U. S. Radio (Oct 1957-Dec 1958)

TRANSISTOR SET SALES 1956 702,000 18% of total set sales 1957 1,289,400 37% of total set sales Ticklish Assembling Job Finally, the liiiy traiisislor parts must l)c' assembled— an arduous process in uliidi many of the operations are done by hand. This jiart of the job is so liclicate that in some plants the girls who assemble transistors take a break every 20 minutes. For this reason labor costs are high. One firm making transistors budgets labor at about 35% of total costs. Labor is one of the factors that has kept the retail cost of transistor sets from sinking more rapidly. When the first transistors were introduced most prices ranged in the .'>44-$59 area. Normal competition, however, has already puslied prices down to about 525 for the simplest models, with fancier sets containing up to seven transistors retailing for up to $90. It's a rea.sonable assumption that the retail price of transistor radios will be dipping steadily as electronic engineers lotus their energies on new processes and new materials. Cicneral Klc(tri(, for example, is expcrinicriling with silicon (arbidc as p potential substitute for germanium in transistor crystals. Engineers at RC-A, whidi has been in the lorefront of transistor research, have l)uilt and tlemonstrated more than 30 types of experimental transistorized devices since 1952. No one can say with any certainty what transistor sets are likely to cost in the future, because material and labor costs presumably will remain fairly high. But some industry observers believe that a simple transistor set w'ithout any fancy styling may eventually retail for as little as $12 or $15. At the other end of the scale are the special-purpose sets. Magnavox, for example, recently anounced a pocket-size transistor with a shortwave band capable of picking up transatlantic broadcasts. It will j>iohably retail for about SHO. Zenith plans to market in early December, in time for the Christmas trade, an eight-band transistor with shortwave. This set will sell for about §250 but it won't fit into your pocket, iniless you have awfully big pockets — it weighs al)out 10 pounds. Oufmodes Plug-Ins One transistor manufacturer foresees the day, not too far off, when the plug-in home radio will be a nuiseum piece, supplanted entirely by small, compact pocket transistors. There's sound reasoning behind this crystal balling: "First," he says, "look at the cost factor. .A transistor radio with a cadmium-ni(kel plated battery is good for some 10,000 hours — that figures out to more than lltj days of conslatit use, or years and years of ordinary use. And then it's rechargeable. "A long-life dry cell, of a common type that costs $1.50, will power a transistor radio for 400 or 500 hours of constant use." More significant, in the view of this manufacturer, is the fact that the transistor has enabled the radio set ". . . to break out of jail. The big, bulky cabinet of yesterday was a prison, and the electric cord tying the set down to an outlet was a ball and chain." "A housewife can put a transistor set on the end of the ironing board while she does the shirts. She can take it into the kitchen with her, or down into the laundry room." He delicately omitted to mention that, in a wide-awake household supplied with several handy, low-jiriced transistors, the folks would be spared even the minimal effort of carrying a one-poimd radio from one room to another. They'd be all over the place, like ash trays. "Dick Tracy" Type Coming The transistor radio's possibilities seem endless. Stand clear of the stampede toward store c o u n t e r s when the "Dick Tracy"-type wristwatch radio hits the market. It's now pre-empted by the .\rmy Signal Corps, but eventually will be released for the consumer market. Then there are automobile transistors— enjoy them while you're driving, take them out of the car and along with you when yon get there. One enterprising manufacturer of ladies' handbags has built a transistor right into his product. The transistor radio, to put it briefly, is a child of its time. .America is on the move and so is radio. The transistor makes "inseparable companion" more than just a glib phrase. Radio today is (with a bow to Nucoa) tridy u b i cj u i t o u s, and thanks to the transistor set it's getting more so every minute, it's enough to make a radio manufacturer— or a radio advertiser — a little giddv. • • • 26 U.S. RADIO October 1957