The only thing I can remember was that we called Lafayette "Laugh-a-Lot"
Radio. They had their place, back then, to be sure... long before the
current RatShack came along. I still have a Lafayette bug.

URL:
http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/about/history.html

Beginning in 1921, RadioShack would grow to a handful of stores clustered in
the Northeast, and become a leading electronics mail-order distributor to
hobbyists. This is how it would remain until the company and a young Texan
named Charles Tandy crossed paths four decades later.

So when did Lafayette start ???
--
The Anon Keyboard
I doubt, therefore I might be



"K3HVG" wrote in message
...
The only thing I can remember was that we called Lafayette "Laugh-a-Lot"
Radio. They had their place, back then, to be sure... long before the
current RatShack came along. I still have a Lafayette bug.

URL:
http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/about/history.html

Beginning in 1921, RadioShack would grow to a handful of stores clustered in
the Northeast, and become a leading electronics mail-order distributor to
hobbyists. This is how it would remain until the company and a young Texan
named Charles Tandy crossed paths four decades later.

So when did Lafayette start ???
--
The Anon Keyboard
I doubt, therefore I might be



"K3HVG" wrote in message
...
The only thing I can remember was that we called Lafayette "Laugh-a-Lot"
Radio. They had their place, back then, to be sure... long before the
current RatShack came along. I still have a Lafayette bug.

Thanks to all for a wealth of information. Now then...ahem...does anyone
know anything about the Model 390 Starflite ham transmitter? I believe early
Kenwood or Yaesu was manufacturing their other ham rigs but the Starflite
was a kit and I am wondering if it was an American effort on the part of
Lafayette? The circuit was almost identical to the DX-60 so I am wondering
if anyone knows if there was a Heath-Lafayette connection? Why was the
Starflite only offered for a year and a half or two years? Was it a dud? Or
was Heath and the DX-60 too much competition? Too many questions, I know. I
am doing a little research paper, of sorts. Thanks guys.

Smokey
"Smokey" wrote in message
...
Does anyone know anything about the corporate structure of Lafayette? Is
anyone out there a former employee, especially during the 1950s and 1960s?
Who "absorbed" or bought Lafayette?

Smokey

On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 00:29:33 UTC, "Smokey"
wrote:

Thanks to all for a wealth of information. Now then...ahem...does anyone
know anything about the Model 390 Starflite ham transmitter? I believe early
Kenwood or Yaesu was manufacturing their other ham rigs but the Starflite
was a kit and I am wondering if it was an American effort on the part of
Lafayette? The circuit was almost identical to the DX-60 so I am wondering
if anyone knows if there was a Heath-Lafayette connection? Why was the
Starflite only offered for a year and a half or two years? Was it a dud? Or
was Heath and the DX-60 too much competition? Too many questions, I know. I
am doing a little research paper, of sorts. Thanks guys.


I've read that there was no connection other than Lafayette stole,
ah, honored the Heath design by copying it.

I was a Novice when the Starflite and the DX-60 were marketed and
thought hard and long about it, the Knight T-60, and the Eico 720.

Smart move, I bought the DX-60 kit and assembled it. The DX-60 was
much more substantial, as in heavy steel plate, than the
competition. The cast iron meter bezel alone stood out as unique
in the entry transmitter market.

I knew a fellow who got a 720. More expensive than the DX-60. Could
never figure it out as the 720 didn't include an AM modulator.

Bad move, I sold it a couple years later for $40 to put toward a
$200 used HT-37.

Fast forward 40 years and I'm buying a DX-60 off eBay for $70. Not
a nice as the one I built but looks restorable. I got the DX-60
as opposed to a 60A or 60B because of the meter bezel.

de ah6gi/4

On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 00:29:33 UTC, "Smokey"
wrote:

Thanks to all for a wealth of information. Now then...ahem...does anyone
know anything about the Model 390 Starflite ham transmitter? I believe early
Kenwood or Yaesu was manufacturing their other ham rigs but the Starflite
was a kit and I am wondering if it was an American effort on the part of
Lafayette? The circuit was almost identical to the DX-60 so I am wondering
if anyone knows if there was a Heath-Lafayette connection? Why was the
Starflite only offered for a year and a half or two years? Was it a dud? Or
was Heath and the DX-60 too much competition? Too many questions, I know. I
am doing a little research paper, of sorts. Thanks guys.


I've read that there was no connection other than Lafayette stole,
ah, honored the Heath design by copying it.

I was a Novice when the Starflite and the DX-60 were marketed and
thought hard and long about it, the Knight T-60, and the Eico 720.

Smart move, I bought the DX-60 kit and assembled it. The DX-60 was
much more substantial, as in heavy steel plate, than the
competition. The cast iron meter bezel alone stood out as unique
in the entry transmitter market.

I knew a fellow who got a 720. More expensive than the DX-60. Could
never figure it out as the 720 didn't include an AM modulator.

Bad move, I sold it a couple years later for $40 to put toward a
$200 used HT-37.

Fast forward 40 years and I'm buying a DX-60 off eBay for $70. Not
a nice as the one I built but looks restorable. I got the DX-60
as opposed to a 60A or 60B because of the meter bezel.

de ah6gi/4

In article , "Smokey"
writes:

Does anyone know anything about the corporate structure of Lafayette? Is
anyone out there a former employee, especially during the 1950s and 1960s?
Who "absorbed" or bought Lafayette?

Funny, the others reminiscing about NYC and Chicago. But I remember when there
was a big Laughin-Yet store on Comonwealth Ave in Boston, about 1967. I always
assumed Lafayette was a Boston-based outfit, and that was the "mother" store.
Guess I was wrong.

I used to take the subway once in a while and ogle the wares. I cam close to
buying their "inmported" 6m AM transceiver, but ended up mail-ordering and
building the Knight-Kit equivalent instead.

Funny thing is, there was a Radio Shack store of equal size (big) a block away.
--Mike K.
Oscar loves trash, but hates Spam! Delete him to reply to me.

These was a Lafayette store in Buffalo, NY. Around 1970 or so it became
Purchase Radio, which gradually turned into a Hi-Fi joint. Purchase opened 3
more branches in the suburbs, then vanished in the late 1970s.

"Mike Knudsen" wrote in message
...
In article , "Smokey"
writes:

Does anyone know anything about the corporate structure of Lafayette? Is
anyone out there a former employee, especially during the 1950s and
1960s?
Who "absorbed" or bought Lafayette?

Funny, the others reminiscing about NYC and Chicago. But I remember when
there
was a big Laughin-Yet store on Comonwealth Ave in Boston, about 1967. I
always
assumed Lafayette was a Boston-based outfit, and that was the "mother"
store.
Guess I was wrong.

I used to take the subway once in a while and ogle the wares. I cam
close to
buying their "inmported" 6m AM transceiver, but ended up mail-ordering and
building the Knight-Kit equivalent instead.

Funny thing is, there was a Radio Shack store of equal size (big) a block
away.
--Mike K.
Oscar loves trash, but hates Spam! Delete him to reply to me.

These was a Lafayette store in Buffalo, NY. Around 1970 or so it became
Purchase Radio, which gradually turned into a Hi-Fi joint. Purchase opened 3
more branches in the suburbs, then vanished in the late 1970s.

"Mike Knudsen" wrote in message
...
In article , "Smokey"
writes:

Does anyone know anything about the corporate structure of Lafayette? Is
anyone out there a former employee, especially during the 1950s and
1960s?
Who "absorbed" or bought Lafayette?

Funny, the others reminiscing about NYC and Chicago. But I remember when
there
was a big Laughin-Yet store on Comonwealth Ave in Boston, about 1967. I
always
assumed Lafayette was a Boston-based outfit, and that was the "mother"
store.
Guess I was wrong.

I used to take the subway once in a while and ogle the wares. I cam
close to
buying their "inmported" 6m AM transceiver, but ended up mail-ordering and
building the Knight-Kit equivalent instead.

Funny thing is, there was a Radio Shack store of equal size (big) a block
away.
--Mike K.
Oscar loves trash, but hates Spam! Delete him to reply to me.

I worked for LRE for a short while starting during their "last days".
Employed at Company store #54 in Milwaukee WI 1973 thru 1975. LRE opened
this store as the first Wisconsin Company store in 1973. They had about six
stores in the Chicago area for years. LRE epanded to two stores in
Milwaukee before folding in the late 1970's.

During our store's grand opening, I got to meet Abe Plettman (the CEO) and a
few other LRE big-wigs like Harold Weinberg, their audio guru, creator of
the "Criterion" speaker line.

I also met Larry d'Amato, the leader of the ham/cb line.

This was when LRE was spending bookoo bucks on expanding company stores all
the way to the west coast. I think the expansion killed them.

When I was managing the store, I remember calling Syosset Headquarters to
check on backorders, we were plagued by import backorders. HQ's phone
system was so antiquated, we had to call back numerous times after getting
disconnected. Call forwarding was done with "switchhooking". Many of the
people that I remember talking to were well up in years, a couple were deaf
and we had to shout to them while calling.

Looking back, LRE's massive expansion was doomed from the start. Imported
CB radio's were continually backordered, angering the dedicated customer
base that went elsewhere. The discount "warehouse" stereo stores undercut
LRE as they rose to retail power at that time.

It was really fun working for them at the time. We employees could buy
things at actual cost. For instance, the premium CB radio Comstat 35 which
retailed for about $200 cost me a mere $68.00. Talk about markup! LRE made
a killing on their Jap imports. Employee buying was closely monitored as
many employees were buying CB radio's at cost, then re-selling them to
supplement their meager income. Salespeople were grossly underpaid compared
to other stores at the time. You sell a 800 dollar stereo system and may
only receive a commission of $3.00. Pretty poor.

Just some ramblings from a former LRE employee.

BTW, I was making an incredible sum of $200 per week in 1975 when I was
promoted to store manager. That equated to about two bucks an hour
considering all the "store hours" I worked!

I left LRE probably two years before they folded. Gotta wonder where all
the parts and inventory went! LRE kept a huge cache of "import parts" at
Syosset. You could order an s-meter for a 20-year old CB radio if you
wished. We kept the parts list on microfiche at the time. They probably
had tens of thousands of individual parts for every CB, tuner, stereo that
they sold. Incredible.


"Smokey" wrote in message
...
Does anyone know anything about the corporate structure of Lafayette? Is
anyone out there a former employee, especially during the 1950s and 1960s?
Who "absorbed" or bought Lafayette?

Smokey