owned store. The latter also sold third-party hardware and software for Tandy computers, but company-owned stores did not sell or even acknowledge the existence of non-Tandy products.<ref name="shea19820913">{{Cite magazine |last=Shea |first=Tom |date=September 13, 1982 |title=All others sell at list price; we deal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |page=11 |access-date=March 17, 2019 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the mid-1980s, Radio Shack began a transition from its proprietary [[8-bit]] computers to its proprietary [[IBM PC compatible]] [[Tandy 1000|Tandy computers]], removing the "Radio Shack" name from the product in an attempt to shake off the long-running nicknames "Radio Scrap"<ref name="deathbed">{{cite journal|last=Lendino |first=Jamie |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2476216,00.asp |title=RadioShack Is On its Deathbed |journal=PCMag |date=February 3, 2015 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}</ref> and "Trash 80"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-My+Generation/213481/remembering-the-trash80 |title=Remembering the Trash-80 |newspaper=Tyler Morning Telegraph |date=February 10, 2015 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}</ref> to make the product appeal to business users. Poor compatibility, shrinking margins and a lack of economies of scale led Radio Shack to exit the computer-manufacturing market in the 1990s after losing much of the desktop PC market to newer, price-competitive rivals like [[Dell]].<ref name=nytimes_tandy /> Tandy acquired the [[Computer City]] chain in 1991, and sold the stores to [[CompUSA]] in 1998.

In 1994, RadioShack began selling [[IBM]]'s [[IBM Aptiva|Aptiva]] line of home computers.<ref>{{cite press release|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714021322/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Radio+Shack+adds+hot+new+IBM+Aptiva+MPC+to+name-brand+computer+line.-a015914929|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Radio+Shack+adds+hot+new+IBM+Aptiva+MPC+to+name-brand+computer+line.-a015914929|archive-date=July 14, 2018|access-date=September 17, 2019|date=November 9, 1994|via=Business Wire|title=Radio Shack adds hot new IBM Aptiva MPC to name-brand computer line. }}</ref>  This partnership would last until 1998, when RadioShack partnered with [[Compaq]] and created 'The Creative Learning Center' as a store-within-a-store to promote desktop PCs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://corpinfo.radioshack.com/investor/annualreports/97/ops_computers.htm |title=RadioShack Computers – 1997 Annual Report |publisher=RadioShack.com |date=1997 |access-date=February 12, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212025433/http://corpinfo.radioshack.com/investor/annualreports/97/ops_computers.htm |archive-date=February 12, 2015}}</ref> Similar promotions were tried with 'The Sprint Store at RadioShack' (mobile telephones), '[[RCA]] Digital Entertainment Center' (home audio and video products), and 'PowerZone' (RadioShack's line of battery products, power supplies, and surge protectors).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lippincott.com/en/news/radioshack-and-compaq-form-brand-alliance-with-the-creative-learning-center |title=RadioShack and Compaq form Brand Alliance with 'The Creative Learning Center' |publisher=Lippincott |date=August 31, 1998 |access-date=February 12, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224215259/http://www.lippincott.com/en/news/radioshack-and-compaq-form-brand-alliance-with-the-creative-learning-center/ |archive-date=February 24, 2016}}</ref>