In recent years over 500,000 music lovers chose a Realistic receiver over Kenwood, Pioneer and Technics ... Why?
Perhaps it's because Radio Shack is a retailer as well as a manufacturer. When the store is also the factory, you're apt to get less fiction and more fact.
Or perhaps it's because Radio Shack has more company-owned and operated service stations than anyone we know of in the audio business (54 to be specific). Could it be we sell so much Realistic because we've been around since 1921--long before those other brands were even a twinkle in daddy's eye? Although hi-fi is typically a young person's product, maybe the kids prefer to bet their hard-earned bucks on the outfit with the grayest hair.
Then there's this to consider: The same company that puts Realistic out front also builds and markets the world's most popular personal computer. It seems to us that a company smart enough to design equipment as innovative and complex as the TRS-80 is a logical one to choose to build your stereo receiver! Need another good reason to buy Realistic? Let's take availability. Instead of tens or hundreds of places to find it, we offer over 7300--wherever you go in the USA or Canada, and a surprising number of overseas locations as well. Being more available doesn't necessarily make us more lovable. But it goes a long way towards assuring you of being able to get in touch with us wren you need advice on adding a tape deck or replacing a lost instruction manual.
Incidentally, we're not picking on Kenwood, Pioneer and Technics. The same half-million plus folks who chose Realistic also probably had a crack at buying Sansui, Marantz and Fisher. The important thing is ... they didn't!
Radio Shack---The Nationwide Supermarket of Sound.
(High Fidelity, Oct. 1979)
Also see:
K-Mart (ad)
Jensen speakers (ad, May 1981)