LGR - 1991 and 1979 Radio Shack Catalogs

22:25 the old radio shack stuff reminds me on conrad, which is a German chain much like radio shack. Apprently they are around since 1923, but somehow I feel they made it big 10 years ago with "yeah we have components, and shit and little electronic kits so you can tinker your own crap". I mean retail stores in germany hold themselves way better than anyone would expect. But conrad actually delivers good service. But man is it overprized often. Also they have a very good working online store so there is that. Mhmm wonder why radio shack died, maybe you could make an Video about it, because that would be pretty intersting.

Ezydenias

They still have a handful of locations here. Don't think they'll be around much longer though. Really like these nostalgic videos; thank you!

I've got my original, full-size Illuma-Storm plasma ball only two rooms away. Mint condition. I don't know how it survived my life and all the storage jostling it must have endured, when so much else didn't. They were intended as decorations and demonstrations, of course, but you can do other interesting things with them as well. Get creative enough, and you'll figure out all kinds of fun things they can do. I'm going to go get it right now and plug it in, actually. You've got me wanting to see it run again. Yup. That was fun. :)

Paul

I had the Stress Eliminator! It was an X-Mas stocking stuffer. I'm guessing mid to late 80's? They carried it for quite a number of years.

Kitt Thompson

I really love catalog review videos, I'd be really interested to see more

Ooooohhh...so rad!!! :D

floverSaeu09

at 17:09 when you mention variable squelch, did you see the "fits in pocket" photo? looks like it's about to rip out!

Dan Loeb

Okay cool, thanks for replying! That's why I love being a patreon contributer!

Okau

I've been uploading in 4K since 2015. But not every video needs that kind of resolution since sometimes a higher frame rate makes sense, and I can only film 4K at 30fps. This one was shot in 4K but upload in 1440p as an in-between since it allows me to clearly zoom during the editing process.

LGR

You should start uploading in 4k!

I had so much Radio Shack stuff! I still have an old pair of walkie-talkies that were like the agent radios from the Matrix, the earpiece was both the speaker and the microphone. They didn't work well but holy balls we were G-Men! Also nice to see that Red Arrow RC car again.

moosemaimer

This is so cool! Along with vintage gaming and computing, I'm a fan of vintage fashion, so it's always neat to see catalogues from the 40's and 50's. I hadn't thought of checking out old tech flyers, though! I'll keep an eye out for them, and if I come across any digitized on the internet while I'm looking for old catalogues I'll let you know. :)

Aleisha

Exactly the kind of memories I hope to bring back with videos like this. Thanks for sharing :)

LGR

Yep, judging for inflation $1,150 today would have the buying power of about $640 back then. The pricing isn't bad these days in that respect.

LGR

Circuit City has been dead here for much longer so that is quite amusing to me.

LGR

Yep, I still have a lovely woodgrain useless box

LGR

I just love the wording of old advertisements pricing then state-of-the-art technology. That never gets old. And speaking of DIY kits: have you ever constructed one of those useless machines (or useless boxes) that were a thing about nine years ago?

Marnix

What a pick me up, and a trip of geekdom! We actually had the record player cleaning set - or some of it - when I was a kid, so it was neat to see it in that catalogue. Up here in Canada, Radioshack was bought out by Circuit City and renamed to The Source. Then they shut half their stores, but they're still managing, somehow. It's good they do, because they still sell things you can't get anyhere else.

This was another awesome trip back in time, thanks Clint. Looking at that Tandy 386sx with 1mb of ram for $1299 in 1991 money makes me think that $1150 in 2017 money for an iPhone X is a freaking steal. The March of progress...

Joon Choi

Man I miss looking at all of the odds and ends like capacitors and batteries that all seemed so foreign to me. Then they would have the computers set up to try during the early Win 3.1 days and usually a small, but terrible selection of NES or SNES games.

Justin Dotson

Memories. So many memories. I remember when my father took me to a Radio Shack in March 1980. I was 15 back then and had never been to a store like it before; all those wonderful things I saw, heard and touched for the very first time - wonderful, desirable things *^_^*. After that first visit I became a regular customer, going to one of 3 nearby stores at least once a week for the next 21 years; bought many things, some of which I still have - like this handheld game from 1982 (and it still works too :O) <a href="https://i.imgur.com/h8V57o2.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/h8V57o2.png</a> By 2001 Radio Shack had changed significantly and wasn't the same anymore, so I stopped being a regular customer and only went there once or twice a year; in 2012 I went back to the same store I first visited in 1980, but it was a mere shadow of its former self. That was also the last time I set foot inside a Radio Shack store. Seeing the catalogs in this video brings back the days when going to Radio Shack actually meant something to me. I'm sad to know it's no longer around, but I also knew it was inevitable - they changed so much that old customers (like myself) left outright, while any potential new ones saw nothing of real value. Oh well.

14:08 WE HAD THAT PENCIL SHARPENER. It sat between the answering machine and the phone that hung on the wall. Sorry for the blob o' comments. Nostalgia Overwhelming™

Peter Metzger

11:27 O_O I literally just dropped this keyboard off at Goodwill last month... except it said "Casio" on the front and was called a "rapman" instead of "rap-master" but it's totally the same model. It was a surprisingly fun keyboard to play with - had a little voice changer effect built in and those three little pads in the bottom right were for percussion sounds. The big gray disc in the top right was spring-loaded to make cheesy record-scratch noises. ALL THE FEELS AND SOME OF THE REGRET

Peter Metzger

That Tandyfax in the lower left corner of page 12 of the 1991 catalog looks like a SNES ^_^

Peter Metzger

Where you has Tandy branded products in Radio Shack. We had Radio Shack branded products Tandy store. LOL brand reversal. But we both had the wonderful Realistic... I had so many things out of that 90s one. I had the electronics set in the top left you pointed at and also the black and yellow drum machine in top right lol. Love your Videos mate. Keep them rolling... I have had hours of amusement watching your whole back catalogue. Also like you I am a massive fan for SIM and THEME games. Started from Settlers and Theme Park on Amiga. Then all the rest. And now because of YOU...IM HOOKED ON Cities: Skylines. It really is what Sim City was ment to be. :D all the best. Sean Yem (Liverpool UK)

Sean Yem

Happy to hear that, thanks! And yeah I should've mentioned it being Tandy in many places overseas, but I guess people will make the connection if they're familiar with the stores

LGR

That was a bloody good watch... I thoroughly enjoyed it... We never had Radio Shack in the UK but we has Tandy Stores. But has all the usual Radio Shack and Realistic brands. I really miss electronics shops like this. Loved this video...

Sean Yem

DroidPoliceman

LGR

Figures you might ;)

LGR

Might be worth trying some DeOxit on them :)

LGR

I used to have a ton of these saved myself. No idea what happened to them, I guess they were lost in some move over the years

LGR

Haha, yeah this does not surprise me

LGR

Wow, even taking currency conversion into account that's an awful lot

LGR

Oh yeah, I could look at ads for those kinds of machines all day.

LGR

Aye, they were THE place to go for components for a long time! Many fun memories going through the endless drawers and bins full of capacitors and switches.

LGR

Nice! They seem quite fun, I love smaller computers.

LGR

Hehe, I used to do the same with these and any other electronics store catalogs. Especially on trips to and from grandparents, since they had a newspaper subscription and they kept all the inserts for me to go through when I visited.

LGR

Oh the nostalgia! Also I learned something cause I had no idea Radio Shack used to have all those little parts for sale to make your own stuff. Cool! So much nerdiness it's great!

Sarah

I just bought a Tandy Model 102 a few weeks back for $20 and I've had a blast playing around with it.

perkindo

I used to read through every single radio shack catalog when I was younger. Other people would bring a book with them to read on a long road trip, I'd bring the latest radio shack catalog. :-) . And I owned quite a few of those items and still do. I recently picked up one of those weather radio cubes for like $1 at an estate sale.

The 8-Bit Guy

Lovin' it! The 90s was most to my liking... 286 and 386 right on the money! :D

Anders Enger Jensen

Goddamn... A TRS-80 for under $1000? In Australia, even in 1982, they were charging around $4000 in Tandy.

Gary Leigh

I have that joystick... It's a total POS. It was when we bought it and it still is. XD

Kris Asick

Now that I think about it, I think I have been to that one, I had to pick up some RJ-45 to DB-25 converters - 950-0283 or 950-0284's for hooking up thermal printers / terminals to an Novel server running some restaurant software.

Kenneth

that was very entertaining. some smart bod has archived some Argos (UK department store) catalogues from the 80s and 90s online and I had a great time going through those. Its a shame, my grandparents used to just hoard all kinds of old stuff including Toys R Us advertising catalogs which I just wish I had kept and then archived for everyone to enjoy.

Dan Milner

OMG that top receiver on the centerfold in the second catalog is the unit my parents had when I was growing up. That thing was great and put out some great sound. We still have it but a lot of the switches on the front are going bad so it's pretty much unusable these days.

Contreramanjaro

This is rad. I approve :-)

Retail Archaeology

I agree. I'd love to see more.

Jailyn Dyer

futuristic galactic man aka, not robocop?

Dan Loeb

"Here Are Our Newest Radio Shack Stores and Dealers". Hmm I noticed Haltom City, Tx. I don't think I ever stopped at that one.

Kenneth

This is great. Would be cool to do a whole series like this on all the radio shack catalogs.

Jason Dupree

Yep, that feature just popped up for me!

LGR

oh neat you can say when it will go public on patreon now? is that a new thing?

Apothecarrion