New monthly video and audio program from the Mobile Electronics Association opens with Angel Rivera of Laketown Speed and Sound, who went from the install bay to part owner across 25 years at the same shop
North Andover, MA – October 19, 2026 – The Mobile Electronics Association today launched the Mobile Electronics Report, a monthly video and audio program for the 12-volt industry hosted by Chris Cook, publisher of Mobile Electronics Magazine and president of the Mobile Electronics Association.
The first episode premieres today, Monday, October 19, at 2:00 PM Eastern at https://youtube.com/live/wKQxiVprEcA. Cook will be in the live chat during the premiere to take questions.
The debut episode is built around a conversation with Angel Rivera of Laketown Speed and Sound in Draper, Utah, named the 2026 Mobile Electronics Retailer of the Year alongside co-owner John Mueller. Rivera walked into that shop 25 years ago as an installer, after ten years in the Marine Corps. He is a partner in it today.
That path is one almost nobody in this industry can describe, and it sits on top of the problem every owner says they have, which is finding and keeping technicians.
“When I came to Laketown, I treated Laketown as if it was my own. That’s the biggest thing,” Rivera said. “Treat the job like it’s your business. What would I do if it was Laketown Angel?”
Rivera is also candid about the years he counted himself out, and about what he would tell a shop owner who has decided the recognition in this industry is for somebody else. He talks through what the awards submission process forced him to confront about his own year, what actually changed at the shop after the announcement, and what being a partner changed about how he reads the numbers.
“Angel can answer as an owner and as the guy who was doing the work, and there are not many people in this industry who can do both in the same sentence,” Cook said. “I asked him what I would want answered if I were running a shop right now, and he did not dodge any of it.”
The episode also puts Rivera on the record about the recent Sony and Alpine announcements, which the program weighs together rather than separately, and his answer about what a shop is actually selling when the brands on the wall change is the clearest read on that question anyone has offered publicly.
Each episode opens with a monthly read on retail performance, drawn from point-of-sale transactions across roughly 300 shops and projected across the industry’s 4,600 storefronts. The first installment reports what is actually driving the first half decline, and it is not where most shops are currently pointing. The association publishes full methodology alongside every episode.
Rounding out the episode are Rosa Sophia’s feature on Laketown in the current issue of Mobile Electronics Magazine, which covers a staff retention program funded out of a line item most shops already pay, and registration and the call for content and speakers for KnowledgeFest Las Vegas, February 5 through 7, 2027.
Voting for the 2027 Mobile Electronics Industry Awards closes this Thursday, October 22 at midnight at meindustryawards.com. Both the industry and consumer ballots are open now and close on that deadline, so shops named to this year’s lists can still send their own customers to vote. Finalists will be announced October 27.
The Mobile Electronics Report publishes monthly as video and as an audio podcast. The third quarter retail report comes in the November episode.
Episode one premieres Monday, October 19 at 2:00 PM Eastern: https://youtube.com/live/wKQxiVprEcA
About the Mobile Electronics Association
The Mobile Electronics Association serves manufacturers, retailers and service providers in the automotive aftermarket technology industry, with more than 1,100 members across those groups. Its mission is to educate, inform and empower, which it delivers through KnowledgeFest trade shows and conferences, Mobile Electronics Magazine, and business services built to improve professionalism and profitability. More information is available at mobile-electronics.com.
Mobile Electronics is a registered trademark of the Mobile Electronics Association.
Media Contact
Chris Cook – Mobile Electronics Association press@mobile-electronics.com
###