Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

10— TELEVISION DIGEST JANUARY 14, 1963 The preliminary EIA figures are subject to slight revisions in final auditing, and revised figures will be printed here upon their official release, probably in Feb. • • • • Here ore EIA's production statistics for final 2 weeks of 1962, compared with year-ago figures. Data had been delayed because of holidays : Dec. 17-21 1 962 week Dec. 24-28 1961 week Full year '62 Full year '61 TV 125,405 122,753 57,783 66,775 6,484,501 6,177,793 Total radio 380,877 363,543 207,365 252,903 19,189,507 17,373,846 auto radio 179,453 133,082 147,578 105,122 7,287,388 5,568,345 EIA statistics for week ended Jan. 4 (first week of 1962) Jan. 2-4 Preceding wk. 1962 wk. '63 cumulative '62 cumulative TV 66,146 57,783 81,108 Total radio 221,169 207,365 280,636 auto radio 107,014 147,578 117,258 Printed-circuit-vs. -hand-wired battle flamed anew in ad pages last week as 2 TV manufacturers decided to have another fling at challenging claims of superiority of hand wiring. In 2-page & 1-page ads in trade publications, RCA devoted entire space to dependability of its “space-age sealed circuitry” over “old-fashioned hand-wired circuitry.” Philco appealed directly to consumers in full-page newspaper ad challenging “misleading propaganda about ‘hand wiring,’ ” terming circuit boards “more satisfactory and reliable.” Hand wiring, said Philco, “makes good propaganda, fbutl it simply does not make the best [TVl sets.” Philco will double local newspaper ad budgets this year, has scheduled kickoflf ads in 240 papers in 196 markets, reported Consumer Products Div. ad mgr. John Kelly. These will be followed throughout year by local campaigns in 217 newspapers in 189 markets. Trade ads will hammer “Ford Means Business” theme, “tell dealers what the new Philco-Ford association means in terms of profit to them now & in the future,” Kelly said. Japan will reduce tariffs from 25% to 20% on imports of U.S. TV sets of 19-in. & above and on certain types of receiving tubes. Concession was made at General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT) negotiations in Geneva, in exchange for certain concessions by U.S. on Japanese imports of unspecified items. Tariff reduction is minor item; U.S. exports of the sets & tubes to Japan totaled only $44,000 in 1961. Space-Tone Electronics Corp., publicly-owned Washington, D. C., manufacturer of stereo consoles, announced last week that it will offer its line to department stores. Its initial offering consists of 5 stereo consoles at $150$995 list. It previously had sold its products only through wholly-o\vned subscription club subsidiary. Reduction of manufacturing tax from 10% to 5% on TV sets, radios & certain other entertainment equipment is proposed in bill (HR-872) by Rep. Conte (R-Mass.). Sylvania has started production of line of compactron receiving tubes. , The multi-element tube design was developed by GE, and Sylvania is 2nd company to produce it. American Video Inc. is name of new firm which has taken over assets of Calvideo Electronics Inc., Compton, Cal., one of largest picture-tube rebuilders. New company’s owners, both attorneys, are Judd Goldfeder & Garson Fox, who have become pres. & finance vp, respectively. Former Calvideo Pres. Stephen Tidik has been named mfg. vp. Calvideo, which did not operate profitably in 1902, had sales of about $1.7 million for the year. Goldfeder & Fox also ovsm U.S. Scientific Devices, Los Angeles CR tube developer & manufacturer. Minneapolis-Sf. Paul will be next marketing area for 3M-Revere automatic tape cartridge recorder (Vol. 2:46 p9). Satisfied with results of St. Louis market te.st, 3M officials will open sales in Twin Cities, corporate home of 3M, Feb. 1. Several exclusive dealer franchises will be aw.arded — probably to music & dept, store — for the $450 unit. Marketing will be nationwide by Sept. 1. covering too 25-30 market areas. Deals with at least one consolenhono manufacturer ai-e understood to be in serious discussion stages. Japanese TV exports (sets & chassis) to U.S. for first 11 months of 1962 totaled 137,875, compared with 17,560 in same 1961 period, according to Finance Ministry. Of 1962 total, 29,152 were transistorized and 108,720 were tube sets; all except 3 had screen sizes smaller than 21-in. Other Japanese exports to U.S. for the 11-month period (1961 comparisons in parentheses): Tube radios, 1,489,579 (1,982,762); radios with 3 or more transistors, 6,994,147 (4,025,162); other radios, 2,521,923 (4,360,554). Canadian FM stations bi-oadcasting in stereo, in addition to those listed in our Dec. 10 issue (Vol. 2:50 pl2) : CJFM Montreal, CFPL-FM London, CJOB-FM Winnipeg. The omissions were called to our attention by CJFM mgr. J. Lyman Potts, who says his station has been operating in stereo 18 hours daily since it went on air last Oct. 1. Quarterly magazine for GE TV-radio & stereo dealers. Sight & Sound Retailing, has made debut. Editor is Tom Castle, GE radio & TV div. ad & PR mgr.