Browsing Radio Shack Retro Tech Catalogs 1979-1991 

Back in the 80's, they had fake car phones, too, so you could pretend you had a car phone even if you couldn't afford one. I was so poor, I couldn't afford the fake one either.

It’s kinda sad RadioShack wasn’t able to capitalize on the maker movement and make a comeback.

I would watch a channel dedicated to this sort of thing.

I don't know why looking through these as a kid was like looking through a christmas catalog every sunday. I miss it.

My university has hundreds, if not thousands, of these old computer articles bounded into books in our library. I love to look through them and see them all. It's free to the public too.

Now As Seen On RU-vid.

Can we just talk about the fact that if someone got one of these computers brand new in '91, took it home, set it up, and wanted to play some games, they wouldn't be able to play Doom because it wouldn't come out for two more years? That kind of stuff blows my mind.

The 79 issue is more my time in terms of nostalgia. I was 14, and my friends and I went to Radio Shack all the time to buy components and things for various projects. Usually CB radio stuff, but often odd things. Around the time the original Battlestar Galactica came out, I got a plastic model of the ship. Suddenly and quite randomly, Radio Shack started selling these fiber-optic kits. Boom!! Fully lit up Battlestar model!! It was awesome, and I couldn't have done it without the odd and random components they sold. Sad to see it go downhill in recent years...

When my grandma died i got her Yamaha stereo receiver and i still use it on my pc with 2 Kef speakers. Sounds amazing. Brushed aluminium. The remote shows the age but the receiver doesn't. Amazing sound.

You know that catalog is a relic of the past when you see the thick clips binding the pages... you could build a whole house with all that metal.

I miss RadioShack, that was the only place you could find electrical parts and components. Sometimes you just needed an LED or a resistor or a spool of solder and you didn't want to pay for and wait for shipping.

I loved Radio Shack as a teen in the 1980s. It was a magical wonderland for a kid with an electronics hobby. Then I got a job at a Radio Shack around 1990-1991- I didn't like it. We were paid by commission and we were graded on things like selling extended warranties (Tandy Service Plan) and getting EVERYONES address to put them on our catalog list. Man I just wanted to play with the electronics, not hassle people! Still, I did have fun from time to time. First time I used a cell phone was in 91- one of those old brick phones. This is really bringing back some memories.

9:12 The Bible in two electronic editions, $200 each. That's $400 just to read The Bible on a dot matrix screen. Adjust for inflation, that's about $725 in 2017. What the actual hell.

I miss Radio Shack. I miss being able to just walk down the street and pickup a resistor, or a cap, or an odd connector. Now it's order online in bulk, pay shipping and wait 3-5 days.

For those who want to hear the answering machine tape (I think this was on Beware of the Blog originally) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0MK3J45P5H4.html

4:06 That is a HTX-202 handheld. My first ham radio, I still have it, and it still works!

Here in Canada, Radio Shack got bought out by The Source, and they are TERRIBLE! Severely overpriced accessory, and I don't mince my words here (HDMI cables for $20, when they can be bought for $3, generic power bricks for $40, etc), they never have what you're looking for(shit inventory and not nearly enough variety), and they got rid of electronic parts, which was one of the best things about Radio Shack! I legit hate that store, lol

In 1991 Memorex's consumer brand was still owned by Tandy (Radio Shack), so it was just another house brand.

You just gave me a huge rush of memories, man. My parents had huge ass wood grain speakers and a glass front case for their hifi setup. And the speakers looked even bigger to 5 year old me because they were set on wooden Molson crates full of cassettes. I'm in nostalgia overload here. Thanks, Clint.

Hey LGR, I wanted to start out by saying your voice had become iconic to me. Your videos are amazing and even ones I thought I wouldn't enjoy I ended up watching in pure amusement. You're the review wizard by far. I'm sure you have plenty of video ideas but I figured I'd share some of mine with you. There's a very unique game that I think you'd enjoy called Proteus. I'd make for a wonderful quick review I feel. Also might I suggest the Command and Conquer franchise for a long review? I feel like you'd do both justice with your superior in-depth review process. Thanks for your time! Keep up the amazing work!

The noises you make are what people sound like while looking through a playboy mag

17:52 what a reaction. When other guys had centerfold posters of girls on their wall, LGR stuck this on his. I kid.

These videos are fantastic! Takes me back to my childhood, scouring catalogues for the coolest shit going that I would never be able to afford lol

The silver faced 1979 Realistic STA-240 receiver was manufactured by Matsushita and branded as Realistic for Radio Shack. It is essentially a modified Technics SA-500.

The TRS-80 sounded cheap until I looked up the price in an inflation calculator. It would have been $3,451.88 today. It is amazing how much computer costs have come down over the years.

"As seen on TV" was the new, cool thing. What RS meant in this context was this was the super cool thing on the commercial you saw last week.

In the UK 'RadioShack' was just called 'Tandy'

5:01 Your 90s Santa Clause kind of sounds like Hulk Hogan, brother! :D

Aaaand.. I´m procrastinating again.

I'm glad that you pick up stuff like this, then present it to us with your enthusiasm. I dig it.

it's sad to see radioshacks closed, but they closed for reasons. The last time i tried to get something from radioshack, a 9V AC adapter, they wanted 30 dollars for it. online they had them for less than 5.

RadioShack used to be my go-to for parts that I needed for immediate projects. The sad thing is now that you have to order parts ahead of time online for any project now.

When you said something about the car in the car radio add it came to my mind, the perfect car for you, a 1996 Buick Roadmaster Station Wagon. It's super cool, has Woodgrain panels and a Corvette Engine . I'd totally own it

Oooooh yeah, time to settle in for some nice, relaxing viewing.

I still have one of those Tandy stack challenge handheld games. Still works, one of the best handheld Tetris games I've ever run across. I remember buying several back-in-the-day and giving them as Xmas presents.

I wish I still had the giant Computer Shopper magazines from back in the early 90's. Those things were great.

I always wanted one of those electronic chess sets as a kid. (Yes, I was in the Chess Club when I was in grade school). EDIT: Also, Futuristic Galactic Man looks like something Phelous would review in the Bootleg Zone (as a bootleg Robocop).

The last page of the 90s ad, the yellow robot looking thing called Bank with Robbie. My brother and I had one, you put a coin in it’s hand and it would eat it. Completely forgot about that thing. Memories.

As a kid RadioShack was my favorite store to go see at the mall! This is so nostalgic lol

I just love these catalog videos. Clint, you make my Mondays bearable. Thank You!

I completely forgot about those 'Electronic Lab Kit' things that RS sold. I *loved* those when I was a kid.

Clint, what I love about LGR for lack of a better way of putting it is you. Whether it's talking about the histories of tech giants to reviewing obscure bottom bin software no-one ever thought to buy, goin' thrifting, or even talking about retro cameras; at the end of the day it's your genuine enthusiasm for the stuff you cover that I personally have come to love. You, much like the retro tech you review, have acquired your own unique aesthetic. You convey so much personality through your voice, and as an aspiring voice actress I can tell you how important that is in fostering a community. I may go out on a limb here, but I think a lot of us just want you to make whatever makes you happy. Cuz' what ever makes you happy makes us happy. That's my 2 cents on the issue. Stumbled upon your channel in the summer, and I've been hooked ever since.

Great way to start my Monday - thanks for sharing ^^

Actually that Realistic 2M Ham Radio is a beast. They were a good value back then and people STILL use them! They are practically indestructible and hold up better then just about any other 2M portable with a digital tuner. I still have mine 26 years later and it has never broken. Of course I have moved on to bigger and better equipment, but if I was on a deserted island, the HTX-202 is the one I would bring!

I only went to Radio Shack for individual components back when it was open. All the way up to when it closed I would buy components there. Can't buy a resistor at walmart.

I owned that Puppy Watch as a child! The watch readout popped out when you pushed a little button and then you could push it back down to put it away. And the entire watch piece could slide off the band, and I would pretend it was a little robot with a head that popped out like a turtle (ignoring the dog part I guess?). I loved that thing when I was like, very tiny. These types of videos are great, I love it when you do these. Thanks!

Oh the VHS Cam Corders that were HUGE. If people back then knew how small and diverse cell phones would be in just 10-15 years from then! and I was always jealous of those clear phones, usually always on American TV Shows where teenagers had their own phone in their bedroom! Like 'Clarissa Explains it All' or other Nickelodeon shows of the time period!

Radio Shack was everywhere in 1979... The listing on the back was for the newest stores (recently opened) yes, hard to believe there was a time like that... I grew up in the 70's, so was fun to go there.

I always loved Radio-Shack, I was a kid in the 90's and they just had all sorts of cool stuff for us. Most, if not all of my radio controlled toys came from there, as well as small electronics builders kits/tinker sets that were cool for a kid into electronics. Now I'm older they always had some switches DPDT or Momentary switches for buttons on retro gaming machines, capacitors, resistors, you name it. Now where the hell am I going to get this crap now? I can order it but it takes a lot of the fun out of it, at least for me...

Awesome video Clint! I remember flipping through these as a kid and pining over old Tech and Computers too. So much nostalgia...

"It's a radio inside a stuffed animal; that's amusing." I think it'd be worth the risk to break causality and have this review appear on the box.

Love when you do these videos. I myself am very intrigued by older catalogs and sales flyers as well. Keep them coming!!

This makes me want to track down a Sears or JC Penney catalog from about 1989. I used to circle just about every toy in the toy section and my Mom would buy me clothes, damn responsible parenting.

It's so neat to see this. I own a pair of Realistic Nova 6 bookshelf speakers that my Uncle bought back in the early 1970's and they travelled with him all around the world as he was military. They are now my garage speakers and still hold their own! I also have a set of original 4024 (I see a set of 4024a in the 1979 catalog) Realistic Mach One 15" speakers, we have one of the radios seen in the 1979 flyer and I had a bunch of the early-mid 90's RadioShack RC stuff. We also have RadioShack intercoms still from the early 80's and later models from the early 2000's, still in use today. My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 1950's/1960's so places like RadioShack were a go-to for repair parts. We are very lucky that both of our local RadioShack's rebranded in the early 2000's to another audio/video company which still stocks a lot of the obscure tech accessories that were lost when RadioShack disappeared. I know it's 4 years late, but LOVE videos like this!

the realistic/ optimus music keyboards were absolutely insane and i WISH i could find the old huge optimus i had in the 90s now online. awesome fn keyboards.

This was a really nice vid. Never had a Radio Shack in my country, but the nostalgia sweeping over me seeing similar products to the ones i grew up with was immense. So many memories.

Perhaps Maplin could buy up what's left, they do pretty much what Radio Shack used to do. Funnily enough, Radio Shack used to be in the UK under the Tandy name, I actually had a Micronta alarm clock for years. It had a red LED display... and woodgrain.

Shared! Thanks, Clint. I really enjoyed this! Please find more catalogs! I will totally watch.

COMPUTERS! 20:13

In the 80’s you could not exit Radio Shack with your stuff without them taking down all your contact info (every time you went there) before cashing you out so they could snail mail you their catalogs. They were hard core, you had no say in the matter. If you were lucky you’d also get a “battery of the month club” card forced on ya. But it sure was nice being a short bike ride away from that diode, potentiometer, 555 timer, toggle switch, project box, and L.E.D you needed RIGHT NOW! Now we have to wait at least a day for Amazon or worst case several days for an eBay delivery from China! Well at least we can 3d print our own project boxes now.

I miss Radio Shack.

RadioShack is still around. Thier mostly a online business now but thier are some physical locations still out thier and in business. I actually got a retro style logo t shrit from thier website and I really enjoy it.

"... and I would send it to 8 bit keys..." ROFLMAO +1 like

1:30 I always wanted a VHS camcorder but couldn't afford it. Now I have a camcorder that records crystal clear 4k on a solid state drive. And yet still when I see these VHS recorder, I'm like, wow they're so cool... at the time I was mowing lawns for about $2 each.. :/

13:12 It's Robert Cop!

As a young Marine fresh out of basic training, I bought that same TRS-80 Model I from a store in South Bend, IN for $998, plus a few programs...they had to send my computer to Chicago to put the extra memory and keypad in...you learn real patience typing in a thousand lines of code...I really loved that computer...

I used to have a Cassio pocket TV, just like the one on the left 2:30 :-)

Wow, thanks for posting this video! Sooooo many memories. I spent hours poring over these catalogs, even back to the one from 1979. Back then, the Rat Shack catalog was one of the main sources of technology information available to the average kid.

Clint... Would I be right to assume that you track all your RU-vid finances in Lotus 1*2*3 on a 286? I also challenge you to do a video where you make dot matrix iron on transfers.

I remember buying/getting a lot of that stuff back in the day. I even got my parents to get me a casio pocket t.v. which burned through batteries very quickly! Watching the wonder years & Saturday morning cartoons.... Even the scanners to listen in on stuff. The CD players that didn't have antishock/skip protection & would skip with the slightest bump! The stereo system with large speakers we had was realistic brand as well. Now that I think about it, we bought most everything electric/electronic at Radio Shack. Those flyers bring back memories! Thank you for sharing them LGR

I don't know how or why I ended up watching this but holy fuck I'm intrigued

You're only a couple of years younger than me BUT everything you talked about brought back memories...I also grew up right down the road from you so I get a lot of your references. There were 2 Radio Shack's in Gastonia NC from mid 70's until early 90's. Oh..and I had a Tandy bag phone in the early 90's on the AllTell network.

i bet microsoft bob would run real great on those machines

I miss Radio Shack. Heck, I miss 1979. Back in the 70’s RS was almost totally do-it-yourself kits and components for people who wanted to build their own electronics. They had a lot of parts like capacitors, wires, inductors, etc. Thanks for the video!

COMPUTERSSSS!!!! 20:09

Back when Radio shack was fun and had some awesome computers! Those Tandy computers and camcorders is what we got from them.

Retro Nut Shack Catalog Nostalgia

Old publications may be one of my favorite sort of collectable. I remember drooling over the Sharper Image catalog as a kid. I loved those old wired/clear phones, too! PS: Look at those big_brick transceiver radios! Radios at Radioshack, who'd of thunk?! This is great LGR! PS: Did you see that huge rechargeable square/rectangular flashlight! LOL! Holy crap telephone-type receiver! I've never seen those before. Now, that Multiband Portable Radio - I've seen that exact model and it still works like a charm! Intercoms in a word: Necessary.

every think of scanning that and putting it online?

Just a quick comment from a former RS devotee and (later) employee - the "small selection of stores" (on the back of the '79 flyer) was a list of NEW locations. There were GOBS of Radio Shack locations in North Carolina! (At that point, there were about 5,900 locations in the U.S. alone and RS was in EVERY state, including Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia). During the late '70s/early '80s, Radio Shack was expanding so rapidly - from less than 6,000 locations in 1978 to over 9,000 by 1984 - that they would habitually put out a list of locations that had opened since the previous flyer was issued on the back of each new sales flyer during that period.

I had one of those keyboards, in the UK it was the Casio Rapman though www.synthmania.com/rapman.htm i assume radioshack just rebranded.

2-Meter VHF Transceiver... my first HAM Radio from back in the day. A Radio Shack rebranded Kenwood. VERY good radio. Every function under the sun, still works to this day. Gotta love it. RIP my beloved Radio Shack :)

Prodigy > AOL

What's interesting was the one in the Bronx, NY in the 1979 catalog that "just opened" at that time closed in 2015 and actually stayed at that location the entire time. I remember buying capacitors and wires for a physics project in high school to learn about electric currents back like over 10 years ago. It's sad to see them go. Great find LGR!

C:\>THAT WOOD-GRAIN LIFE

Dad used to drag me into the local Radio Shack on weekends to get his electronics fix. He bought me one of those 50 in 1 Electronics Projects kits and I was hooked. It's a shame these stores are no longer around. Just recently, I had to wait a month to get a handful of capacitors from China to restore my computer's 5.1 speakers so I could hear your voice without distortion. I used to be able to drive right around the corner. I miss Radio Shack.

Adafruit bought the rights to the RadioShack brand. Dunno what they’ll do with it though.

Just watched the whole thing and it was amazing. Thank you Mr Bassinger!

I miss the Radio Shack of my youth. I miss those ad inserts but I really miss the catalog you used to be able to get from them every year. At one point they were a couple of hundred pages long. Thanks for the memories.

I little trivia. The chairman, John Roach, is one of the fathers of the TRS-80. In the late 70's Roach was the Pres. of manufacturing. He was contacted by their west coast purchasing manager Don French. French had just bought a MITS Altair 8800 and was trying to get Radio Shack into the computer business. The timing was perfect since Roach needed a new product because the bottom had dropped out of both the CB radio and the calculator markets. Roach and French hired Steve Leininger from National Semiconductor and he and French, with Roach's backing, designed the TRS-80 -- one of the "Trinity of 1977" along with the Commodore PET and Apple II. With Radio Shack's distribution network they took the early lead in the home computer market, outselling the Commodore PET (who was having cash flow and manufacturing issues), and the Apple II (which was too expensive).

I started working at Radio Shack in November of 1991. That ad is pure nostalgia. I remember selling pretty much all of that stuff. Also, on the cover of the 1979 ad, I have a set of those speakers stored in a closet here. They actually sound pretty decent, considering they're 38 years old.

What a trip down memory lane! Here in the uk we had Tandy which sold alot of Radio Shack stuff, my first ever computer was a Tandy coco and my best ever christmas present was the 200 in 1 electronics kit.Actually making a radio that worked was so cool! They also ran a battery club where they would give you a free battery every month which was just as well as most of the items they sold needed lots of them.

Worked for Radio Shack when that Christmas catalog was new. CD clocks, Franklin bibles, plasma balls... couldn't keep enough of them in stock. They sold like crazy, if you can believe it.

Awesomeness Clint! I truly miss Radio Shack! In about 1975/76, I became a proud, card-carrying member of the "Battery of the Month" Club! Yes! You could receive one crappy Tandy battery of your choice, absolutely free! I usually went for the 9v. Keep it up! I love your videos!

way to pass over over the robbie the robot bank at the end of the 90s ad, the coolest thing radio shack ever sold!

Never knew these could be so entertaining... Kudos Clint, you sure are good at making this funny and interesting

Ah yes Radio Shack. I worked at their stores part time 20 years ago. The toys mostly showed up in a mass shipment around Thanksgiving. The RC cars were funny as someone would key up a CB and every car would speed off in what ever direction they were facing. The house brands were Micronta, Realistic and the flagship Optimus. Some of the stuff was actually pretty good. Tandy loved the stores that sold the electronics components. The reason was that the markup was always highest on that kind of stuff. Oh and they loved those multicolored AM radios. They must have they sold them for at least 30 years

I had a solderless breadboard science kit thing from RadioShack once, they're actually pretty cool. Mine had a knob you could wire into your projects that just added resistance in the circuit, a 2-digit numeric LED display and 8 red LEDs, a built-in speaker and an earpiece that could also act as a very simple ribbon mic, an antenna coil that could pick up AM radio signals if you followed the transistor radio instructions, or alternatively you could hook up a ground antenna of some kind to receive FM signals. Came with all the wires, transistors, capacitors, resistors, and diodes you could need, and it included AND and RAND and NAND chips designed to fit the solderless breadboard, so you could make a very basic computer if you knew what you were doing. I, however, never got to the "chips" stage, save for a random number generator project. But yeah, those electronic science kits are friggin' rad and I highly recommend checking one out, whoever's reading this.

My grandfather owned a radio shack in Asheville NC in the 80s, i may have the time period wrong, it could have been 70s or 90s but he had one

At 15:46 bottom left corner is a TRC 548 CB base station I had as a teenager in the early 90's. It was a Tandy brand but made by Uniden. I had the PLL chip modded so it had high and low bands. I talked all over the world on that rig on side band. I still have it in the closet with a bad Cap. That was cool seeing it brought back allot of memories. Thanks for sharing!