In 2000, Richard Schneider started tinkering with building TV antennas in the basement of his home in St. Louis, MO. He was (and still is) a home theater enthusiast and wanted to be able to watch broadcast television in beautiful HD, not compressed like it was through cable or satellite. Once he mastered his design, he had the goal of selling roughly 20 antennas a month. What started as word of mouth in the home theater nerd community QUICKLY grew, and Antennas Direct was officially launched in 2003.
In 2006, Rich DeMuro was a senior editor at CNET and a frequent flyer on the Today Show to showcase the hottest tech gadgets and gifts. Rich stumbled upon a picture frame TV antenna that he said was “the coolest thing I’ve seen” and shared it as a top gift for guys for the 2006 holiday season. This Today Show segment set our phones on fire, we had to call in additional help to answer calls and place orders from across the United States. We’re not being dramatic when we say that Rich DeMuro is partially to thank for our successful 21 years in business!
We’ve stayed in touch with Rich over the years, watching his career blossom and seeing his move to popular television station KTLA. Rich is a tech wizard who loves to share his knowledge of tech news, helpful tips and gadget reviews across the nation. He hosts a nationally syndicated weekly radio show called “Rich on Tech” and we were honored that he asked our very own Richard Schneider to be a guest on his show this past weekend.
As Richard prepared for his radio interview (with vocal warmups and sipping on warm lemon water) we took a trip down memory lane and found the original Today Show segment that helped us gain popularity.
Rich and Richard had a great conversation about how we got our start, why cord cutting is continuing to gain popularity in today’s streaming world and gave a little insight into the upcoming ATSC 3.0 standard.
Rich, thank you for your years of support and helping to spread awareness of the hottest tech gadgets, tips and news. You can check out Richard’s interview below or on Rich on Tech’s website HERE.