If you live anywhere near Charlottesville, VA you can’t go very far without seeing an Atlantic Coast Athletic Club, or better known by its acronym ACAC. This collection of fitness and wellness centers is considered the gold standard when it comes to health spas. Every piece of equipment is spotless, and every room, area, path, and location are designed to be elegant retreats for the mind, body and spirit. Bathrooms are punctuated with live bamboo plants that are highlighted with glamour lighting; Olympic size pools are sparkling, and exercise areas run from serious workout spots to meditative retreats depending on what an individual ACAC client desires that day. The business was founded in 1984 inside an empty Safeway store location that was converted into a large but extra clean place to work out. Over the years, ACAC has blossomed into one of the most distinguished business models within the health and wellness industry, and today it boasts more than 60,000 members, 3,000 employees, and eight premium locations.

Challenge: Replacing Discontinued XR150 Radios

Keeping a prestigious business like ACAC thriving requires a lot of coordination among its team members, which mandates a superior communications system that’s instantaneous and reliable. That’s why when ACAC Maintenance Director Erik Kirkpatrick needed to replace their discontinued RCA XR150 radios with something equally compact, reliable, and affordable but with better performance, they contacted Discount Two-Way Radio, the master distributor of RCA’s professional radio equipment.

“We rely on our radios to keep everyone on the same page. Our business would not run nearly as smoothly without them,” said Erik.

Solution: RCA’s RDR1520 Digital Two-Way Radios

When RCA discontinued its XR150 two-way radios, the ACAC Maintenance Director Erick Kirkpatrick reached out to Discount Two-Way Radio to find a comparable replacement radio that was also compatible with his existing supply. We directed him toward our RDR1520 professional compact digital portable radio. Not only is this radio the most compact and lightweight commercial radio on the market today, the RDR1520 two-way radio is also the newest addition to the PRODIGI™ line of Professional DMR Digital Radios. Simple and budget-friendly, this radio is designed to assist professional environments with reliable and mobile communication. In addition, the RDR1520 has 3 watts of power that delivers great audio quality across challenging environments. Plus, the RCA RDR1520 provides customers like ACAC the following features:

• 100% Compatibility with your existing system
• Analog/Digital operation
• Includes: 2000mAh battery, charger, belt clip, and antenna
• 2-year warranty
• In stock and ready to ship same day

Results:

According to Erik, the new RDR1520 radios were employed in more than 27 locations through the health and wellness club, including the front desk, mobile sales team members, and the maintenance team of which he manages. In addition, he purchased the following equipment:

• Genuine RCA High Capacity Battery
• Genuine RCA Handheld Radio Belt Clip
• RCA Radio Single Rapid Charger Base
• Genuine RCA Rapid Charger Power Supply

“One of the things that made change-over so nice was that the XR150 charging stations still work with the newer RDR1520 radios. Also, I like the twisting knob for on-off power better than the switch that came with the XR150,” said Erik.

Finally, Erik emphasized that the new radios were not only more durable, they were also more powerful than the outdated XR150 radios.

“This club is in a five or six story building that’s all concrete and metal construction. Our reception on these RDR1520 radios gets all the way from the bottom of the building to the top of the building. It’s just a really great radio, and I’m very happy with them,” said Erik. “Working with Discount Two-Way Radio has been great especially as far as having all of our channels pre-programmed for us and the great warranty that they provide is one of the best I’ve seen. They’re a really good company to work with,” said Eric.