I recently had the pleasure of attending the California Historical Radio Society’s (CHRS) “Radio Day by the Bay” event in Alameda, California. This year marked the organization’s 50th anniversary, and the event was a vibrant celebration of radio’s rich history and enduring legacy.
Continue ReadingHave you ever felt the power of a story well told? That was the magic that permeated the Talkers 2024 Radio and Beyond event. I felt so lucky to be there, surrounded by a community of talented creators who are all passionate about honing their craft. We were especially fortunate to experience Michael Harrison’s legendary hospitality and showmanship.
Continue Reading
The Struggle is Real: Hardware vs. Software in the Tech Trenches Let’s face it, the early days of any tech career are a baptism by fire. Mine was no different but it taught me so much. Back then, our office network was – a glorious (or maybe not-so-glorious) mess of coaxial cables daisy-chaining every computer […]
Early in my career with C. Crane, Bob assigned me the task of becoming an expert on the Sangean ATS 909. This radio was pretty small compared to a lot of our radios at the time and pretty complex with multiple key presses to access additional features.
Continue ReadingA Message From Bob Crane, Founder of C. Crane
Probably because it is a “community” for the U.S. and much of the world. It is free and travels better at night than FM. I still listen to “AM” every day, but I listen via streams over the internet on a CC Radio-3 through the FM Transmitter 3 with a CC WiFi 3 most of the time. It makes no difference to me how I listen. I love my stations and continually learn valuable tidbits that change my life, and it is entertaining.
Continue ReadingOne of my most vivid memories at C. Crane, was when I was very new. This was circa 1997. We were in the brown house over on 10th street for those of you who visited. This was a period when Art Bell was just starting to take off and each day Bob would share how many new stations picked up his show. To say things were busy for us would be an understatement.
Continue ReadingThere’s a definite trend: people (I am people) wait until an emergency to get prepared for one, and sometimes it’s too late. We experienced it locally in December of 2022 when a large earthquake hit nearby at 2:30AM right before Christmas and wreaked havoc in our little community. Cell phones weren’t working for calls. Only texts sent as a text message were going through and, in some communities, they weren’t, or they were extremely delayed. People were coming down to C. Crane for radios, flashlights, and batteries. Water sold out at stores. Stores closed for clean-up. It was quite a bit of chaos. After a pandemic, fires, etc. the earthquake was kind of the thing that sent some people over the edge.
Continue Reading
There’s a special place in my heart for Maui, I just traveled there in May. Many of us here love Hawaii and frequent it as often as possible. Spending time in Hawaii changed my belief about time, hurry, and busyness. It gave me more respect for the ocean, waste, and all living creatures. It’s the first vacation I remember that actually felt like a vacation and the warmness of the people we met was so special. Our hearts are broken for everyone. Being in California, we’re all too familiar with the devastation of wildfire.
Continue Reading
C. Crane started in 1983 selling AM antennas. After starting to gain momentum selling mostly antennas and radio accessories, we received our first real technological challenge when customers started asking for recommendations on the best radio. It was easy to select the Sangean 803A as the first radio we offered to our customers. Tuning was precise and voice audio was sharper and more legible than most other radios on the market. With the Select-A-Tenna that we sold, it turned into one of the best radios made for reception. It was a little complex to use as a regular daily radio, but it met many customer’s needs. We also carried the GE Super Radio which was much easier to use but lacked some of the functionality customers wanted and supply was erratic. It seemed that there wasn’t a good blend of features, performance, and ease of use.
Continue Reading