Grundig Emergency Radio

PIONEER’S HISTORY: The Grundig Emergency Radio brands were initiated by a German radio enthusiast by the name of Max Grundig. Having been born in 1908, the gentleman exhibited an excessive love for radios and the zeal to make more and more sets. It was however not until after the second world that his efforts started getting international recognition. Having hit the German radio market with a simple set which was branded Heinzelmann, Mr. Max Grundig suddenly developed the urge to expand his market to include other areas out side of Germany. 

After registering considerable success with his first few radio sets, he embarked on an acquisition spree which saw him buy out some of the smaller radio manufacturers within Germany. With a considerable show of success with the several radio brands as well as the other brands which were acquired from the companies which he bought, he was soon venturing into TVs and other musical instruments such as gramophones which he even exported to places as far as the U.S. Upon the successful acquisition of most of the smaller players in the industry as at then including favorite brands such as Telefunken, Kaiser radio among others, Max Grundig thought it wise to take his innovations into the world stage by getting into convenient collaborations with other players in the U.S to give him a better leverage as he launched his onslaught into the U.S radio manufacturing market.

By the end of 1959, there were several Grundig outlets within the U.S thanks to the efforts of Max Grundig. On successful entry into the foreign markets, Grundig Emergency Radio models were always re modeled to make them more appealing to the local consumer. This was mostly done in the U.S and in other countries where Grundig acquired other smaller manufacturing units to help them have more impact on the local consumer’s preferences. Some of the prominent models that Grundig launched during this early error were the Grundig boy and the Majestic 4090 USA.

Grundig’s continued acquisition of other radio manufacturing companies was aimed at making him the world leader in radio manufacture. This saw him grow considerably until the year 1979 when the company ran into serious financial trouble thanks to his endless acquisitions. It had to take the worthwhile intervention of Philips to get the company back into profitability. The company continued to run as a partnership between Grundig and Philips for the next five years until Philips eventually took over the entire Grundig brand in 1984.


See 12s of Emergency Crank Radio Models