The history of RadioShack is an endless series of almosts. After some early success at radios and hobbyist electronics, it proceeded to capture, and then failed to capitalize on, multiple technology leadership roles over a period of over 50 years: stereo equipment in 1960\u2019s and 1970\u2019s, CB radios in the 1970\u2019s, early computing in the 1970\u2019s and 1980\u2019s and cell phone retailing in the 1990\u2019s and 2000\u2019s. While RadioShack should provide prodigious fodder for a generation of business school case studies, the role in RadioShack\u2019s demise of one thing in particular has been highly overblown; its name.<\/p>\n
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R is for Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the most popular \u201cradio\u201d in the world? Time\u2019s up; it\u2019s your cell phone! \u201cHow now?!\u201d, you say! \u00a0Your cell phone is a package of at least four radios, and possibly more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A radio is a device that receives (and also transmits in many applications) electromagnetic waves of one or more frequencies.\u00a0 Every cell phone can transmit and receive in at least one frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum.\u00a0 These transmission protocols have names like CDMA and GSM, and these are the spectrums on which your mobile phone calls are completed. Most modern smartphones can transmit and receive in more than one frequency to allow the use of more of the electromagnetic spectrum.\u00a0 Depending on how you count radios, each chip modification or additional chip that allows the use of a new frequency could even be considered to be a new “radio”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Modern smartphones almost always have WiFi capabilities, and thus WiFi radios, allowing the use of wireless local area networks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bluetooth wireless technology is used for headsets, fitness devices, remote speakers and other more proximate devices. Add Bluetooth radios to the list.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For yet closer and more secure communication, there are near-field communication radios (NFC radios), used for various payment, security applications like VPN portal access, and even doors and safes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And yes, although not as common, some smartphones have traditional AM\/FM radio receivers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So smartphone owners are easily carrying at least four radios in their pockets, attached to exceptionally powerful computers. What a great combination!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fates willing, if we are a spacefaring species in 10,000 years, we will certainly be using radios of many spectra for communicating within ships, between ships, between ships and planetary bodies, and over long distances until the end of the universe. Long live the radio!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, does RadioShack sell radios? RadioShack has sold over 70 million smartphones, so the answer to that is \u201cyes\u201d.\u00a0 And RadioShack has probably sold ten times as many home stereo receivers (AM\/FM), walkie talkies (also radios), WiFi routers (radios), Bluetooth wireless speakers (if two way communicating), transistor radios (back in the day, the hot item), CB radios, portable radios, boom boxes, shortwave radios, ham radios and emergency radios (weather radios).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Yeah, yeah,” you say, “But what about right now? No one uses traditional radio now<\/em>, and certainly doesn’t call themselves ‘radio’ anything!” Bzzzzzt! I’m sorry, but you’d be wrong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Millions tune in to traditional talk radio, not just through\u00a0traditional radio sets, but also via Internet or Satellite RADIO.\u00a0 Three of the top six and\u00a0 many of the top 20 talk and variety radio shows are produced by and\/or are aired on networks that have \u201cRadio\u201d in their name; some examples include National Public Radio (NPR), Minnesota Public Radio (MPR); and both iHeartRadio and Premiere Radio Networks (Ok, ok, they changed their name to Premiere Networks recently) owned by iHeartMedia.\u00a0 If Wikipedia is in the ballpark with their listenership estimate, Premiere Networks hosts 245 million listeners a month!\u00a0 That doesn’t sound like a dead medium to me.\u00a0 Many of these “radio” networks are producing media to be distributed not just over the airwaves but broadcast over the Internet via streams and podcasts.\u00a0 Even if a new show is not broadcast over the traditional airwaves, or you do not listen to the broadcast on a traditional radio, an electromagnetic radio was probably still involved. \u00a0 In this day and age, it can safely be said that \u201cradio\u201d is a near substitute for the concept of communication and connection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n S is for Shack<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is \u201cShack\u201d, then, the part of the name that certainly defeated the company? Right, just like it defeated Shake Shack\u2019s recent IPO (NYSE:SHAK<\/a>), a company now worth $1.5 billion, or almost $24 million for each of its 63 stores?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Retro Branding Does Not a Bankruptcy Make<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brand names that are retro, archaic, cheeky, or otherwise non-traditional are much easier to joke about when tough times arrive; the bait is just so, so easy. Surf over to Wikipedia\u2019s list of bankrupt companies<\/a> and even\u00a0the first company, A123, makes it clear how easy and compelling it is to construct a demise headline; \u201cA 123 and Poof, Company Gone\u201d. Run down the list, make up your own, or Google some and see how compelled we are to pile on. And with\u00a0clickbaiting as all the rage, which one would surfers\u00a0click on more often: Footstar Stumbles Into Bankruptcy<\/a> or Footstar Files For Chapter 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just start compiling a list of retro brands that never went out of style or were reinvigorated and it is tough to find a stopping place*; from Jim Beam to Miller High Life, and Tom Jones to Mickey Mouse, iconic brands can endure if nurtured properly. Old Spice, a formerly out of favor brand which moved to the top of the deodorant pack is an immensely illustrative story and can be read about here<\/a> and watched here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Retro names do not cause bankruptcy.\u00a0 Bankruptcy is a sign of a company that was not run well enough to survive.\u00a0 In RadioShack\u2019s case, it had operational and identity issues extending back at least 50 years.\u00a0 RadioShack didn\u2019t, and doesn\u2019t, need a new name; it needs a purpose, the products and services that fulfill that purpose, and to sell enough of those to stay in business.\u00a0 At most, a poorly matched or marketed name is a symptom of a company\u2019s greater problems.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately, blaming the name often takes the place of analyzing what really happened.\u00a0 Current coverage of RadioShack’s bankruptcy, buyout and reorganization has been mixed, with Bloomberg<\/a> providing better coverage, while others, who shall go unnamed for the moment, are providing less robust, flawed, and even inaccurate\u00a0coverage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although it occasionally blossomed, RadioShack was seldom the rose it could have been. But the absence of the RadioShack we knew, and knew it could be, will nonetheless leave the world a bit less sweet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karl Hartkopf wrote this by elaborating on one of the 500 slides from his RadioShack Rebirth slide deck. He hopes to continue publishing post-bankruptcy RadioShack debriefs and that someday, there will again be a store catering to his geek side. Perhaps it will be RadioShack, perhaps not.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n * G.I. Joe, The Terminator, Star Trek, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Tiffany & Co., Atari, Dart muscle car, Challenger muscle car, Charger muscle car, Camaro muscle car, Brooks Brothers, Levi Strauss & Co, Lacoste, IZOD, Ray-Ban, Chuck Taylor (Converse), Mott’s, Jell-O, Twinkie, Coca-Cola, Aqua Velva, Colgate, Transformers (not as old), American Express, General Electric, John Deere, most Marvel and DC Comics heroes including Batman, Superman, Iron Man, The Avengers, Catwoman, and most Disney characters including Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Daffy, and Cinderella.\u00a0 [NEWSFLASH, THIS JUST IN: Cinderella is a European folk take from at least 400 years ago.\u00a0 Talk about a durable brand, eh?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The history of RadioShack is an endless series of almosts. After some early success at radios and hobbyist electronics, it proceeded to capture, and then failed to capitalize on, multiple technology leadership roles over a period of over 50 years: … Continue reading