C. Crane Continues To Listen To Customers
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioSports.com
During the late-1990s, when the amount of content and global use of the Internet skyrocketed, the death toll was sounded for traditional AM radio. In fact, when television became a living room staple in the 1950s, radio was said to soon be but a distant memory.
But today, radio is more popular than ever. Despite the seemingly endless number of satellite cable TV stations, myriad of Internet offerings and streaming radio and podcast listening choices, radio is thriving.
Both in Canada, and in the U.S. with its Presidential election heating up during a time of unrest and global pandemic, more people than ever are tuning into AM radio for credible news and information.
C. Crane CCRadio 3, one of the industry’s top AM/FM receivers
And as always, radio – “Theatre of the Mind” – is always available as an audio companion. Whether you are gardening, reading or driving, radio informs and entertains like no other media.
In addition to writing for numerous local and national publications, I’ve worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 40 years. My interest in radio was sparked by my passion for AM radio monitoring as a 7-year-old, in 1969. Today, living in Southwestern Ontario near the shores of three Great Lakes – Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario – and just hours from a number of large northeastern U.S. cities, my listening choices are almost endless.
Today, I am an avid listener of WJR-AM Detroit, Michigan, a 50,000-watt news-talk station which I receive nearly as clearly as any other local AM or FM radio station. Of course, part of that equation depends on the radio gear in my shack, namely the CCRadio 3 portable radio from Fortuna, California-headquartered C. Crane.
There are few top-notch AM radio manufacturers today – Sangean and Eton/Grundig also produce quality radios able to pull in distant signals. But for my money – and I’ve been a DX listener for almost my entire life – nothing sounds as clear and as strong as a C. Crane radio. Others like the aforementioned are leaders in shortwave radio offerings (C. Crane, too, offers quality shortwave radios), but when it comes to AM radio, C. Crane is tops.
There are many reasons why C. Crane stands out amongst the pack, according to the company’s general manager, Jessica Crotty. As passionate about the medium of radio as she is the company, Crotty began her career with C. Crane in 1996 – about the time the Internet really took off. Today, she sees an explosion in the popularity of AM radio.
“Some people have said, ‘Radio is dead.’ But that’s not the case at all. Radio creates more community – its live nature does that. And people are looking for information they can trust. It educates,” Crotty explained.
C. Crane GM Jessica Crotty
“People are tired of being tied to a device. It’s limiting. Your eyes are glued to it. Plus, people sometimes buy a radio because they’re tired of listening to all of the noise out there. They want to listen to something about, for example, gardening. And they want news about their own community when a lot of people don’t even have a local newspaper anymore.”
According to Crotty, “Radio is important to C. Crane because of the sometimes vital and often educational knowledge radio disseminates to a broad listening audience. We try to make radios for the dedicated listener so their radio experience is transparent.”
C. Crane’s roots date back to 1983 when the company only sold AM radio antennas. But its real genesis started when company founder Bob Crane, too, started serious radio listening at age 7. Yet his interest was even deeper: he has always dreamt of a radio that could receive long distant signals along with better legibility.
“Some people have said, ‘Radio is dead.’ But that’s not the case at all. Radio creates more community – its live nature does that. And people are looking for information they can trust. It educates.” – C. Crane GM Jessica Crotty
During its early years, the company discovered what it had expected: that most radios were tuned for music and FM broadcasts. In fact, it took a decade for C. Crane to convince a manufacturer to help the company make a radio that was audio tuned for voice, and that featured excellent reception, as well as desired functions like memory pre-sets, a clock and an alarm.
The CC Radio (1998) was C. Crane’s first flagship offering. Despite its superior speaker and amplifier designed to react well with voice frequencies, a challenge still existed: making a sensitive radio able to pick up weak stations without static noise generated by the new solid state chips. Several years later, C. Crane patented its Twin Coil ferrite AM antenna which made a world of difference in reception.
C. Crane founder Bob Crane. Photo: C. Crane.
In fact, the C. Crane team spoke with more than a million radio listeners in order to get their feedback on improving AM reception. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Our goal is to (offer) superior reception, audio tuned for voice clarity and modest controls,” Crotty said. “Local stores don’t typically carry decent AM radios anymore, and on top of that a lot of stores have closed.”
C. Crane sells online through its own website, https://www.ccrane.com, at other online radio stores including Universal Radio and Ham Radio Outlet, at its Fortuna showroom and in bricks and mortar shops including U.S.-based Bi-Mart and REI.
“Everything we do inside our radios makes our AM reception the best, whether it’s noise reduction, shielding or components,” Crotty said of C. Crane’s lofty reputation amongst serious radio listeners. “And in our large radios, we have a patented built-in Twin Coil ferrite antenna. Plus, our audio is designed for voice, so it’s not too heavy on the bass.
“We have a U.S.-based tech support team for our radio owners – that is unique. Our tech experts have the products right in front of them, and often in their own homes.”
While C. Crane radios depend on technology components assembled overseas, as does just about every North American company today, the company has a strong, long-standing relationship with those who assemble the radios. She said C. Crane’s quality control division is industry leading in its efforts.
Crotty said most of C. Crane’s customer base are within the 50-plus demographic, with even more 65 years old and older, all “dedicated radio listeners – people who listen frequently, and who want a great radio experience. So our goal is to provide super reception, long-range capability, audio tuned for the voice and radios with desirable controls. And we do that better than anybody else.”
Traditional radio monitoring will always have its rivals, but it continues to be the gold standard on which other media rely for their own successes.
According to U.S.-based information, data and measurement firm Nielsen Holdings, podcasting is growing faster than streaming audio, but streaming broadcasts have a larger audience.
Latest numbers from Nielsen indicate from 2015-2019, monthly podcast listeners more than doubled with a 123% increase, while streaming grew 54% during that period. However, podcasting’s total audience remained smaller overall, with 135 million monthly streaming consumers versus 43 million monthly podcast consumers.
In addition, Nielsen reported that more than half of all U.S.-based streaming audio and podcast consumers were between the ages of 21-44, with podcast listeners younger, on average, than streaming listeners.
What’s next for C. Crane? Crotty said plans for the development of a mid-size AM/FM/Shortwave radio are in the works. The CCRadio SW, out of production, still has a strong following amongst serious radio listeners interested in portable shortwave radios. C. Crane’s latest shortwave offering, the CC Skywave SSB AM, FM, Shortwave, Weather, VHF, Aviation and SSB portable travel radio has already won rave reviews for its performance – watch for my review soon.
“We’re always interested in development of new and better products,” Crotty said.
Just like the radio broadcasting industry itself, making the radios needed to tune into those stations near and far means never getting complacent and always listening to the needs of consumers.
That’s the true formula for C. Crane’s success.
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For more than 40 years, Jeffrey Reed has provided local, national and U.S.-based media with news, entertainment, sports and leisure columns from his Southwestern Ontario office where he is an avid radio listener. Reed is publisher and editor of two leading Canadian sports websites, LondonOntarioSports.com, and LondonOntarioGolf.com. Reach him at jeff@jeffreyreedreporting.com.
