industry small appliances founded 1964 founder ron popeil headquarters chicago il united states area served worldwide products stainless steel rotisserie veg o matic kitchen knives website www.ronco.com this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . august 2012 this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message ronco is an american company that manufactures and sells a variety of items and devices most commonly those used in the kitchen . ron popeil founded the company in 1964 1 and commercials for the company s products soon became pervasive and memorable in part thanks to popeil s personal sales pitches . the names ronco and popeil and the suffix o matic used in many early product names became icons of american popular culture and were often referred to by comedians introducing fictional gadgets . contents 1 history 2 inventions 3 awards 4 records 5 see also 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links history edit in the beginning the company chiefly sold inventions developed by popeil s father samuel s.j. popeil . products include the veg o matic and the popeil pocket fisherman a product manufactured by s.j. popeil s company . during the 1970s ron popeil began developing products on his own to sell through ronco . in august 2005 popeil announced his sale of the company to fi tek vii a denver holding company for 55 million . he was expected to continue working with the company as spokesman and product developer but sold the company in order to have more time with his family . fi tek vii changed its name to ronco and maintained the right of first look for popeil s future inventions . ronco used to hold the trademark on the phrase set it and forget it 2 used in the commercials for the showtime rotisserie grill . the phrase has gone on to be used in popular culture . on june 14 2007 ronco filed chapter 11 in u.s. bankruptcy court . paperwork filed showed that ronco creditors the largest of which is popeil himself were owed us 32.7 million . 3 in 2011 cd3 holdings inc. a consumer products company acquired ronco . citation needed . inventions edit ronco is known for a wide range of products marketed and in some cases invented by ron popeil . among them are chop o matic a hand food processor . ladies and gentlemen i m going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made ... all your onions chopped to perfection without shedding a single tear . dial o matic successor to the veg o matic and very similar to a mandolin slicer . slice a tomato so thin it only has one side . when chopping onions with this machine the only tears you will shed will be tears of joy . popeil pocket fisherman a small fishing pole . the biggest fishing invention since the hook ... and still only 19.95 according to the program biography the original product was the invention of popeil s father and only marketed by ronco but as of 2006 popeil had introduced a redesigned version of the product . 4 mr. microphone a short range hand held radio transmitter that would broadcast over an fm radio . the nearby radio s would therefore amplify the sound coming from the mr. microphone . in the ad a convertible rolls past with the fm radio turned up ; a young man in the car transmits using a mr. microphone hey good lookin we ll be back to pick ya up later mr. microphone is referenced in police academy 2 and is parodied in the simpsons episode radio bart . inside the shell egg scrambler self explanatory gets rid of those slimy egg whites in your scrambled eggs . popeil has said the inspiration for this product was his lifelong revulsion toward incompletely blended scrambled eggs . 4 six star 20 piece cutlery set self explanatory showtime rotisserie a small rotisserie oven designed for cooking smaller sized portions of meat such as whole chicken and lamb . set it and forget it solid flavor injector used to inject solid ingredients into meat or other foods . a similar product called the liquid flavor injector allowed for the injecting of liquid ingredients into meat e.g. lime juice into chicken . this product accompanied the showtime rotisserie . glh 9 hair in a can great looking hair formula 9 drain buster citation needed smokeless ashtray a device which used an integrated fan to draw smoke away from the materials in the ashtray . electric food dehydrator self explanatory instead of giving kids candy give them apple snacks or banana chips . and it s great if you re a hunter fisherman backpacker or camper . makes beef jerky for around 3 a pound and you know what went in it because you made it yourself ronco popeil automatic pasta maker self explanatory ronco rhinestone stud setter it changes everyday clothing into exciting fashions and you don t have to spend a fortune . the cap snaffler bottle opener . snaffles caps off any size jug bottle or jar ... and it really really works . 5 awards edit the ronco inside the shell electric egg scrambler from 1978 won 84th place in mobile magazine s top 100 gadgets of all time . 6 consumers digest award best buy in rotisserie dec. 2010 citation needed records edit ronco like its rival k tel is also known as a record label mostly issuing compilation albums created for tv advertising and licensed from the major record labels . in the united kingdom its first album was 20 star tracks released in 1972 . it issued three number one albums the that ll be the day soundtrack in 1973 which was removed from the chart while at number one as tv advertised compilations were banned from the chart disco daze and disco nites in 1981 and raiders of the pop charts released at the end of 1982 topping the chart in 1983 . its then novel marketing techniques made it a major force until the emergence of the now that s what i call music albums and their imitators after which ronco rapidly disappeared from the uk album market in 1984 when its parent company went bankrupt . many of its uk ads in the 1970s and 1980s whether for its kitchen products or albums featured the voice of tommy vance . see also edit companies portal food dehydrator references edit the history of ronco inc . retrieved 26 december 2013 . after its foundation near chicago in 1964 the firm went public in 1969 . united states patent & trademark office search for us serial no 77476587 jeff st.onge 2007 06 15 . ronco maker of the veg o matic files bankruptcy . bloomberg news . retrieved 2007 06 15 . a b ron popeil biography aired august 15 2006 john jory ; monsen avery 2011 05 27 . i feel relatively neutral about new york . chronicle books . p. 22 . isbn 9781452105628 . retrieved 2014 05 24 . the top 100 gadgets of all time further reading edit nolte watts carolyn december 20 1977 . ronco every christmas they entice the tv viewer with visions of bottle cutters and potato chip makers dancing on airwaves . st. petersburg times . associated press december 13 1982 . ronco slices dices and sells . the milwaukee journal . associated press january 19 1984 . gadget master ronco facing bankruptcy . the palm beach post . klibanoff hank december 20 1984 . ronco is bankrupt and off the air for first time in 20 years . the evening independent . mcgeehan patrick december 11 1994 . profile ; he s back the amazing human selling machine . the new york times . external links edit official website saturday night live transcript of super bass o matic 76 skit retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ronco & oldid 743337090 categories companies established in 1964companies based in chicagokitchenware brandskitchen knife brandscooking appliance brandspop record labelshidden categories wikipedia articles in need of updating from august 2012all wikipedia articles in need of updatingarticles needing additional references from august 2012all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2012articles with unsourced statements from april 2013articles with unsourced statements from august 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 05 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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