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

in 1949. Improvements were made and new ideas were tried out. Dur- ing the evening-, the viewing audi- ences, especially in New York where seven stations are on the air, are finding it increasingly difficult to choose between the many fine pro- grams being offered. As a result, the demands on artists and perform- ers of all types are increasing. This condition is certain to bring about better programs, greater variety, and higher levels of entertainment. While the progress of television held the spotlight during the past year, sound broadcasting steadily advanced. Far from being doomed — as some pessimists predicted -— broadcasting continued to function as the greatest single medium of mass communication available to the American people. Reflecting the soundness of its position is the fact that the radio industry expects to produce and sell between 8,000,000 and 10,000,000 radio receivers dur- ing 1950. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that there will be a market for 6,000.000 to 8,000,000 radio sets a year for an indefinite period in the future. 45-RPM Record Syitcm Advances In the phonograph field, the out- standing event of 1949 was RCA Victor's introduction of the revolu- tionary new 45-rpm system of re- corded music. As more and more people became acquainted with the quality, convenience, and economy of this new system, its public ac- ceptance soared. In October, only seven months after the "45" was introduced, the new records were being produced and sold at the rate of 20,000,000 a year and the new record players at the rate of 65,000 a month. System to he Standard The progress of the 45-rpm sys- tem provides ample justification for the prediction that it will be the standard of the phonograph indus- try within a jieriod of five years. .Aside from other favorable char- acteristics, one of the chief factors in the "45's" growing popularity is the complete selectivity it affords in every classification of music. The major advances of the radio- television-phonograph industry in 1949 are but proof of still better things to come. At no time in the history of the radio-electronic arts have conditions been more favor- able for continued growth and ex- pansion in service to the American people. To the fulfillment of this DEVELOPMENT OF THE 16-INCH METAL-CONE KINESCOPE ENABLED SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN THE COST OF LARGE-SCREEN, DIRECT-VIEW TBXEVISION RECEIVERS. promising outlook, RCA whole- heartedly dedicates its facilities and services in scientific research, man- ufacturing, and communications. Major Radio Developments Since 1900 The ten outstanding develop- ments in radio science during the first half of the Twentieth Century have been listed by Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, Kxecutive Vice President in Charge of RCA Laboratories, as follows: 1. Wireless communication 2. Electron tube 3. Radiotelephone communi- cation 4. Radio broadcasting 5. All-electronic television 6. Facsimile—radiophoto and Ultrafax 7. Radio navigation and di- rection finding aids — loran. shoran. teleran Radar Radio remote control 8. 9. of airplanes, rockets and ve- hicles 10. Microwave radio relay sys- tems. .Many of these developments. Dr. .Jolliffe pointed out. have been facili- tated by the accumulation of new basic knowledge of radio wave prop- agation, thus making it possible over the past 50 years to extend the breadth of the usable radio spec- trum for many new services. RCA is Subject of Film The Department of State, in its program of world information on life in the United States, is dis- tributing abroad fifty prints of a 16 mm. sound film depicting research activities of the Radio Corporation of America. Exhibitions will be held in 95 different countries. The film, which is being supplied with sound tracks in English, Spanish and French, is entitled "To a New World." It was filmed at the RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New .Jersey, and shows RCA scien- tists at work on problems of radio, television and electronics. [RADI O AGE 7]