Have 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.
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Why Is AM Radio Important?
A 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 ReadingRemembering the Answering Machine – Part One of an Eight Part Series
One 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 Reading40 Years of Providing Radios to Radio Enthusiasts
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 ReadingThe Voice of Baseball’s Play by Play – by Jessica Crotty
Watching youth baseball and softball has reminded me how much love there is for this game. I’ve seen the girls on my daughter’s team practicing with their parents, learning the game, and having fun. It feels great to be in person again.
One thing I would love but have noticed isn’t present, is play-by-play for youth sports. One of the fondest memories many of you have shared is the announcers for baseball games that you’ve listened to on the radio. I started to wonder at what age play-by-play announcing starts. I know when my son played youth football, there were announcers. It also made me wonder how many announcers in the pros started out this way.
Continue ReadingWords From Bob 2020 Catalog
From Bob, This year our catalog cover is based on one of the most famous TV commercials of all time. It was the day Apple® announced Macintosh computers during the 1984 Superbowl. . . the first iPhone® was released in 2007. Now that we are all significantly attached to our brilliant pocket phones, maybe it’s […]
Pros and Cons of WiFi and Internet Radio
We’ve received a lot of emails and several comments about the confusion surrounding “internet radio”. What is it? How does it work? How do I pick the right radio? So we put together some of the pros and cons and then a few additional considerations. In this post, we aren’t recommending one particular radio over another but rather giving you some points to consider when making your decision so you can pick the right product for you.
First, let’s establish that there is a prerequisite to using an internet radio –
- You need to have a high-speed internet connection. Most internet radios will work on WiFi. Some have an option for a direct Ethernet connection (that network jack on the back of the radio that provides a connection to the router. Sometimes a USB to Ethernet adapter might be necessary.).
Let’s jump into the benefits for you as a listener – Continue Reading
Radio Buddy for the Garden by Bob Crane
I’m not able to weed eat my yard like I used to so my long time gardener, Bill, comes in every two weeks and helps with the grueling part. He is as bad as I am about the necessity of having a radio to listen to while he works. He is also a fantastic radio […]
The Only Communication Immediately After a World-Wide Internet Crash will be Radio . . .
The Internet is about 20 years old, yet we depend on it as if it was an amendment under the Bill of Rights. It has given a quantum leap in knowledge to half of the world’s population. Probably each one of us is concerned about content, speed and how it changes all facets of our lives including our jobs. The pace of change seems to be accelerating.
I have taken very small excerpts from the well written articles listed below. They are probably the most frightening articles I have read in 10 years. We can safely presume many more hacks and viruses have made their way into our computers without becoming public knowledge. The full articles below are available on Wired Magazine and the Wall Street Journal online or mobile. Search the title and publisher for the full article (a subscription may be required to view the full articles).
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