Dick Smith Electronics - A conversation with Dick Smith

Dick Smith revolutionised retail electronics in Australia by opening up "Self Service" style stores. He employed clever and low cost means to promote his business, famously towing an "iceberg" into Sydney harbour as an April fools day joke. In this interview, recorded on the 21/7/2010, Dick Smith recounts how he got interested in electronics, how he got parts and eventually built a multimillion-dollar business selling components to the hobby industry.
For more insight into Dick Smith, make sure you see the episodes entitled "Peter Clark of Magnetic Sound Industries" • Peter Clark of Magneti...
"Funway into Electronics" - • Fun Way into Electronics
"The retail revolution" - • State of Electronics -...
Dick has contributed to many other episodes of SOE and I thank him very much for his participation.

[@MadMatty72]

He didnt even take a drink - what a top bloke.

[@HamRadioDX]

Dick is a true inspiration to all hams in Australia and around the world. Amazing what you can do if you apply yourself.

[@reamer1363]

Dick Smith, the Australian true Legend! Thanks for the great learning.

[@EmperorKonstantine01]

I admire his passion and knowledge for Ham Radios, this is what kicked me into this passion and electronics career back in the early eighties when the real Electronic component store was thriving just before he sold it off to a bunch of Corporate Cowboys for a bag of peanuts

[@ZeroHarry]

I remember the ad for the coat hanger car radio antenna. If I remember correctly the cat # was F-001.

[@Mike.Garcia]

Dick Smith can talk! :D good upload!

[@Morza565]

Dick Smith come back! It's taken a pandemic to kick us Aussies in the backside but NOW we have seen the light & are going nuts converting to Aussie grown & Aussie packed shopping products! Can you return your products to the shelves? 🙏🙏🙌

[@VK6FCRC]

Thank's Richard Smith for introducing me to amateur radio and electronics in the 90's as a kid though it wasn't until 2017 that i got my licence. what killed dick smith electronics was when woolworths started selling equipment not related to the amateur radio hobby. getting a dse kit in white box each week used to be a weekly routine .

[@simplelyf4072]

Really interesting and fun to hear.

[@thesilverbackozzy8323]

What a truly inspirational human being and he's an Aussie yay!! History will show this man was one of the most forward thinking and incitefull people of our time. He made the call on Globalism as being a lemon 15 years ago....remember his buy Australian campaign??? He put his money where his mouth is. The problem is, we didn't listen, and here we are.. Lap dogs for our Chinese masters.

[@thedude9024]

Keep drinking the cool aid, the company was made with good intentions but when Dickhead sold the company, it all went to shit in the name of profit. Where is Dick these days or those senior Woolies management corporate drones to answer these questions.

[@anneganda2202]

Do you have store in the philippines ?

[@stephenw2992]

Recorded two years before the company basically died. It was good while it lasted though.

[@Mexzot]

My first job in the 1980's was working in their mail order dept. He sold it to Woolworths in the mid 1980's, so the failure had nothing to do with him (by decades). He called my house and asked to talk to my dad and I thought it was a prank call 🤣...but it was about some aviation related matters!

[@mattmyers9351]

Cool!

[@londonsgaming3938]

No one will believe me but I have had dinner with this man

[@Colourcourt]

Rick Smith!!

[@rinyyak7114]

The failure of Dick Smith represents an unfortunate end of Australia's Iconic retailer's history in Australia. I conducted research about Dick Smith in 2018, the collapse of electronic retailer chain has sent a shockwaves through the retailer history. Thank Riny Yak

[@charlesdickens6706]

......probably cheap consumer electronics together with computer games and interests delt a blow also to the electronics enthusiast market.

[@sw6188]

I remember at the time it failed, Dick himself came on TV and went on about how upset and angry he was that the company that bore his name and face had collapsed. I remember thinking at the time "If you hadn't taken that golden cheque from Woolworths you would still own the company and be in control of it and none of this would have happened".

[@paulfrancis8836]

I worked in 2 places Dick did.

[@cameron20020]

A degree to be a park ranger!?! Someone please explain this to me

[@charlesdickens6706]

......we'll start manufacturing again when labour costs in the cheap countries start to rise? I dunno , some things don't return , the rabbit fur n leather n meat trade hasn't returned now that rabbits ate plentiful again and folk can't find employment . Some things die out with the old timers ..The leather to manufacture akubra hats is imported from China. The tourist souvenirs manufactured in China is a running joke .

[@PeterMilanovski]

What I personally believe that killed of the Dick Smith franchise is that they lost their way! Not only was the basic electronic components essential for Australia but the need to kit development to keep the electronic components walking out the door! Jay Car is no different either, you really have to understand who your customers are, if you are retailing electronic components, I'm not coming to your shop to see rubbish all in one stereo systems.... I need components and I want to see the latest kits available! We saw what happened to the magazine's when they started to move away from circuits and into tv's and other consumer goods... Sure! If there's an article where they took it apart and discussed the circuitry and technology involved... That's completely fine but don't try and sell it to me when I only came here to learn. I couldn't believe when I walked into Jay Car and saw the PAM powered class D Amplifier module on their shelves for about $5, when you can get 5 for $5 from eBay... I would understand if it was priced a bit more than eBay, after all your getting it on the spot without waiting a month for it to arrive from China! But to me! If they are doing that with that product, they are most likely doing it with all their products and to me! I would rather wait a month and get 5 for the same price! That way I would have spare amplifiers that I can experiment with... Jay Car really needs to re focus their business model before they go the way of Dick Smith Electronics...

[@robirvine6970]

Not true at all.

[@PeterMilanovski]

@@robirvine6970 which part do you believe isn't true? Your surname has me intrigued, I seem to recall something from the past along the lines of Irvine Electronics... Any relation? Come to think about it, now even your complete name Rob Irvine sounds familiar....

[@robirvine6970]

@@PeterMilanovski I share the name of one of those famous tv chefs.. you may have heard of it there. DSE was killed by its new owners ripping out all the money in the company. It was FINE before it was sold to them. I literally worked their from start to finish and lived with the company comptroller. I had a ring side seat to the whole thing.

[@PeterMilanovski]

@@robirvine6970 I'm sure that there was an Irvine Electronics here in Melbourne... But that would have been ages ago... I'm not much for cooking TV shows LoL... As for DSE, you definitely would know better than me! But as a consumer, I saw a shift from components and kit's to TVs, mobile phones and computers... I didn't mind that all this other stuff was there, I have purchased a laptop, computer speakers, multiple mobile phones apart from just electronic components.... At least the consumer electronics were actually pretty good! But Jaycar on the other hand sells junk alongside electronic components and supplies....

[@robirvine6970]

Thats not true at all. We could not give away kits 5 years before the company folded. We were failing to sell $150 kits for $10. There was ZERO demand. People can claim there was, but there wasnt. I was there, i saw the numbers, Im telling you we could not shift the stock at all. I personally offered a bunch as free giveaways during a trade nigh promotion and effectively none were taken. They sat on the shelf getting cheaper and cheaper until they dropped below a certain point, then we wrote them off. Kits were dead in the water before i arrived. Componants still sold, but we lost our ability to sell them for another reason.

[@user-yu2vi2rr6w]

Yeah he scammed my mum. She bought me and my twin a iPhone 11 with the last bit of fucking money she had and it came fully scratched we are trying to return it and get our money back.

[@daneberryman]

He sold the company in the 80s so no he didn’t rip you off

[@Meks450]

Yup blame Kogan 😂