The AM Forum

From Jerry Colliano's column:

"Looks like the folks who run Radio Shack have all of a sudden inherited the terrestrial radio dumb-dumb gene some of the "C" list consolidators have.

They are going to drop "Radio" from their name -- making them known as simply "The Shack".

This all happened after a new ad agency got its hands on the Radio Shack account and decided to make the brand more now sounding.

Here's a bunch of BS:

Their Chief Marketing Officer Greg Stern was quoted in Inside Radio yesterday as saying, “This creative is not about changing our name. Rather, we’re just contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand.”

"Since you put your boots on for the previous b.s. quote I cited, let me throw a little more you-know-what on the floor:

“Everything about the advertising — the media, format, style, music and tone — will contribute to a new interpretation of the brand.” Somehow Radio Shack thinks it is like Coke or FedEx.

Well, there are a couple of problems here -- and as Obama would say -- it gives us a teaching moment.

The Shack is nothing without Radio in it.

They'll find out -- too late.

What would OfficeMax be if their honchos thought offices were passe -- The Max?

If the Cheesecake Factory suddenly felt diners thought its cheesecake desert was causing an outbreak of adult onset diabetes, would it hire this ad agency to rename it -- The Factory?

If Apple someday saw digital downloads as yesterday's technology, could it rename the iTunes store -- The Store?

And what about Burger King -- take away the Burger because the fats are contributing to heart disease and this agency would rename it -- The King. Even Larry wouldn't eat there."

"Back to Radio Shack -- and I'm going to call them that just for spite.

I get that they don't sell many radios these days.

And my readers have told me they have tried to buy HD radios just because they are in the industry and have had a Radio Shack sales associate walk them over to the satellite radios -- which they knew nothing about either.

Maybe Radio Shack should have been renamed Radio Hack for the low level of product expertise some of the stores' employees have. I'll bet they couldn't even sell a popular item like an iPod or an iPhone if Apple let them.

Notice-- Apple doesn't let them. "

(snip)

I weighed in on this a little while ago.

the more consolidation at the top, the more artificially generated illusions of choices there are at the bottom.
To a moneyman, teh name of something is only useful by a measurement of money. if thy thought they would make more money by calling it teh house of Big Electronic Scrotum Bag, thats what they'd call it.  :)

F em all.  :P

The contemporary business model is to make the corporation sound as generic as possible.

Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to "KFC".

American Automobile Association became just "AAA", or "Triple A".

Heritage AM radio stations with their original three letter callsigns change to some hum-drum 4-letter combination when a new corporation takes over and decides on a "contemporary" image.  This was rampant during the 80's and 90's.  You still occasionally hear of it, but there just are not many of the old 3-letter calls left to change.

And there's HD Radio.  HD originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", but it is nothing more than the company's trade mark, with no "official" meaning. But Ibiquity is banking on the public confusing or associating it with "HD TV".  I have even seen trade newsletters and magazine articles refer to it as "high definition radio".  What a bunch of crap!

Well, technically, they sell a lot of them, and TRANSMITTERS and antennas, too -- mobile and wireless phones, plus the occasional wifi device.  But you can't call these things a "radio" much less a "radio transmitter", or even imply that's what they are,  because then they'd be banned by many HOAs which allow no "radio transmitters" to be used within their pristine, ticky tacky McMansioned boundaries ...  I guess when the local gendarmes drive through the neighborhood they are required to use smoke signals or something.

I asked about cell phones once, relative to a clause in a set of deed restrictions  (a place I didn't purchase a home) since they expressly banned the use of any kind of "radio transmitter" whatsover!.  The blank stare I got in response from the overly parfum'd real estate agent about my cell phone was enough to know it was time to move a bit further out in the country and blow my wife's plans to live on Wisteria Lane .. :-)

in any case, "The Shack" isn't a place I visit, with or without a name change.

Actually I'm glad..what little they had to do with Radio was small potatoes anyhow, and how long can we Snow the Public it's been long enough......So now it's the Shack ...wooooo.. ;D  can't wait for the commercials.. :)

73
Jack.

or even worse was the branding of stations by animals, "froggy 98", "the Horse 104.2", etc.

There are still a lot of 'Jack' format stations down your way Don. It was all the rage up here for 2 years or so.

the frog stations were almost always country, or the crap that passes for country these days. The poor board ops had to say everything in frog speak...."and now it's 8am frog time! better get hopping into work before you're late again!"

"now your froggy 98 weather as you hop for home...." poor bastards.  ::)

I don't see anything wrong with them changing their name to reflect the times. Lots of businesses had the word "radio" in it at one time; Radio Brand Coffee, Radio Cab, Radio City, Radio Fruit, etc. Back then it was the latest thing, just like ".com" is today. However I would have renamed Radio Shack something other than "The Shack"....maybe "The Battery Shed" or "The Cell-a-Bration"...

These people aren't going to change anything!

It's not Radio City any more?

What is the new name of the Radio City Music Hall?

Not to worry. The music hall and NBC's 30 Rock still carry the name. But there was a West Coast version that vanished:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Radio_City_Studios#Live_from_Hollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Radio_City_Studios#Live_from_Hollywood)

YUP it's easeir to remember a few bits of info in or hurried busy lives.
The National Georgraphic Channel is now NATGO

Fred

There is a very well known restaurant in these parts called "The Shack".  It 's been here for decades.  My brother and the owner are good friends.  Think I will let them know that a intellectual property infringement is coming their way.

They should have changed the name years ago.

The Sci Fi channel is now SYFY.

what's a syfy?

SIGH!!  Sure aint the old Radio Shack!  I still go there for fuses, and other parts.  I hope they never get rid of those bins in the back of the store.  This pic was taken out of a 1940 QST.

Al

I haven 't been in a RS  in 5 or 6 years. I got disgusted the last time I went there and being out in the boonies reinforced it.  Most of my parts now come mail order. Just as well. RS stuff these days, IMO is junk.  I like good and well made parts. Reduces future and annoying problems.

Yeah Derb, They started out SyFy than Sci Fi now it's SiFi. NATGEO is a dumb one as well. When Gatorade changed it's name to G that really took the cake. Can kids only think and speak in single syllables these days?

Crap, I had a punk kid ask me the time the other day that couldn't tell time from a regular watch...he asked what time it was and I showed him, he said "I can't tell from that".

I said "times up for you, then". :P

Cities Service petroleum co. is now CITGO (if they haven't changed it since then)

Diamond oil co. changed to D-X (http://www.flickr.com/groups/890958@N21/).  The parent company was Sunray Midcontinent.  Now it is Sonoco.

Remember when you could coat your antenna with DX grease?

Pizza Slut is slicing the "pizza" from its boxes and some store signs. The fast food chain will now brand some stores as simply "The Hut."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/pizza-hut-changes-its-name.aspx?GT1=33009

SYFY - I saw this while traveling where the hotel had cable TV. I thought it was one of those festive-oriented channels or something - -sounds like "sissy"

And if you spend enough time at Pizza Hut you might become like Jabba the Hut.

But "the shack" won't fly well.. people will make up even worse names for it than "rat shack"

- I dub thee "Crack Shack" in honor of the smoking preferences of your no-credit overcharged cellphone customers.

I was at "The Shack" this week to buy some of the super strength hook and loop fasteners they sell.

I was again shocked to see that selling CANDY right next to the sales counter!
Really, a rack with Snickers, M&Ms, etc.
I asked the salesperson about the candy and she related that certain stores were doing that
and it was on a trial basis. She then proceeded to ask me how my cellphone was.

Yep, sad to see how Radio Shack has fallen.
I used to love that company, it bought me my first car, a 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 when their stock split 2:1 twice during the TRS-80 computer era. I remember working all summer welding for my folk's business so I could buy the TRS-80 "Speech Synthesizer" and "Vox Box". Ah, the halcyon days of youth.

I learned electronics with the Radio Shack "Science Fair" kits, the red perfboard boxes that I always managed to melt with the soldering iron. My interest in all things radio came out of my first shortwave set, a Radio Shack DX-150, or was it a 160, no matter, it was magic.

They somehow lost their way and forgot the old maxim "stick to your knitting".
Better to die with dignity than to be reduced to hawking cheap Chinese made radio control cars, cellphones and Snickers.  :'(

I knew that the end was at hand when they stopped with their great catalogs, and the store clerks, who were infamous for asking for your name and address, gave up that practice (sure they cull it from credit cards now).

The "Shack" name change is just another bad decision on top of decades of bad decisions, disappointed, but not surprised.

At least we can still dream, here is a link to Radio cats from 1939 to until 2005 -->> http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

I  remember an auto parts chain that used to call itself, IIRC, Auto Shack.  Tandy threatened to sue them for infringement of trade mark, so they changed the name to Auto Zone.

I suppose any day now they will become the "Zone".

The Snickers are the best thing in the store!!!

I think you nailed it!  I stopped by one last month in "little Chicago" (so named after Cabrini Green closed and exported many of their thugs down to central IL) to pick up some miniature fuses.  The poor clerk was trying to explain to a female "customer" who outweighed him at least 4 to 1 how cell phone charges (not chargers) work.  I did safely get my fuses and exit while the other customers numerous offspring were wandering through the store; probably looking to pick up some free merchandise.  

The Shack has no clearly defined market or image and is in no position to compete in most of the product categories they retail.  It is sad to watch them floundering as they sink.  Some of you may remember the WT Grant company and at the time they failed they were one of the largest retailers to have gone bankrupt.  During their last 5 years of operation they had at least 9 major strategy shifts and like the "shack" they were trying to feed from a very poor credit risk market.  


Radio Shack had some neat products over the years and I have several of their SW receivers including the good performing SX-190 (still carrying the Allied brand) and AX-190 (branded realistic) which were sourced by Trio/Kenwood.  I still have the Science Fair "Globe Patrol" solid state regen which was a birthday gift for my 10'th birthday and the first piece of electronic gear I ever built.  5 year old daughter Anna has taken over my DX-160 and she has her own operating position down in the basement.  I imagine Radio Shack introduced a large number of folks to electronics and ham radio over the years and it will be a shame to see them finally fade away.  I am only in there maybe once a year anymore to pick up a part or two when I don't want to wait for Mouser.  I expected they would be gone before this but it looks like it will be a long slow death.

What about the "Love Shack"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leohcvmf8kM

Is this like the Tron?

Fannie Mae was going to change its name to FM, but after it caused our current financial disaster, it should be called, FU, since that's what it did to all of us.

..ok..with the name changing to "the shack",...does anyone have any ideas what the name might have been, for  "the gap".?

..sk..

The "gap" originally referred to the "generation gap" (and the clothing favored by those on the youthful side of it) which was still a hot topic when the first GAP store opened in 1969.

Or the "Sugar Shack"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DW8ecqu0Iw&feature=related

The last time I went to the Rat Shack was to buy some 1/10 amp fuses. The clerk said we don't have any that size. So he let me look at the stock, and I picked out several labeled '0.1 amp and showed them to him. He said, "But those are point one amp, not what you're looking for." Duh!

Walt

Well I don't mind so much when you have to educate them on parts, the ones that wana learn about things it's the pushy ones that what do you want I'll find it....and it's like look junior half the fun in shopping is shopping...I'll find it myself..

 

Well they could double their prices and hire smarter help but I prefer cheaper prices so put up with the talent.

I had a similar experience Walt. I stopped in to "The Shack" to grab an assortment pack of low value capacitors and was greeted by the "helpful" store manager right at the door. When he asked me what I was looking for I told him I wanted an assortment of capacitors in the 200 picofarad to 50 picofarad range. He turned around and yelled across the store to one of his clerks, "Do we have any picofarads back there?" How could I not be amused?

Rob

In defense of the clueless rat shack employees, (and No, I don't know one), they are just working a job. The job doesn't pay enough to attract an experienced electronics guy. It wouldn't matter to them if it was rat shack, or a dep store, or whatever. It's just a paycheck. I certainly wouldn't sell what I know about the hvac biz to a supply house parts counter for 12 bux an hour, hell no.

Of course I'm one of those lucky SOB's that still has a real component level electronics parts store right here in town. 

Precisely the reason that Wal-Mart does so well.  ;D

It's tough to fault a company for trying to remain relevant and connected in today's IT world. So few of us truly appreciate the 'radio' side of things these days. Makes me think of the milsurplus guys who get bent outta shape over a radio being used in a movie that isn't 'period-correct'. Like the other 99.9999% of the world will notice enough to make it worth the effort and expense?

Saw one of their new ads last night, 'The Shack' followed by 'RadioShack'. Guess they want to break it to us gently.

Please don't ruin a perfectly good rant with facts. Some are still at level 1 of therapy and need to be allowed to vent regardless of validity.