We rocket into November with an all-RadioShack edition of "Audio Anthropology." The Shack was a retail store familiar to audio, electronics, musician, DIY and computer hobbyists from 1921 until 2017, when it shifted to online operations. All catalog images are courtesy of RadioShackCatalogs.com.
In 1972, you could fly high in a 747 jumbo jet, or with a RadioShack jumbo stereo system for $747, complete with Realistic's newest components.
The venerable RadioShack Sound Level Meter, used by old-school audio people everywhere. This circa-1980s model belongs to the author, who finds that smartphone SPL meters just don't have the same charm.
You wanted adapters? RadioShack had 'em! Here's a store in Metairie, Louisiana in 1972, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Phillip Pessar.
In 1990, RadioShack engineers dreamed of receivers with no tuning knobs, pointers, or those quaint old frequency scales – it was pushbuttons and numerical readouts all the way. Leave the antediluvian Gyro-Touch Tuning to Marantz!
Header image: from the cover of the 1990 Radio Shack Catalog.
