you
On our morning show today from WRC.
Oh, we have Mike Frederick in the studio with us along with Dan Schwartz.
We're talking about town and country, home and appliance.
And that that business is history and kind of where they're headed and what's going on.
Mike, it certainly is an exciting time, I think, for the business, isn't it?
Good morning, Phil.
Thanks for having us both in.
Sure is.
lots of chains in just four years that I've been around and I'm really happy to have the community support and keep us moving forward.
Looking at it when you bought the business four years ago, too, there's probably a little bit of pressure there.
It's like, well, here's a long time business.
Don't mess it up,
right?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There was a tough act to follow and being able to just carry on the legacy of what that team accomplished and what we're trying to accomplish going into the future.
And that's a testament to all the hard work that our folks put in every day for our customers.
You've expanded your area as well,
haven't you?
We have.
About two years ago, we entered the Reedsburg market.
We were in a small store downtown on the downtown strip there.
So it gave us just enough
retail space to kind of get our nose in that market and that's gone very well and since then in April we've opened a new store three blocks down the road that gives us a lot more retail space a little bit more space to store some product it's still a showroom but
ultimately more comfortable.
And we can have have more product for our folks up there.
What is the biggest seller right now for town and country?
Sure.
Well, laundry is always popular.
You know, clean clothes are pretty important for folks.
So we
We still have all the Whirlpool brand products, but also last year we really saw a vast improvement in the speed queen business as well.
Folks have really taken to that product and enjoy having the reliability and the cleaning power of that machine.
So we've been very happy with the growth of that.
Right now the current economic climate is a little tough for any business, isn't it?
Yeah, I mean, it's the first quarter was
was pretty average but ultimately we're seeing from our industry partners that a lot of folks are when they're shopping, they're shopping with a purpose.
They're shopping to get a new machine or get something repaired when something's breaking down.
We still have remodels and
and full kitchen builds and houses and things like that.
But ultimately, we're trying to be prepared for everybody when that unfortunate thing happens, whether that fridge goes out or that wash machines on the fritz.
We want to be prepared to help folks with that trouble.
That can be a mess.
Your fridge goes out.
It can be.
It can be a horrible mess.
I always recommend backups.
If you have any opportunity to have a backup fridge in the garage, even if you don't use it all the time, it's a great place for maybe
be the fridge you have now to hang out and come get a new one.
No doubt about it.
And if you can't do the washing, you know, you don't want to take it down to the Pine River and, you know, clean it.
You know, all those days probably have gone by and I don't, I don't think anybody would appreciate having to do that anymore.
So we try our best to get people fixed up as fast as possible.
Tell me about your staff at Town & Country.
I know you're very proud of that.
We are, we are.
So in our Richland Center office, we have,
our office manager Tony and we have two delivery guys Tyler and Larry who are doing a great job and John has also come on board to add a little help in the warehouse and learn the service trade along with Michael who is our main service technician and we're just really thrilled to have all these folks on board.
pulling on the same route the same way and serving our customers because that's really what it kind of boils down for us.
We have the opportunity to help people every day and everybody on the team.
Um, sees it that same way.
And then in Reedsburg, uh, we have Patty, our sales associate there.
She's really done a lot of the heavy lifting almost all by herself in that store.
So it's, it's a testament to her work ethic and, um, and customer service.
She is a crowd pleaser and she does it every day.
So we're pretty excited about, uh, the future.
It's an honor to talk about that in the future and what's going on, but it's also nice to pay tribute to your past.
Isn't
it?
It sure is.
It sure is.
So town and country, TV and applying.
has a few years on the sign.
As time has gone on, we've had some different things that have happened in the TV business.
Different technologies have come into place.
And so one of the things that's coming forward, as you said in the intro, we're going to be tweaking our name just a little bit to Town and Country Home Appliance.
We'll be putting our focus on the appliance business and adding some new categories.
And with that, we'll be phasing out the TV and antenna service as well.
And there's a gentleman in
studio here that's been a big, big part of that for many years.
You're going
to let him retire, it sounds
like.
Yeah, you know, it's it's under protest.
But if I know a day on Hill State, he's planning on staying plenty busy out there, maybe working on his own stuff a little bit now.
Yeah, we probably got some junk around the radio station here he can work on.
Hey, Dan, good to have you in the studio today.
So 1972, take us back to the start of your family's business.
Oh, well, my two brothers were Mike and Leo.
They were the starters of it.
And back then it was just the old picture tube TVs and tube sets.
And from there,
And even he had the old cassette players, eight tracks.
And as time went on, from the TVs, then we took on the satellite line.
Back in, I'd probably be the late 70s, early 80s, was the OC band dishes.
We did over a couple of thousand of them back then.
From there it's here.
We went from there.
Then you went to the flat screen TVs and there's a lot of changes over the years From changing tubes nowadays you throw a set away when something goes wrong with
it
Some of those TVs were, were so large back in the day, the, the cabinets.
And I'm sure you stuck your head into many of them there.
Yeah.
Take two men and a horse to move some of them back
then.
They're big.
But yeah, no, I just, it come a long ways from what it used to be.
It's, uh, oh, I'm just trying to think her to money wise back then you paid, uh,
$800, $900 for a little 25 inch TV.
And today you can get a, get a 75 inch for
that price.
I know that's the thing that I was thinking about is so many other things have gone sky high in comparison.
TV is one of the few things that actually has come down from what it was originally come
down and improved a lot.
And now they're all smart TVs too.
And
Uh, from back then, uh, discipline, old analog signal in all days, everything's digital, which is
much better.
Uh, you had to run, uh, a lot of times for people that couldn't get TV, like they were living behind a rock, basically, you ran a lot of lines clear up on top of hills and everything else.
Didn't you?
A lot of, a lot of
cables strung out through the
countryside.
Uh, that's the only way you get it.
You had to hit the hilltop to get them.
And back then you spent, oh, a good $1,000, $1,500.
Of course nowadays that doesn't seem that much, but back then that was a lot.
But TV was free after that, but the lightning storms, it was not really free.
You paid every year to have boosters put on because the lightning would take them out.
And you had to have
VHF and UHF antennas back then.
Yup.
And of course they still channel three is the only one that's running VHF today.
Otherwise everything's UHF.
Yeah.
But it's kind of come around full circle because there are more over the year channels again than there used to be.
Yeah.
Back then you had maybe a half dozen channels nowadays.
You get about 35.
Because with the digital, you may get like five, six channels on each frequency.
And it gives you a little more variety.
But nowadays, people still want at least 100 channels.
So usually you stream, plus you have the antenna.
Usually you have both.
Because they kind of break it all up, ESPN and that, you got to pay for it, and so forth.
there's still nothing on tv it seems like even even
though
yeah you got to search tell me about when satellite dishes first came in for town and country oh
that's back i'd say at least about 79 i think it was and uh the first ones yeah it's we started out that's with the old hand crank on them
Usually you just put them on one satellite and later on they came up with an actuator that you could actually turn the dish and then back then you oh you probably got 75 channels to start out with and later on you're in the hundreds then you're in to a thousand channels but it all started off free.
That didn't last long.
No, it did not.
Then they encrypted it all.
Then you had to pay for your programming, which wasn't really bad back then compared to today.
Usually today you're going to pay at least 80 bucks a month for a package.
Back then you can get by 15, 20 bucks a month and usually get enough to watch.
Do you remember the first, cause these are big dishes.
Who bought the first one that you sold?
The old
Richland County banker, Marty Pulse, he was the first one to buy one.
And then back then you didn't spend the pole and you built a deck and then you mounted it on to the deck and then you had to get it lined up just so.
And the first one we went out the line, it took us
A good hour or two to get it, so you could get at the track and get all the satellites.
You got to get at the back end of it, set up due north, and just a trail in there.
You set up a TV outside, and you tweaked it in that way.
You didn't have meters or nothing when you first came out.
You went by the picture.
Within a year, they had meters, and it made it a whole lot easier to tweak them.
They come a long ways from back then to now.
They were expensive initially, weren't they Dan?
Yeah, back then they were at least, they're close to five thousand bucks when they first came out.
And as time went on, they kept coming down in price.
And at the end or down to, no, I don't know, about 1500 or so.
But that's like anything, they first come out, you pay for it.
But
TV was all free after you bought
it though.
Yes, it was all free at first.
Like I said, then within a couple of years, they knew there was a market there and they
went after it.
Yeah.
Among the first VCRs too, I remember how difficult those things were to tune when you first bought them because you had to tune it to every channel, didn't you?
Yep, and they were actually at the same price of a TV.
You're paid about 800 bucks for a VCR back then.
And then they have to VHS and Beta came along.
But then later on, Beta got phased out.
And the VHS hung on there for a while, then the DVDs came into play.
I also remember, uh, town and country, even prior to that, you had the big picture discs.
That was kind of the big technology in the late seventies too, wasn't it?
It didn't last long.
It lasted, I don't know, within five years.
That kind of seemed like that phased out.
And, uh, but yes, that was, uh, actually they had the cassettes and then they had the disc.
Yeah.
They, uh,
trying to think back when all that stuff happened that's been a few years
back but you know kudos to you and the staff at town and country because you had to always kind of be up on all that technology and troubleshoot too didn't you
oh yeah yeah you stayed with it as long as you stay with it you're okay but if you're somebody new coming in that's you had to learn a lot
I can actually grab an old sea band dish and I could probably tune it in no time.
I bet you could.
Do you still have worked on a few of those things through the years?
I know that, you know, I don't know how many people still fix their TVs.
We still, I still was playing with TVs up to the end here yet.
But it's nothing like it used to be.
It's, most people, they have a problem with it.
They said the set is over five years old.
Eh, it's time for a new one.
The technology keeps changing so fast.
They outdate so quick.
Even today when you buy a new TV, they'll put it right out there for five years.
They'll keep the technology up after five years.
You're on your own.
It will phase itself out.
And that's usually what happens.
Most sets will last five years, usually.
No problem.
but everybody wants into latest technology.
It's
just the way it is.
I was thinking too, how many homes you have been in in southwest Wisconsin?
Oh boy.
It's gotta be incredible.
It's been a thousand.
I mean it's, it's, because I mean the dishes alone, the big ones I put in over a couple thousand.
So that's, and
The home's been in there, it's quite a few.
I bet.
But then you also worked on lots of washers and fridges and everything else.
Yeah, we were into
about everything.
We had our hands in it all, help deliver and set up.
TVs, antennas, you name it, surround sounds.
I guess we done it
all.
I think you did.
I remember and we didn't get rid of this TV too many years ago, but it was early 2000s and it was a gray TV that came with its own base and you talked about having some good men to move it.
You needed about two or three good men to even lift that thing.
Some
of
them,
yes,
she did.
They're heavy.
Especially when they put them down in the basement and trying to get them back out.
I bet you went up and down some basement stairs over the years that were a little bit suspect.
Oh, yeah.
My even
36 inch Sony's back then they're over about 240 pounds I mean it's time you got them out your truck your fingers were pretty numb
So you're you're phasing it down then you're gonna be officially calling it quits
and yep
We're
gonna pull the plug on it But at least nowadays you can get a 75 inch TV that probably only weighs, you know 60 70 pounds
So it's not as bad as it was back then.
But they're just bulky.
And they keep making it lighter and later it seems like everything is that way cheaper.
But that's just the
technology.
I'll tell you what, a smart TV, I think I may be too dumb to program it because there's things that I don't understand what to do.
I just know on and off.
Yeah.
The main thing, just getting a Wi-Fi connected to it after that.
It's just trial and error to start playing with it.
It comes around.
I could say if my wife can do it, anybody can
do it.
Good conversation.
Happy retirement there with that comment, Dan.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Probably more than town and country after that return.
When's your last day, Dan?
Oh, well, I had a little mishap here about, it's been about eight weeks ago.
A ladder slipped out from under me and broke about eight ribs there.
And that kind of made me think twice on some things.
But that gave me six weeks off to sit there and think about it.
And still kind of recovering yet, but it's coming around, getting back to myself again.
But that there,
made you do a little thinking.
Maybe it was time.
I didn't fall off the ladder.
The ladder flipped me off.
It slid off from the bottom.
And of course I ended up on my back.
I couldn't catch myself.
It wasn't that high.
Maybe nine feet, but nine feet falling on a solid ladder, that hurt.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've been there and done that, that's for sure.
Mike, you've been listening to our conversation.
Anything you want to chime in with here?
Yeah, it makes you think when that happens.
It was an honor and privilege to have you on our team, Danny.
And to begin with, when I first started, I took everybody aside.
And we sat in what we call the sales room.
It was literally where all the sales junk was at, right?
And so I just wanted to talk to the new folks that I was gonna be managing.
And so I sat with everybody and Danny and I said, you know, it sounds like you're the guy holding the whole place up around here, you know, from soup to nuts.
I don't think I can make this go without you.
And it was a very simple short conversation.
I'm up for it.
And that's the way Danny's been for everything.
So very bittersweet.
He and I have known where the TV and antenna business were going for quite some time.
It was just a matter of when the right moment was, and that was my aim to support him doing that work, both for him and a lot of our customers that are out there.
But it became time.
Certainly not farewell, but we'll see you around.
And I can't appreciate it.
Appreciate you anymore.
And I know all of your colleagues from over the years feel the very same way.
And I'll let everybody know that they should be on the lookout for a little get together.
We're going to have for Dan some time in July that we'll get the date out for and the details that we'd love to have you stop by and say hi.
You're going to have him on speed dial just in case
you have a question?
Well, you know.
That's true.
That's for sure.
Ultimately you can give us a ring over at the shop and we know some other folks that are doing some antenna work and some troubleshooting.
So if you do get in the bind, um, there's a few resources out there.
So
you'll be ready, Dan.
I'll be ready.
Okay.
Let's talk about, then, you're kind of progressing into some other avenues.
What might they be, Mike?
Yeah.
So there's several other categories that we haven't done in the home appliance business.
So we've dabbled in different things, like home comfort, air conditioning units.
doing some range hoods, doing some different types of refrigeration, whether that be chillers or commercials.
So ultimately the town and country home appliance is going to be everything you need to run your home efficiently, whether that's in the kitchen, the laundry, the man cave, kind of you name it there.
So we'll be exploring some new opportunities there coming forward.
And lots of avenues.
As Dan said, things change.
Technology changes so quickly.
You got to always be looking ahead, don't
you?
It's true.
And ultimately, you know, we focused on a small number of appliance partners that we have.
The Whirlpool family of brands has been very good to us and to our customers.
And our Speed Queen brand as well is extremely solid.
And so we'll be looking to find a few more partners that can add some variety to what we offer.
and continue to do the same great things we've always done.
It's all about experience for us.
We want every experience you have to be the best we can possibly deliver and when we do that as often as we possibly can.
You'll still have service for troubleshooting
and things like that?
Absolutely.
That's underpinning of what we do ultimately.
Everything we sell and everything that's out there in both the Whirlpool family of brands and Speed Queens, we take on for service in-house or self.
That's our promise to our customers.
This is one of the main reasons we have folks come to us because we can help them figure out what they need.
We can get it in their house safely and efficiently and we can service it as years go by and keeping a family running, you know, when these things happen that you need something new or it's just time for new features, technology comes through and wash and refrigeration and everything else too.
So we're going to be there for you
with.
I know we've talked about this with lawnmowers, but it's probably the case with appliances too.
You might go to a big box store and find them.
Even though it has a brand name, can those be a little bit lesser quality?
In some cases, that's true.
Some manufacturers make alternate versions that go to the big box retailers, and some of that pricing can be offered at different prices than we can.
This is another reason why we kind of focus on the number of brands that we have so that we can be really good at those brands.
Whereas the big box, you can buy anything.
You can buy every brand out there.
And if they don't have it at that store, they'll ship it in from wherever.
Obviously, we're not at that scale, but that's kind of our superpower is to be able to help.
pick up the phone, help people out, and make sure that the quality products are put in place rather than the ones that are going to need repair over and over and over and over again.
And the advantage too is you guys install it, deliver it, and things like that.
If I had to do it, it'd be a mess.
Of course, of course.
Making that process simple is really what we do.
Ultimately, when you come in and you pick out some machinery, there's lots of things that go into it.
There's hoses, there's cords, there's different installation techniques, and sometimes it can be challenging.
You know, our team loves every day when we have to
go out and install a dishwasher.
Those things can be super easy to the super challenging ones, but that's what we do.
We do it every day, so we become pretty good at it.
With a dishwasher, you've got to worry about plumbing, too.
I mean, you've got to have all kinds of
skills.
It's true.
You just don't know what you're going to get into.
Plop in a fridge in someone's house and plug it in, that's one thing.
But hanging a microwave,
working with folks, cabinetry, you know, every day is a different challenge.
And that's, that's what's interesting about the delivery job is, is that you can really, really exercise your brain a little bit, trying to figure out how to, how to solve things.
We do it every day.
Well, as I always say too, you know, you, you go to the big box store, they're not going to sponsor your kids ball team or your, you know, t-shirt nights and things like that.
You guys have always been so good about supporting community stuff.
Yeah, it's, it's true.
And we,
We love the opportunity to help out all the community organizations wherever we can, whether that be for benefits for folks that are going through tough times or supporting the swim team out at Simon's with a refrigerator to house their goods during their meet.
So if I had my perfect day, that's what I'd spend a lot of my time doing is figuring out how I can use our resources to help people advance their goals and their needs.
Well, let's talk about the summertime.
It's going to be an exciting summer.
I think it is.
So the, uh, the June time period that we're just entering now, we're kind of coming off that Memorial Day, uh, push.
And then of course the, the big holiday for in the appliance furniture, betting that kind of world is around, uh, the.
the July 4th time period.
So our summer savings event will be coming up in mid-June, running that through mid-July.
And really the big deal there for us is we're going to have an open house in Reedsburg.
So on the 26th of June, we're going to have an open house.
We'll be doing your Hots and Brought Dogs and all that stuff and get folks to come in and check out the products.
and have some good sales and some good offers that will be out on our website, toniccountryrc.com.
And you're going to have a party for this guy, it sounds
like?
We are in July.
Yep, mid-July.
We're still putting the details together, but we're definitely having a big bash for him.
I believe we're going to do it on a Friday, and so we'd love to have everybody stop by and say hi and enjoy themselves.
Better get that to so Dan can market on his calendar too.
So he can be there.
I plan on letting him know when it
is.
Maybe I'll bring just to celebrate Dan.
I'll bring my 12 inch quasar TV in and you can work on it that day.
Just there you go.
Just to honor you.
Just forgot about that.
What about retirement goals?
What do you have plans, Dan?
Oh, nothing really major.
I just
Helping my son-in-law up at work is up here.
I help him on a few little things.
I mow the yard wash trucks just little things help them out Up there maybe three four hours a day
Some days longer, but
there's
something to do And you're staying off ladders then well somewhat
That's kind of what I figured That's a negotiation between he and I'm quite sure
sure
No
guarantees.
You never know.
Yeah.
But your time certainly has been rewarding, I think, hasn't it?
They beg to roast and
stuff like that.
I'm
going
to pull the plug on them, but ranch homes and stuff, that doesn't seem to bother me too much.
But no, I saw Lake
Plain with the stuff yet.
I wondered about that because sometimes, you know, like the carpenter doesn't necessarily do a very good job at their house, but do you work on things at your own home?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
But no, I actually enjoy doing, I still play with the antennas yet, somewhat.
And like I say, the big ones, if we get into big towers and stuff, well, I got another guy that would do that anyway.
So that don't bother me.
Right.
But the big stuff like that is it's slowly creeping away.
It's just more and more people are streaming and
and the antenna is there certain areas that's their weekend homes and stuff that's all they want is an antenna just something to watch uh like a football game or something they don't want to pay that extra money for streaming but uh there still be a a handful of them out there yet so take care of them
you do have a honeydew list don't you i
was wondering about that oh
I don't know where
it's at.
I heard about a bunch of projects.
Misplaced it.
Well, maybe our listeners out here will have something for you too.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Well, it's been a pleasure having you guys in here, Dan.
Thanks for all your good work.
I know you did a lot of work for the station, getting our dishes set right over the years as well.
So thank you very much.
You bet.
Yeah.
And town and country has been a sponsor of my show for 40 years too on Saturday night.
So I appreciate that too.
Absolutely.
Mike Frederick joining us along with Dan Schwartz representing town and country TV and appliance.
Now town and country home appliance here on today's morning show.