International Radio Corporation

It was established in 1931 by Charles Albert Verschoor with financial backing from Ann Arbor mayor William E. Brown, Jr., and a group of local business leaders.

Due to the seasonal nature of radio sales, the company attempted to diversify its offerings with a product that would sell well during the summer, eventually settling on a camera that would become the Argus.

[3][4] Described as a "colorful old-time promoter" in a January 1945 Fortune magazine article and as a "go-getting inventor" by Mary Hunt, Verschoor had previous experience in automobile manufacturing as well.

[4] They were also reminiscent of 10-tube radios that Verschoor had built between 1925 and 1930 under the "Arborphone" name, which had only five functioning tubes alongside five superfluous ones intended simply to impress prospective customers.

As their profit margins fell, many dealers dropped Kadettes from their catalogs altogether; while IRC made efforts to reverse this trend, in many cases irreparable damage had already been done.

[1] This prompted Verschoor to explore possibilities for expanding the company's product line in order to reduce the slack periods caused by the seasonal variation in its radio sales.

[3] Looking for a product that could be produced relatively cheaply and that would also sell well during the summer months, he decided upon an inexpensive Leica-inspired camera that would ultimately become the Argus, which launched to nearly instant success in 1936.