Radio today (Jan-Mar 1939)

diets taxes for the year will be less than four and a half million dollars, or about the same as 1935 when some 6,000,000 sets were sold. DISC MAKERS GET UP STEAM FOR BANNER YEAR Records have a banner year ahead in 1939. KCAVictor is putting on full steam to keep up with the growing demand, while Columbia Broadcasting System, sensing the trend, bought American Record Corp. recently and has announced vigorous selling plans. Edward Wallerstein, pioneer disc man and recently sales manager for EC AVictor, is president of the CBS affiliate, while Frank Walker, broadcast transcription manager for Victor, has been moved into Wallerstein's place at Camden. Predictions are for 45,000,000 records to be sold this year. In 1938 some 35,000,000 discs went over retail counters, an increase of 12 per cent over the previous annual report. More sales of radio-combinations, wired and wireless playing attachments are also expected. "READO" IS THE LATEST Further news of facsimile comes from Crosley Corp., which announced commercial production of "Reado," a facsimile set to sell for $150 complete, $79 with no radio part, at its Jan. 6-8 convention of 200 distributors in the Netherlands Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. Heading American Record Corp., new affiliate of CBS, is veteran disc seller Edward Wallerstein. With the new year, RMA pioneer Donald MacGregor dealt himself a new job as sales manager of Webster Co., Chicago. Reado will catch facsimile broadcasts from Crosley station WLW in the wee hours, iising the Finch system. There is a clock to set the reception and shut it off. Unless one has a radio with a 5-watt audio output, the entire set is needed, otherwise the printer is sufficient. When shown to newspapermen, it created a sensation, but President Powel Crosley, Jr., termed the product a "novelty" and refused predictions on its future use. For the present, "Reado" is restricted to amateurs and experimenters. It reproduces type or pictures in 2-column width on speciallytreated paper RADIO CLIMBS AMONG ADV. MEDIUMS Nearly two billion dollars was spent on advertising in the United States last year, according to figures compiled by L. ~D. H. Weld, research director for the McCann-Erickson agency. Of the above amount $200,000,000 is represented by mechanical costs, commissions, art expenses, etc. Comparing the five principal media used, the figures are as follows : Newspapers $570,000,000 Radio 165,000,000 Magazines 165,000,000 Outdoor 50,000,000 Farm papers . . . 18,000,000 Direct mail, premiums, etc., make up the estimated direct total of $1,768,000,000, which was 2.6 per cent of the national income for the same year. VAST POCKET RADIO MARKET SEEN BY DOLLAR-WATCH KING Between 200,000) and a million pocket radios could be sold within a year if the set were practicable and cost $5 or less. That's the opinion of William H. Ingersoll who used to market the famed dollar watch at the rate of five million a year. The pocket set could not be temperamental and would have to be advertised widely and carefully merchandized, Mr. Ingersoll, now a marketing consultant, believes. He sees a great potential market in a compact radio that would fit into a pocket or pocketbook. Figures compiled by the Associated Press show that about ten million pocket watches of the inexpensive variety were produced between 1935 and 1937. While this is a fairly saturated field, pocket radio would have virgin territory. Sampling dealer opinion, Radio Today learned that many think a pocket radio should weigh less than a pound and should sell for about $5. Larry Goetzman, president of Harger & Blish Co., Des Moines, Iowa, distributors, sums up his opinion this way: "I feel that such a radio must be even less than a pound in weight and so designed as to fit the general contour of pockets and pocketbooks. As to price, I hardly believe, having only local reception in mind, that the price should be over $3, and battery life possibly to be at a cost of 25 to 35 cents per month." RCA Victor has moved Frank Walker up to manage its record division and plans full speed ahead for 1939. 10 Radio Today