My Dad, My Roots of Entrepreneurship in Electronics

I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted anything personal before…maybe, but certainly nothing like this but since I deem it work related, I think you will enjoy it. Below are the images of a Radio Shack crystal radio kit, item number 28-219 to be specific. I believe this model was released in 1975 and I became the proud owner of one somewhere around that year. My dad passed away a few days ago after a 2 year long battle with cancer / chemotherapy and the ordeal put my memories in motion...this is one of my favorites. He was the one that boarded me on the electronics train so many years ago. I don’t remember the exact year or day but somewhere around Christmas Eve 1975 my dad took me to the Radio Shack down the road from our house to buy a Christmas present of my choice. This was the 1970’s and many people were poor by todays standard…we were no exception. He took me there thinking I was going to choose a small toy of some type, obviously something well within his budget, maybe a build-it-yourself robot or small handheld electronic game. After entering the store we proceeded to the back where the small gadgets were located but on the way there I became mesmerized by this crystal radio kit, specifically the image of the germanium diode which is the heart of the crystal radio, on display at a table in the middle of the store. My dad asked me what I wanted and I said “that” pointing to the crystal radio kit. I will never forget the puzzled look on his face as he replied “really?” I said yes and we were off…I built the kit and the rest was history. This simple crystal radio, that by the way was indeed within my dad’s budget, was the root of my electronics career.

Remember…1970’s, when seemingly everyone in the blue-collar realm was being laid off and re-hired and laid off again as was the case for my dad working at various plumbing companies in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Later on, he was able to open his own plumbing company while simultaneously training to reach the title of “Master Plumber”. That was a ridiculously long and hard slog for him working, building his business and training which is why I always chuckle at the “work smart, not hard” posts. Yeah, good luck with that ??. I was involved heavily for a while in this plumbing business from the time I was 9 years old by helping out on jobs. I can’t tell you how many times I heard customers saying “this must be your little helper” as we walked through the front door…ugh! We added HVAC to the business in the early 90’s and I became an HVAC tech with my own van going on various calls fixing AC units and furnaces or whatever. This was the root of my entrepreneurial spirt as the experience helped me understand sole-proprietorships, self-employment in general and the meaning of hard work. I used the money I made as an HVAC tech to put myself through college during the night and later in life opened my own business using that entrepreneurial spirit, instilled in me long before, as my motivating force. The moral to all of this outpouring of words, which is very uncommon for me, is thank you dad for the spark and drive.

P.S., I never got the crystal radio to work, only the transistor model worked.