RadioBanter - What Happened to Grundig?

Von Fourche wrote:
Every happened to Grundig shortwave radios? Did Grundig sell their
shortwave department to Eton? And who or what is Eton? Is Eton a Chinese
company?

I had a Grundig Yacht Boy 400 back in the mid 1990's and I loved that
little radio. Unfortunately I got mad one night and busted that radio. I
sure wish I had not done that. I'm thinking about buying another one off
e-bay, maybe.

Anyway, what's the story on Grundig and Eton?

Although Grundig produced radios in the 1930's, when most of us hear
the name we have visions of those large wood cased radios and later
tv's that were so popular from the late 1940's through the early
1970's. Mellow sound, large controls, long analog dials festooned with
city names, etc. characterized those products. Later they began
producing some really pricey and good sounding luggable shortwave
radios (Satellit) and a lot of smaller modestly priced units (the many
Boys).

Philips gradually took a controlling interest over maybe 2 decades
beginning in the mid 1970's. Grundig sales began to suffer and to me
at least it seemed that they had a tough time breaking free of the
analog radio model that served them so well for so long. Their digital
Satellit models were not as inspired or made as well as competition
from Japan. I suspect the sea-change that overtook the SWL hobby had a
bigger part to play in the downfall of Grundig though. A hobby that
was once popular with guys of all ages began to grey as the number of
people twisting shortwave radio dials dropped in the mid 1980's and
plummeted thereafter. There are very few people demanding and
companies supplying new shortwave radios compared to what once was.
Grundig got caught up in a combination of inattention by it's owners
and a dramatic drop in demand for it's products. Philips bailed out
late in the downward plunge and sold the name to yet another group.
Those owners I believe sold the Grundig naming rights to Eton and
limited the applicability to radios sold in the US. That deal tells me
the owners were trying to wring whatever cash they could get from a
failing investment. Grundig reorganized in bankruptcy and sold some of
their divisions. The radio products sold in the US under the Grundig
name have no association with Grundig in europe.

Grundig GMBH appears to sell a modest range of tv's, mp players, cd
units, clock radios that you would find in the catalog of any other
consumer electronic manufacturer. The range of units for sale may be
bigger than is found on their website. They do sell yacht boy, concert
boy, city boy and other recievers with shortwave coverage. Those units
look like they come from Degen/Tecsun/Redsun, etc., factories. The
Grundig europe website recognizes Eton on their worldwide map but they
do not provide any information on their products at all.

I don't know if I would spend too much time trying to figure out where
the real Grundig radio company is located and where their products
might be found. My opinion is that if there ever was a real Grundig,
it was disappearing rapidly by the early 1980's. It's just a brand
name pasted on a radio. Since Eton sells a variety of radios under the
Eton and Grundig names let's focus less on the name and more on how the
radios in question perform.

The Eton E1 to me looks like quite a radio for the money. The only
issue I've seen is the lack of a ferrite rod antenna which according to
some users is not a big deal.