Talk:Radio Row

message: I removed part of the lede that suggested the rise of transistors led to the decline of radio rows in many cities. There is no source for this claim and I find it dubious. Of course, as the article says, the demise of radio row in NYC was the direct result of its demolition to make way for the World Trade Center. Canal St. didn't have the density of vendors and side streets that made Radio Row so interesting. Leeds Radio on Vesey St had a surplus electric chair on display for many years in the late 50s or early 60s. (Google tells me they are still in business -- in Brooklyn, http://www.leedsradio.com .)  I know less about other cities, but the transistor did not destroy the hobby electronics market, far from it. Instead, I suspect what happened to individual radio parts retailers mirrors what happened to other sectors of retailing in the same time frame: the rise of shopping centers, national chains and mail order. The Lafayette Radio and Radio Shack chains emerged in this era and the later is still going strong. Credit cards made mail order feasible for small quantities of specialty items like electronics parts. Kit vendors like Heathkit reduced the need for hobbiests to buy individual parts.  The electronics hobby has shifted from radio to computers and robotics, but it's still going strong. My local MicroCenter has a large home brew computer department. The MIT amateur radio club holds an electronics flea market here in Cambridge, Mass. the third Sunday of each month from April to October, and it feels very similar to my regular trips to Cortland St when I was a kid (no electric chair, but an Enigma and other cipher machines are often on display). --agr (talk) 20:03, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Reason for decline

message: With the return of vacuum tube fans, the decline of radio shack as a source of electronics components, and the new interest in
electronics hobbyists, are these kind of business clusters (focused on surplus electronics and electronic components) likely to return?
Norton surplus exists in Los Angeles for fans of vintage Apollo-era hardware, and Ohio has a few electronics dealerships, as well
as emerging hackerspaces rhyre (talk) 20:17, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Time for a comeback? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The quote attributed Meyer Berger is from the introduction by Pete Hamill. Born in 1898, Berger would've been an adult by the time radio row became a thing. CrinklyCrunk (talk) 00:49, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Berger's Quote