Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

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22 JANUARY 11, 1960 More about ELECTRONICS IMPORTS & EXPORTS: Tables of U.S. electronics imports & exports compiled by the Commerce Dept, (see p. 18) are the best available, even if they’re incomplete — thanks to the antiquated product classifications still used by the U.S. govt. Such items as radio-phonos, record players & changers, radar equipment and microphones aren’t included in the tables because they are not separately tallied in official import statistics — but included in catch-all classifications. U.S. IMPORTS OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS (add 000) Jan.-Sept. Commodity 1957 1958 1958 1959 TV cameras & parts . $ 28.2 $ 44.2 $ 11.2 $ 79.3 TV tubes & parts 105.4 324.0 215.1 207.8 Other TV apparatus & parts..., 165.6 1,036.7 670.4 469.2 Radio apparatus & parts . 15,324.9 28,171.0 16,648.8 43,260.9 Photocells, tubes & parts 486.7 628.8 374.9 955.6 Phonographs, etc 187.5 137.6 75.9 771.9 Phonograph needles, etc 124.7 13.1 12.1 11.6 Other phono parts 354.1 399.9 210.8 476.7 Subtotal . $16,777.1 $30,655.3 $18,019.2 $46,232.0 Phonograph records . 2,476.7 2,974.2 2,177.2 2,568.0 TOTAL . $19,253.8 $33,629.5 $20,196.4 $48,800.0 U.S. EXPORTS OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS* (add 000) Commodity 1957 1958 1958 Radio & TV best, equipment $ 11,200 $ 12,823 $ 8,826 Radio communication equipment.. 116,516t 123,404 91,405 Detection & navigational app 45,871 44,175 35,302 TV receivers 19,584 25,036 16,965 Radio receivers 7,101 7,848 6,401 Radio-phonographs 867 1,367 846 Coin-operated phonographs 16,594 14,277 10,667 Other phonographs & parts 8,746 9,724 6,618 Recorders, parts & accessories Electron tubes & parts 10,929 12,187 8,842 except blanks 47,336 62,027 36,641 Semiconductors 4,230 7,778 5,772 Other equipment & components.... 52,207 66,081 40,250 Subtotal $341,181 $366,727 $266,435 Phonograph records & blanks 11,001 11,456 8,083 TOTAL $352,182 $378,183 $274,518 Jan.-Sept. 1959 $ 14,603 69,882 35,030 14,989 4,801 694 10,387 7,289 8,119 36,439 6,461 44,939 7,495 • Excluding computers & test equipment, t Not strictly comparable with later years ; includes certain exports classified under Detection & Navigation. The following table of U.S. radio imports does not agree with previously released statistics on exports from various countries because of time lag between export from country of origin and import into the U.S., difference in valuations, trans-shipments, etc. Not included in the table are radio-phonos for which separate import statistics are not available. U.S. IMPORTS OF RADIO APPARATUS & PARTS From Principal Countries of Origin (add 000) Jan.-Sept. Country of origin 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958 1959 Japan $ 232 $ 2,482 $ 5,590 $16,040 $ 7,959 $30,753 W. Germany 1,632 3,124 4,946 3,504 2,113 4,292 United Kingdom .... 392 1,014 1,899 2,637 1,814 2,393 Netherlands 685 801 1,281 2,445 1,540 2,645 Other countries 610 1,071 1,609 3,645 3,122 3,177 TOTAL $ 3,351 $ 8,492 $15,325 $28,171 $16,548 $43,260 Zenith will relocate labs & production facilities of subsidiary Zenith Radio Research Corp. from Redwood City, Cal. to a new 30,000-sq.-ft. plant purchased at Menlo Park, Cal., Chmn. Hugh Robertson reports. In addition to the modern building on a 2.88-acre site. Zenith purchased an adjoining 2.5-acre site for future growth. The new facility will provide expanded research, engineering and production facilities for its microwave tube and X-ray work. TV-RADIO SALES & OUTPUT: Retail sales & production of TV sets took their usual seasonal dip in Nov. from Oct., but were well ahead of both the year-ago & yearto-date 1958 totals, EIA reported last week. Actually, Nov. was a big TV sales month, with the retail volume running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than 6 million sets. Radio posted higher Nov. than Oct. retail sales, although production was down. Nov. & Jan. -Nov. sales & output also were appreciably ahead of the totals for the comparable 1958 periods. TV retail sales in Nov. totaled 598,070 sets, down from 637,147 in Oct., but markedly ahead of the 499,038 sold in Nov. 1958. Cumulative 1959 sales totaled 5,046,971 TV sets vs. 4,490,568 sold in Jan.-Nov. 1959. TV production in Nov. was 560,770 vs. 706,583 the preceding month and 437,772 produced in Nov. 1958. The year-to-date production totaled 5,756,210, sharply ahead of the 4,505,578 sets made during 1958’s first 11 months. Nov. production included 46,544 uhf receivers — ^vs. 55,113 in Oct. & 34,822 in Nov. 1958. Jan.-Nov. uhf production reached 387,524 vs. 388,802 for the same 11 months of 1958. EIA’s month by-month 1959 vs. 1958 TV comparisons: 1959 1958 Production Sales Production Sates January .... 437,026 601,704 433,983 581,486 February ... .... 459,492 448,173 370,413 448,727 March .... 494,032 425,749 416,903 416,756 April .... 389,251 263,998 302,559 243,132 May .... 431,911 279,536 266.982 237,189 June .... 571,003 344,795 377,090 250,362 July 370,575 274,999 279,010 August .... 547,445 492,449 507,526 405,790 September . .... 808,337 684,773 621,734 605,638 October .... 706,583 637,147 495,617 623,440 November ... .... 660,770 598,070 437,772 499,038 Total .... 5,756,210 5,046,971 4,505,578 4,490,568 * * * Radio sales in Nov. (excluding auto) went over the million mark for the first month this year — reaching 1,016, 634 vs. sales of 839,912 in Oct. and 931,355 in Nov. 1958. Nov. production totaled 1,346,079 units (including 290,815 auto radios & 50,131 FM) vs. 1,795,718 in Oct. (including 531,116 auto & 62,959 FM). The following table compares Nov. & Jan.-Nov. radio figures with the same 1958 periods: Total output auto radio FM sets Sales (excl. auto) 1959 Nov. Jan.-Nov. 1,346,079 14,069,049 290,815 4,973,777 60,131 480,894 1,016,634 7,142,424 1958 Nov. Jan.-Nov. 1,438,061 10,342,833 476,977 3,156,696 68,161 303,808 931,355 6,172,984 Multiple-TV homes will be counted for the first time by the Census Bureau in a sampling of about 15 million of 55 million households covered by the 1960 population count starting April 1 (Vol. 15:34 pl7). Owners of 2 or more radio sets (excluding auto radios) also will be tallied for the first time in the housing census to supplement the general U.S. nose-count. Questionnaires, left by 160,000 enumerators at about every 4th house among the 55 million which receive advance census report forms, will ask: “Do you have any TV sets?” Instructions for checking answers (“1 set,” “2 sets or more,” “no TV sets”) will be: “Count only sets in working order. Count floor, table and portable TV sets as well as combinations.” Radios will be similarly covered in the household questionnaires, which also seek first-time data on ownership of automatic washers & dryers and air conditioners. TV & radio chassis-misbranding would be forbidden under bills (HR-9310 & 9349) introduced by Reps. Bray (D-Ind.) & Moulder (D-Mo.). The measures cover “misbranding & false advertising of decorative hardwood or imitation hardwood products.”