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

cities across the country for color reception and trans- mission in time for tlie January 1 program. To meet the deadline, the special production unit at the RCA Engineering Products Department in Camden, N. J., worked on a 24-hour schedule seven days a week to turn out the stabilizing ampliiiers, color monitors, phase correction networks and other items required by the stations to handle programs received over telephone circuits. The first shipment, covering the requirements of five stations, left the factory on November 30. Planes Rush Station Equipment As fast as equipment was completed and tested at Camden, it was trucked to Philadelphia's International Airport for shipment by air express to the stations. Five crews of specially trained technicians from the RCA Service Company, travelling by air, kept pace with the delivery schedule, calling at each station to supervise installation soon after the broadcast equipment had arrived. At the same time, other technicians trained in color equipment courses given by the Service Company were assigned to install monitors in broadcast stations and telephone company locations where the program was to be taken off the network. This group also installed the pre-production model color receivers in distributors' headquarters, as well as the sets supplied by NBC to stations handling the program. Indicative of the scope of the operation is the fact that color equipment was installed by January 1 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Mmneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cmcinnati, Toledo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Wilmington, Baltimore, New York, Wilkes-Barre, Johnstown, Pa., and New Haven. Plans for the production of color receivers for the home also moved ahead with the announcement of the FCC decision. Initial output of RCA tri-color tubes proceeded from the pilot production line established in the RCA tube plant at Lancaster, Pa., where tubes for test and demonstration purposes had been turned out during 1953. At the Bloomington, Ind., plant of RCA Victor's Home Instrument Department, production of home receivers also moved ahead on a pilot basis. At the same time, production specialists advanced provi- sions to expand tri-color tube output into existing black- and-white kinescope production facilities as the demand for the color tubes increases beyond the 2,000 per month expected of the pilot line at Lancaster. Training Plans For Service Industry The official start of color television broadcasting brought with it the announcement of further plans by Black-and-Whire Television Has Assured Future, Elliott Says By J. B. Elliott Executive Vice President in Charge of Consumer Products Division, Radio Corporation of America Now that the Federal Communications Com- mission has given the official "green light" for compatible color television, more and more people are asking: "What is going to happen to black- and-white television?" The answer is simple. For years to come, all stations and networks will continue to broadcast many of their top pro- grams in black-and-white; manufacturers will con- tinue to produce technically improved black-and- white sets and millions of persons will buy new black-and-white sets to bring the marvel of tele- vision into an ever expanding number of homes. The progressive action of the Federal Com- munications Commission in approvmg standards for compatible color will serve as a guaranty that the adoption of color will not make obsolete any of the more than 27 million black-and-white sets now in use in American homes. It also assures today's purchaser of a black-and-white set that colorcasts will not affect the usefulness of his new receiver. With the RCA system of compatible color, programs broadcast in color can be received on black-and-white sets as black-and-white pro- grams without any changes whatever in the re- ceivers. In terms of screen size, picture quality, cabinet styling, and all-around technical performance, black-and-white receivers today offer the greatest values in television history. The Consumer Products Division of the Radio Corporation of America, as it has since the birth of all-electronic television, will continue to manu- facture the finest black-and-white receivers on the market ■—• just as it will produce the finest color sets to be available in the months and years ahead. RADIO AGE 7 J