Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

MANUFACTURING and demonstration activities as not being unlike those of used car dealers. A television "blue book," voicing manufacturer's predictions on picture tube sizes and cabinet styles for 1956, was referred to by Gene Rankin of National Trade-In Guide Co., the publishing firm. He said the pattern of sales the first 10 months of 1955 followed pretty closely the predictions the book gave, on the basis of a recent survey. It showed that, on the basis of every 1,000 sets produced and sold last year, the leading picture tubes were 21, 24, 17, and 27, in that order, with the 21-inch receiver the most popular size by far. He urged dealers to "know and use" their blue book. RCA Says New Method Is Coior Commercial Aid RCA said Thursday it has a "simple, economical method for colorcasting live tv commercials" permitting broadcasters to use color tv film cameras for direct pickup of "action product displays and opaque art work." The method entails modification of RCA's three-Vidicon color tv film by attaching a "simple extension lens system," according to A. R. Hopkins, manager of broadcast and tv equipment at RCA. Mr. Hopkins described the lens system as using standard, inexpensive lenses which can be assembled by broadcasters. Standard studio cameras normally are used for telecasting color commercials, he said, adding that "the modified film camera will enable broadcasters unequipped for live color origination to provide their sponsors with full color commercial services." Direct pickup of products and action as well as static displays in a limited area is possible. At the same time, stations equipped for live color origination can use the modified film camera for commercial programming, he said. Attachment of the extension lens to the camera's fourinput multipleer unit makes possible the pickups without need of usual light covers or the summit Another top Radio Independent — KFMJ, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, takes top audience in the market's 7-day average. See Nov.-Dec. Hooper. Call John E. Pearson Company (JEPCO) in New York. Dial LU 5-5555 in Tulsa. strobe lights. The new device will permit such subject matter as artwork, charts, maps, diagrams, magazine pages and comic strips to be telecast, he said, thus eliminating the time and cost which go into the preparation of slides as well as density problems involved in color televising slides. 11 -Mo. Set Shipment Report Shows 7% Gain SHIPMENTS of tv sets from factories to dealers for the first 11 months of 1955 totaled 6,621,786, over 7% above the 6,147,135 shipped in the comparable 1954 period, according to Radio-Electronics-Tv Mfrs. Assn. November shipments totaled 634,742 sets compared to 812,312 in October and 774,379 in November 1954. Following are tv set shipments to dealers by states during the first 11 months of 1955: Stale Total State Total Alabama 113,502 Arizona 35,297 Arkansas 72,105 California 569,066 Colorado 49,948 Connecticut 95,940 Delaware 15,535 Dist. of Col 60,243 Florida 224,152 Georgia 142,493 Idaho 27,790 Illinois 369,293 Indiana 179,547 Iowa 98,684 Kansas 86,080 Kentucky 108,621 touisiana 135,782 Maine 46,201 Maryland 92,544 Massachusetts 189,164 Michigan 279,143 Minnesota 112,635 Mississippi 59,779 Missouri 177,269 Montana 19,813 Nebraska 58,508 Nevada 8,790 New Hampshire . . 24,494 New Jersey 207,983 New Mexico 21,848 New York 621,638 North Carolina ...170,461 North Dakota 25,562 Ohio 351,621 Oklahoma 94,301 Oregon 79,665 Pennsylvania 432,885 Rhode Island 32,780 South Carolina . . . 87,759 South Dakota 27,038 Tennessee 130,391 Texas 354,514 Utah 25,014 Vermont 19,731 Virginia 120,911 Washington 113,522 West Virginia 72,197 Wisconsin 149,927 Wyoming 6,813 U. S. Total 6,598,979 Alaska 6,979 Hawaii 15,828 Grand Total 6,621,786 Bell Transistor Development Seen Useful in Television DEVELOPMENT by Bell Telephone Labs, of new fabricating techniques for a new type transistor, which is expected to be useful in television transmission and in color tv set production, is reported in two articles in the January issue of the Bell System Technical Journal to be published this week. Key to the new fabricating techniques, according to Bell, is the development of controls over microscopic chemical layers. The heart of the new transistor is a layer 50 millionths of an inch thick, the company said, pointing out that the narrower the base layer can be made, the higher the frequency at which the transistor will operate. Bell claims that the new device's performance at very high frequency "surpasses that of any other transistor." This development, the laboratories said, opens the way for the transistor to replace the vacuum tube in many television and telephone functions. The transistor "is expected to be extremely useful in television transmission, which requires a much wider communication channel than telephone conversation," according to Bell. The company pointed out that color tv sets also offer a possibility for the new transistor, adding that although vacuum tubes now are being used, the transistor is "much smaller, requires less power and does not heat up like a tube," and is expected to have a longer life. It is estimated that the new transistor can amplify 2,500 telephone conversations simultaneously on a line, said to be three times as many as can be handled by the best previous transistor. Page 86 January 23, 1956 Broadcast Sales Unit Reorganized by GE THE HEADQUARTERS sales staff of General Electric Co.'s Broadcast Equipment Section at Syracuse, N. Y., has been reorganized as the first step to diversification of that section's product lines. According to Frank P. Barnes, marketing manager for the Electronics Div.'s Broadcast Equipment Section, Albert F. Wild moves from sales manager for broadcast equipment to a similar post with a newly established Special Products component that will handle new product areas; Charles J. Simon, manager of product planning, becomes manager of broadcast field sales, and Wells R. Chapin. broadcast equipment sales manager in New York City, succeeds Mr. Simon. Mr. Chapin will be responsible for determining what products to include in the broadcast equipment line. GE now produces transmitters, antennas and studio gear for radio and for tv (color and black-and-white). Mr. Barnes said the broadening of sales responsibilities will include allied fields such as industrial tv, scatter-transmission equipment, facsimile and high-frequency heating devices. Mr. Barnes said he saw an almost immediate application for long-range tv transmission through the advancement of scatter-transmission techniques. Sales responsibilities for the diversified allied fields will be separated from the current line of broadcast equipment. Electronicam Economy Drive Instituted by DuMont Labs ALLEN B. DUMONT Labs, which last week officially "integrated" the operation of its Electronicam tv-film system, has put in motion an economy drive releasing three executives and two staff people connected with the Electronicam service, B»T learned last week. Three of the top executives who are leaving, it was learned unofficially, are John H. Bachem, sales manager of Electronicam production services and former general manager of the DuMont Tv Network; Werner Michel, production manager of Electronicam production services, and Don Trevor, film supervisor. The official integration of operations was announced Friday by Keeton Arnett, DuMont vice president for administration. Mr. Arnett, in disclosing the revamp, said James L. Caddigan, who had been in charge of Electronicam marketing, would be the director of what now becomes "Electronicam Division" of the laboratories. It was understood that John Auld, of the engineering department, would become manager of technical operations under Mr. Caddigan. Ted Bergmann, now vice president and an associate director of radio-tv at McCann-Erickson, New York, formerly was director of Electronicam production services in New York. That nomenclature has been abolished and all operations moved within the new division. B*T also learned that the "shakeup" of the Electronicam operation was instituted as a measure of increasing efficiency and cutting operational costs. RCA Ships Transmitters RCA reported Thursday it shipped 2-kw transmitters to WTVT (TV) Tampa, Fla. (ch. 13), on Tuesday as a standby and to KZTV (TV) Reno, Nev. (ch. 8), on Jan. 13, to facilitate a power increase from 500 w. Broadcasting • Telecasting