Category: Historical

In the late 1920s, the Chicago metropolitan area was growing rapidly, and its image was changing from the “hog butcher to the world” to a modern industrial and commercial city. During this transformation, Chicago developed many of its most enduring cultural institutions. By 1928, the Field Museum of Natural History was a dazzling new building just south of the center of the city. Nearby were the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. In the 1990s these were combined… -more-

“If it’s good radio, we have it.” In 1926, that was the slogan of the Shure Radio Company, a new wholesale radio parts company located in the heart of Chicago. It was a promise backed up by one man, Sidney N. Shure, who took orders, packaged orders, and often delivered them as well, using Chicago’s elevated trains, buses, and streetcars to reach his customers in the city. In his one-room office, he oversaw an inventory of more than 1,000 radio… -more-

How would you attempt to test and fix equipment that was in use nearly 24 hours a day? That was the challenge for Shure service teams when working with the many venues using Shure products in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the 1970s. All along the famous Las Vegas strip, Shure microphones, mixers, and speaker systems were working around the clock, as nightclubs, lounges, and public address systems were always on. According to Dan Levine, a salesman for the West Coast… -more-

From 1942 through 1945, Shure manufactured military grade microphones and headphones for the Allied Forces. During World War Two, the T-17 was the most widely used microphone, as the HS-33 was for headphones. Each device played a vital role when connected to communication gear made by Motorola, Western Electric, Hallicrafters, Crosley, and others. In this Tech Tip, we explore an example of such gear, the Crosley RM-29 Remote Control Unit. Military acoustical devices made by Shure During World War Two,… -more-

Before Shure introduced a new product, the Company made certain that the sales team thoroughly understood it. Throughout his life, Sidney N. Shure advocated an “intellectual style of selling.” This involved knowing the products, listening to customers, and then introducing the right products for customers’ needs. From its early years, Shure developed practical lesson plans for selling the Company’s extensive line of microphones, which included carbon, crystal, dynamic, and controlled reluctance microphones. These lessons contained detailed descriptions of each product… -more-

In the late 1980s, Shure formed a Home Theater Sound [HTS] division to produce high-end audio systems for stereo/surround. HTS sales flyer The product offerings were:

• HTS50-SPA Signal Processing Power Amplifier, $1,650
• HTS50-CF Center Front Loudspeaker, $750
• HTS50-LRS Left-Right-Surround Loudspeaker, $500
• HTS50-SW Subwoofer Loudspeaker, $650
• HTS5000 Surround Audio Processor -1st generation, $750
• HTS5200 Surround Audio Processor – 2nd generation, $1,000
• HTS5300 Surround Audio Processor – 3rd generation, $1,250
• Note: The U.S. retail prices above are from 1988. Multiply by 2.7

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All Shure equipment is known for “keeping a beat while taking a beating.” Here are just a few of the remarkable but true tales of how Shure products have survived in the sometimes punishing world of sound recording and reproduction. In 1968, E.S. Lebeog, of Springfield, Illinois, reported that his Shure microphone survived an 800-foot drop. “I was flying in my open cockpit plane, talking on my Shure microphone, when a slip stream caught the microphone and pulled the plug… -more-

When Gramophone came to Shure in 1964, the oldest and longest surviving record review magazine connected with the world’s oldest operating microphone company. Gramophone was a British magazine cofounded by novelist and writer Sir Compton Mackenzie and broadcaster Christopher Stone. Published monthly since 1923, it was a privately owned business with a circulation that had reached 75,000 in 1960. As part of a tour of the Shure plant in Evanston, Illinois, in 1964, Percy Wilson and Mrs. Wilson watch as… -more-

Different individuals may look at the same subject in different ways–or at least with different emphasis. What is more important to one may be less important to another. Just as persons see things differently, in the same way groups of people or companies have different views, ideas, policies, and principles of doing business. The purpose of this training is to provide an opportunity for you to learn about some of the basic principles of this Company. Whether you are or… -more-

In 1964, officials at Marineland of the Pacific, in Southern California, were amazed to discover that a Shure Model 505 Microphone used to broadcast porpoise “speech” at the Sea Arena had become corroded and salt encrusted— but was still working. Years earlier, the microphone was permanently installed just above the surface of the water in a large tank, allowing the porpoises to deliver “speeches” as part of their daily performances for visitors. A plastic cover hermetically sealed the microphone from… -more-