Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 4 17 portables. However, it’s reported that the Japanese firm has pre-production models of 8-in. sets. Delmonico sales vp S. Lipper told us he expects the Sony TV set to attract widespread dealer interest and to produce considerably more retail outlets for the Sony radio line as well. First samples of the transistor TV set are expected in the next 2 weeks and will be used for dealer demonstrations & general promotion. He believes market is wide open for small battery portables, predicts they ultimately will be as popular as Japanese transistor radios. He foresees no service problems with the Sony TV set, said factory engineers will be sent to the U.S. to train Delmonico servicemen. “We see no limit or bar to the market,” he told us. * ♦ ♦ Japanese answer to revitalized U.S. competition in price, quality & size of transistor radios: price cuts of 3% to 10% are being announced by Japanese radio mfrs. Trade Personals: Carl E. Lantz, Admiral sales vp., elected pres, of new subsidiary Admiral Sales Corp., formed to handle sales, service, advertising and promotion for all Admiral consumer products. Other officers, all executives of the parent company: Ross D. Siragusa Jr., vp, electronics div.; B. H. Melton, vp, appliances; Harris Hesketh, vp, branch distributing div. Joseph M. Hertzberg, ex-RCA mktg. vp, named to similar position with Philco’s govt. & industrial div. — a new post . . . Alfred C. Viebranz, formerly with Sylvania and more recently account exec, with Young & Rubicam, named to new post of Sylvania Home Electronics mktg. vp ; Austin J. White named gen. mgr., Sylvania Chicago branch . . . Clifford H. Lane promoted to mgr., industrial semiconductor products dept. Robert J. Gilson, ex-Hoffman Labs, named systems management dir., Stromberg-Carlson electronics div. . . . Paul A. Johnston, dir. of information, appointed vp of TV Shares Management Corp., principal underwriter and investment manager for TV-Electronics fund . . . Max H. Krich, ex-pres. of Krich-N.J. Inc., RCA Victor & RCA Whirlpool distributor, named chmn; Frederic M. Comins named pres. . . . Hermon H. Scott, pres, of H. H. Scott Inc., elected a dir. & chmn. of the Institute of High Fidelty Manufacturers; Ray V. Pepe, vp of James B. Lansing Sound Inc., elected vp & dir. of the Institute. Will M. Quinn Jr. named engineering mgr., in a consolidation of GE radio receiver dept.’s home phonograph & hi-fi components operations, headquartering in Decatur, 111.; William B. Scott Sr., named mfg. mgr.; Marshall H. Terpening appointed employe & community relations mgr.; Marshall Bartlett Jr. named mktg. mgr., Syracuse; George M. Misenhelder, finance mgr., Owensboro, Ky. Ray B. Cox, vp-gen. mgr., Hoffman Electronics consumer products div., was dismissed from Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, last week after minor surgery. He is expected back at his desk this week . . . William S. Hepner Jr., ex-asst. public information & publications dir. of Commerce Dept.’s Office of Technical Services, named mgr. of EIA’s office of information, succeeding Herbert S. Hodge and reporting to public relations dir. Robert DeVore. Dr. Martin A. Edwards appointed mgr. of GE electronic components div.’s new advanced product planning operation . . . Robert C. A. Eland promoted from Standard Coil chief engineer to new post of research & development vp . . . C. Robert Paulson named mgr., Ampex professional audio products div., succeeding Frank G. Lennert, who will remain as audio consultant. More than 250 manufacturers of electronic equipment ^are now evaluating samples of the Nuvistor, RCA’s thimble-size metal-clad electron tube (Vol. 15:29 pl2), according to RCA electron tube div. vp-gen. mgr. Douglas Y. Smith. He predicted widespread use of Nuvistors in TV receivers & cameras, space vehicles and computers. Commercial production is due to begin this year. His comments were made last week during the annual tour of the division’s plants by RCA tube executives. Also on the tour, kinescope operations mgr. H. R. Seelen predicted industry sales of picture tubes will continue in 1960 at “the same high level” established last year when more than 13 million units were sold, and John B. Farese, mgr., entertainment-tube products dept., forecast that receiving tube sales again will exceed 400 million. Tests of Land 2-color theory as it applies to TV (Vol. 15:27, 32, 34, 40; 16:1 p20) by Britain’s BBC are described in Jan. Wireless World (London). The conclusions, which conform with those of non-TV experiments undertaken by Britain’s Goethean Science Foundation and Wireless World’s own staff: “In view of the subjective nature of the colors and the fact that they depend a great deal on the composition of the pictures, it does not seem that Land color has much to offer for a practical system of color TV.” BBC tests showed that the range of colors reproduced by the 2-color system was far more limited than that of the NTSC system and that color reproduction was partially inaccurate in objects with large areas. Tape-recorder industry will produce 750,000 home recorders this year, at an estimated value of $170 million, Ampex’s Herbert L. Brown, pres, of the Magnetic Recording Industry Assn., said last week. He credited the emergence of 4-track pre-recorded stereo tapes with helping to save the tape-recorder industry and with bringing about the anticipated production increase from last year’s estimated 650,000 machines at $140 million. “Quality stabilization bill” aimed at discount houses which sell trademarked products at prices less than those set by manufacturers, has been introduced by Rep. Madden (D-Ind.). He said the measure (HR-9692) isn’t a fair-trade proposal. It merely “provides that a manufacturer may protect his property rights in his trademark simply by revoking— ^by mail, if desired — the right of an offending reseller to make any further use of, or reference to, the trademark,” Madden told the House. Admiral’s stepping up first-quarter ad support of its 23-in. TV line. Admiral Sales Corp. Pres. Carl E. Lantz reports that “heavy distributor orders at our year-end sales meetings have resulted in more than doubling the company’s investment in newspaper advertisements in every distributor’s market.” Scheduled 1,600-line insertions have been increased from 2 to 4, and four 1,000-line ads have been added in each of 81 markets. The newspaper inserts will be supplemented by 10 pages in Life, Look, SatEvePost during the 9-week period. Compatible AM stereo broadcasting, using the Kahn system which employs 2 independent sidebands to carry the stereo information, will be adopted soon by CJAD Montreal, XEW Mexico City and 2 Venezuelan stations, according to Kahn Research Labs. Kahn system stereo may be received with 2 standard AM receivers. Motorola had record sales of TV, stereo hi-fi and radio instruments last year, consumer products exec, vp Edward R. Taylor reported. TV unit sales were up 35% over the 1958 volume, stereo-hi-fi ahead more than 40%. Radio gains: portables 82%, clock radios 81%, table models 70%.