"James Boyk" wrote in message
...
Frank Dresser wrote: There really aren't that many SWLs in the US.

How can there be a market for portables & tabletops by Drake, Grundig,
Sangean,
et al.---enough of a market for mass-marketer Radio Shack to sell such
products--yet no market for SW car radios? This makes no sense.

Radio Shack cleared out their line of Sangean clones about a year ago. It's
been reported that RS is selling the Grundigs now, but I've been to three RS
stores over the last year, and I've seen none. The last radio I've seen
which had SW capability at Radio Shack was one of those big, goofy analog
multiband "portables" on a discount shelf.

The other mass marketers, such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears offer
few, if any, radios with SW capability. There's no sign of any mass market
for SW radios.

How many standard radios are sold for every SW radio? 1000 to 1? 10,000 to
1? Probably even more.


As for the idea that the market *must* not exist because manufacturers
would
have tapped it if it did, this shows an attitude toward manufactuers'
intelligence and the efficiency of the marketplace which amounts to "all's
for
the best in this best of all possible [commercial] worlds," which I cannot
share.


Well, Sears used to sell SW radios. In fact, they sold their own version of
the Yaesu FRG-7. Sears was in the market, and took it seriously. They're
out of it now. Radio Shack used to sell even more SW radios. Try to find
the radios now. I'm not sure if the people running Sears or Radio Shack are
particularly intellegent or not, but I'm sure they are capable of reordering
items which sell quickly and dumping items which are dead on the shelf.

The market for SW radios is no longer part of the mass market. It's a
specialty item now, at least in the US. It's mostly a mail
order/internet/ham radio store market. Sometimes low end SW radios are
found at outlets such as Big Lots.

If there really is a mass market for SW radios, the internet vendors will
become incredibly wealthy and the ham radio stores will be mobbed by eager
buyers. Don't let yourself get trampled near the entrance door at opening
time.


As for the idea, "if you think there's a market, why don't you derail your
life
to exploit it?" I'm afraid I do have one or two other things to do that
are more
important to me. I see a dozen untapped commercial opportunities each
month;
it's not my business to pursue them, but to do my own work.


That wasn't my comment, but the point is valid. My comment concerned the
market for auto cupholders and undercar neon lights, which has vastly
overshadowed the market for auto SW radios. It's easy to buy most any damn
fool thing for your car except, for whatever reason, shortwave radios.

If the market for auto SW radios is that obvious, I'm sure somebody will
pick up the slack. Maybe by this time next year.


Thanks for the suggestions and ideas.

James Boyk


You're welcome!

Frank Dresser