PICTURE THE SCENE: it is a very wet Wednesday afternoon and trade is slow.

A flashy Porsche car draws up at our door, ignoring the double yellow lines.

A customer I recognise as the managing director of a big oil company rushes in and says: “I’m in a hurry. I need five really good digital radios – whatever you think is best. I’ll post you a cheque tomorrow. I’ve got the staff dance tonight and I am due at the hotel right now to finalise the arrangements.”

I should explain that this customer has unquestioned credit, so Spikey and I gave him the DAB radios. I assumed they were to be used as prizes at the staff dance, as he is known to be a very generous employer.

I was wrong. He bought them because he had heard about radio changing to digital and he wanted them to replace all the radios in his house. I should say this customer is a bit impetuous and last time he rushed in and bought something it was a notebook PC for his young daughter, but he was back next day as he had forgotten she wanted it in pink.

This time he brought his purchases back for a far more serious reason. They didn’t work.

All his existing radios played quite happily on medium wave and on FM without extending any of their telescopic aerials. The stations on the new DAB radios could not be received reliably even with their antennas extended.

My ultra-rich customer said: “Next time, I will be in less of a hurry and ask your advice first, but this digital changeover will never happen till digital radios work everywhere, not just when I am standing by the window.”

I didn’t argue, but it is an interesting observation from outside our industry. I wonder what DRUK would suggest, as this customer is now staying with his “perfectly good” old radios.

IN THE PAST I have mentioned the excellence of the Ken Crane chain of stores in California. I regret to report this business, which once had 175 employees and a £40 million turnover, is closing down.

The company operated at the top end of the market and was the sole retailer chosen by Panasonic to launch their 103in plasma high-definition TV.

The Ken Crane name was elected into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame in 2005 ahead of Steve Jobs of Apple.

The firm’s closing-down adverts make for sad reading as they contain a personal statement from the present family members Pam and Casey Crane: “We have faced many storms in the past 62 years and have been able to weather them all, except this recession.

"The combination of home foreclosures, tight lending policies and high unemployment has forced us to take the painful decision to close. We will be having our greatest sale ever – unfortunately it will be our last.”

Cranes is going out in a blaze of glory and cocking a snook at one of the reasons for its demise by advertising Sony and Panasonic at prices that are less than its bêtes noires – Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

One US dealer, who had better remain anonymous, said: “The CE business is doomed. Nobody can compete with Wal-Mart on price and though customers gripe about service, they can’t resist a saving. Makers will soon only have a couple of customers.”

Thanks goodness dealers in the UK are more optimistic.

Graham Knight