Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

BEFORE THE WAR TERMINATED DOMESTIC MANLFACTURING ACTIVITIES, A HIGH MARK IN CRAFTSMANSHIP WAS REACHED IS THIS BCA 10-TLBE COMBINATION KADIO- PHONOGRAPH INSTRUMENT. cuit, which RC'A had introduced for battery operation in 1924, and which eventually became standard for the industry. Following' RCA's purchase of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and the business depression of the early 'thirties, radios began to ap- proach the high degree of perfec- tion that we know today. Small table sets, farm and automobile re- ceivers, portable radios, all found a ready market. It was an era par- ticularly of refinements in circuits and improved convenience for the customer. RCA engineers continued in the forefront with such devel- opments as the Magic Brain, the Magic Eye, electrical push-button tuning and the camera-size Per- .sonal Radio, made possible by RCA's development of miniature tubes. Radio and Phonograph Merge The merger of radio and phono- graph is an interesting story in itself. In the mid-twenties. RCA began supplying Victor and Bruns- wick with radio mechanisms for in- clusion in combination radio-phono- graphs. These instruments, with their newly developed automatic record changers, enjoyed a mod- erate success, but they were cum- bersome, expensive and subject to mechanical disorder.'!. Then came the Depression, and with it, almost complete extinction of the phono- graph. Records, to the public, were out of date, an anachronism. Mean- while, RCA engineers had developed electrical recording and applied the principle of radio amplification to phonographic reproduction, with re- sults which far surpassed any pre- vious quality. But the public had to be sold. Virtually single-handed, RCA set about doing the job by means of advertising and publicity. The spark was provided by an inex- pensive record-player attachment, and its wide distribution through the Victor Record Society. More turntables meant more record .sales and a growing appreciation of the vastly improved techniques. Soon the public was again clamoring for recorded music and sales of all kinds of record-playing equipment boomed. Fewer and fewer straight radio consoles were sold. A fine radio-phonograph had become the ideal of every American home. Coincidental with their work on radios and radio-phonographs, the RCA Laboratories were engaged in exploring many new fields . . . FM. radar and facsimile, among other.-^. They were especially active in tele- vision. Here again, Mr. Sarnoff and his associates were years ahead of the times. While television was ju.st a word to most people, RCA's Presi- dent authorized a research, develop- ment and field testing program that to date has cost more than $10,000,- 000. I think it is safe to .say that RCA has contributed more to the technical development of television, as well as more in terms of dollars, than all other companies combined. As a result, television today is ver>' much of a finished product. Later developments will be an extension of the fundamental principles al- ready established. Television was introduced for- mally by RCA at the World's Fair in New York, in 1939. Commercial television broadcasting began on -July 1, 1941 and NBC's station. WNBT, was the first commercially licensed station to go on the air. Before the War interrupted, sev- eral thousand RCA Television Re- ceivers were sold, mostly in the New York area. In spite of the highly restricted nature of wartime telecasts, these owners as a group have remained well satisfied with their purchases i now 3 to 5 years old). It has been well said that "the history of radio is the historj* of RCA." As we stand on the thresh- old of tomorrow's exciting era of sight and sound, the Radio Corjjo- ration of America appears to be in a better position than ever to lead the wav. NO LARGER THAN A CAMERA. THE RCA PEBSO.NAL RADIO CREATED A SENSATION IN 1940. rSO RADIO AGE"