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

jumped on the band-wagon and the rush was on. With such acceptance, the question arose as to the next market to be opened. It appeared that the one additional major field where we could fully capitalize on the initial momentum generated by the New York campaign was Holly- wood. By that time, the early enthus- iasm had generated into company- wide interest. RCA Victor execu- tives were photographed in shirt sleeves loading the first freight cars for the Coast. The "red carpet" was out when the sets arrived in the West, and an intensive promo- tion campaign had been organized, in the best Hollywood manner. With the cooperation of the National Broadcasting Company and Warner Brothers, an exploitation campaign was started with practically every star on the Warner lot using this "Personal Radio" in still photo- graphs for advertising and sales promotion. Instead of selling only 2 5,000 "Personal Radios" during two sum- mer months, we sold more than 225,000 in six months. Faith in the product, backed by the imagination and drive engendered by faith, turned the trick. Television — A Merchandising Example Now an even better example of modern merchandising can be found in television. Here again, the basic qualities of confidence and belief in an idea were the keys to success. In the late 'Twenties, Dr. V. K. Zworykin, now Vice President and Technical Consultant of RCA Lab- oratories, had joined the RCA staff of research engineers. One day, he went to David Sarnoff and told him about the iconoscope, or electronic "eye" of television. Mr. Sarnoff listened intently for half and hour. "It's too good to be true!" he exclaimed. "What will it cost to develop the idea?" "Maybe about $100,000," an- swered Zworykin. "All right," said Sarnoff. "It's worth it!" Since that day, many millions of dollars have gone into continual re- search and technical development of television. Yet there was no ad- vance guarantee that it would be practical for home use. But these two men—Sarnoff and Zworykin-— had faith, and today their idea is well on its way to becoming one of America's major industries. I doubt If any new product, or service, has ever been brought out under more difficult circumstances than those that have beset the path of tele- vision. Programs Key to Success In the first place, the radio in- dustry itself was divided as to the value of television as a new enter- prise. Millions of dollars and ex- tensive new facilities were needed, first for engineering research and development and, then, for manu- facturing. Finally, as television neared readiness as a service to the public, rigid technical standards were established for its operation. And it was recognized that the master key to success in public ac- ceptance would be good programs. But these problems were only the beginning. No one had ever tried mass production of television re- ceivers, which are many time more complicated than radio sets. Con- sumer likes and dislikes were un- known. The price of the first pre- war television sets was high—$600 —making difficult competition for the consumer dollar. New sales methods had to be de- vised. Sales personnel and field serv- ice men for television did not exist. They had to be organized and trained. Manufacturers, distribu- tors, and retail dealers had to learn from scratch how to handle this new product. The broadcasters themselves were divided on the advisability of en- tering the new field. Relatively few television stations were on the air in the beginning, thus limiting the market for receivers. With few re- ceivers, circulation was small and unattractive to advertisers. So, of necessity, program hours lacked variety and quality. Nevertheless, television moved ahead in the years immediately pre- ceding the outbreak of war in Eu- rope. RCA, which pioneered the de- velopment of television, gained a limited, expensive but highly valu- able, experience. Among other things, we learned that this new product required a marketing effort far different from anything in sound radio. Commercial research on the pub- lic's reaction and its willingness to pay for television indicated that ex- tensive expenditures would be necessary to introduce it to the American consumer. The impact of television on other phases of our business, such as broadcasting, home radios and phonographs, theater-sound record- ing and equipment business — all presented interesting commercial problems. It was felt, however, that as a new service, television would not displace the motion picture, sup- plant sound broadcasting, or seri- ously injure the radio or phono- graph record business. Instead, it presented a new busi- ness opportunity requiring courage to overcome obstacles. For example, television as a service to the public was launched originally in 1939 at the opening of the New York World's Fair. Sales of receivers by dealers were slow. Programs were limited and many so-called experts said receivers couldn't be sold. So we sold them. We supplemented our distributor- dealer activity in the New York market with a group of direct sales specialists, who went out and worked with our dealers. Programs were improved and, in 1940, our factory output was being sold in New York week after week. Adver- tising and promotion were increased and indications were that television was actually on its way. War Ended Activities But with the outbreak of war, our commercial activities in tele- vision ceased. However, our pre- war television research and develop- ment were of extreme value in the war effort. RCA supplied more than 95 per cent of the television equip- ment used by our armed forces. When the war ended and we were able to resume peacetime operations, we found that our wartime scien- tific research and development were of great value in furthering the advance of television as a peacetime service to the public. By November, 1946, our postwar plans were in operation and we soon began delivery of new television re- ceivers to dealers and their cus- [RADIO AGE 29]