Radio today (Jan-Dec 1937)

m 1^ ^3i7 ©CIB 343015 Staffs Darrell Bartee M. H. Newton B. V. Spinetta Vinton K. Ulrich Lee Robinson Sales Manager RADIO TODAY Orestes H. Caldwell Editor M. Clements Publisher CopyriRht 1937 Caldwell-Clements, Inc. 480 Lexington Ave. New York. N. Y. Tel. PLaza 3-1340 Vol. Ill, No. 6 WAGE-EARNERS' PURCHASING POWER ABOVE '29 * Employment in the nation's 25 major manufacturing industries is now higher than it was in 1929, according to the National Industrial Conference Board. Growth of employment has been particularly marked during the past year, the average number of wage-earners employed in March, 1937, being 17:6 per cent higher than the number at work in March, 1936. Real weekly earnings, or the purchasing power of wages, of workers in the manufacturing industries are also considerably higher today than in 1929. Actual weekly earnings averaged $27.49 in March and were 3.7 per cent lower than the 1929 average of $28.5.5. Since the cost of living in March, however, was 12.2 per cent lower than in 1929, real weekly earnings were 9.6 per cent above the 1929 level. Not only are millions of wageearners thus provided with surplus earnings to purchase radio sets, but average hours of work have been reduced 14 per cent since 1929, affording the workers more hours for radio enjoyment. PIANOS ARE PLUGGED IN * Those glimpsing the enormous possibilities of radio-tube musical instruments have already sailed into the piano business. Half a dozen piano companies will show commercial tube-amplifier pianos at next month's convention of Music Merchants, Hotel New Yorker, New York. Excitement is partly due to the fact that the new instruments will appear in the half-pint spinet designs which are already the rage. According to Benjamin F. Miessner, Millbum, N. J., inventor, who has sponsored the electrical principle concerned here, the newcomers mil give only piano performance (omitting all organ and tone-color variation) and will out-play the grandest of the concert grands. Simple and altogether delovely, the electric outfit will cost about $500 and will pass the performance of a $3,000 instrument. As the new radio piano debuts in the musical world, the sound industry notes with pleasure that each instrument will require power amplifiers and speakers (an amplifier of about 110 db gain, 2 megohm input, and 30 to 50 audio-electrical watts output). RADIO EXCISE TAX UP 11% ■* Internal Revenue Bureau collections of the Federal 5% excise tax on radio and phonograph apparatus in March, 1937, were $360,922.38, an increase of 7.4% over March, 1936. March excise taxes on mechanical refrigerators were $1,075,209.14, compared with $778,309.04 in March, 1936. For the first quarter of 1937 (January, February and March), radio excise tax collections were $1,509,353.85, an increase of 11% over the first quarter period of 1936. SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORKSAME RADIO, MANY PRICES *■ A study recently undertaken by the New York University School of Retailing shows marked variations in the price of a single radio set in New York City. A standard set was "shopped" in department stores, in specialty stores and also through five agencies that make available to final consumers wholesale or at least lessthan-retail prices. The following table shows the prices available on the identical article at approximately the same time, from the different sources : Range in cut rate radio and household-appliance stores.$90 to $98 Price to consumer through commission broker A $91.50 Price to employees of an insurance company $106.80 Price to consumer through commission broker B .f 109. 80 Price to employees of a bank. . $109.80 Price to employees of a university $109.80 Range in semi promotional dept. stores $109 to $115 Range in promotional dept. stores $142.50 to $145 Range in conservative dept. stores $178 RADIO DATES AHEAD CONVENTIONS June June June June June June June June June June July July 8 — 10 — Thirteenth Annual Convention, RMA, Hotel Stevens, Chicajo. 10 — 13 — National Radio Parts Trade Show, Fifth Annual Convention, IRSM, Hotel Stevens, Chicago. 10 — 12 — Kadette showing. Hotel Blackstone, Chicago. 14 — 19 — Phiico distributor convention. White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. 14 — 15 — Emerson distributor convention. New Yorker, New York City. 20 — 22 — Annual Service Convention and Trade Show, St. Paul, Minn. 20 — 23 — National Association of Broadcasters, Sherman, Chicago. 21 — 22 — Sentinel distributor convention, Medinah Club, Chicago. 22 — 23 — Annual Radio Trade Show, Boston. 26 — 29 — National Association of Music Merchants convention. New York City. 5 — 17 — Majestic radio showing, Furniture Mart, Chicago. 7 — 8 — StewartWarner distributor convention, Edgewater Beach, Chicago. June, 1937 11