Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

THE FARM MARKET FOR RADIO ENGINEERING Ken-Rad RadioTubes DEPENDABLE LONG LIFE First-class engineering methods used. Write for complete information. Glass or Metal Radio Tubes THE KEN-RAD CORPORATION Incorporated Division (if The Ken Rad Tube and Lamp Corp. OWENSBORO, KY. Also Mfrs. of Ken Rad Incandescent Electric Lamps * Rural America's great radio market has long remained undeveloped, because not until now, Autumn, 1935, has there appeared the combination of factors which gives radio dealers special opportunities in the field. Upturns in farm product prices, the more substantial after-effects of the first New Deal farm legislation, the development of completely satisfactory sets for unwired homes, and the appearance of reasonably priced sets not requiring the use of storage batteries, appear this Fall in a combination altogether new in its advantages to dealers. Some two dozen of the leading radio manufacturers have by this time perfected improved sets to be offered to rural listeners at new low prices with all the features of the finest all-electrical sets built. The new batteries designed to accompany the improved sets are cheaper and smaller and have features of simplicity, constant voltage, high capacity, and long life which are certain to give dealers the final selling point where it is needed. As the news reels have pointed out, the drought and dust storms are all past, and the agricultural areas have settled down to reaping good harvests for which better prices are paid. Rural disasters have been replaced by swelled incomes. The latest commerce report reveals that the national income from farm products in June was $438,000,000, and that farmers of the nation received additional cash benefits from AAA payments boosting their total income to $487,000,000. Last year at the same time the income from products amounted to $422,000,000, and the cash benefits amounted to only $29,000,000. Thus the farmers had $36,000,000 more to spend for that single month than they had last year, and this is representative. Untouched Pointed researches among the ten million American families living in unwired homes show the untouched nature of the districts. Local ownership of telephones and automobiles has reached a much higher per cent than that of radios, even in proportion to the positions they hold in the levels of country life, and the ease with which they can be financed. By this time, taxes for the farmers have been reduced at least one-third from their peak. This, together with the fact that much of the first cash benefits paid through AAA curtailment was used to pay debts rather than to buy home equipment, again marks the farmer as a good radio prospect this Fall. No longer do farmers have to be wealthy to be counted as promising radio sales prospects. When radio manufacturers first made a play for their business, after the all-electrical sets had swept the country, the cheapest air cell battery set they could buy was priced at about $150 complete. Now, the field has been developed until sets may be bought for as little as $32.50. With radio prices down, and farm budgets sound again, dealers should find a fertile field here. Slow to see E. £. Horine, engineer for the National Carbon Company, battery manufacturers, has' pointed out that ''manufacturers were slow to see the possibilities in the rural field, and even yet do not have in many cases a system of distribution which is flexible enough to reach all rural districts properly, due to exclusive territory plans." "But the new scale of prices and the improvement of the sets show an awakening," was Mr. Horine's conclusion. His company became interested in the country's unwired homes about five years ago, and since then has spent thousands of dollars developing an improved battery for them. Proof of the serious attention that other prominent manufacturers are now giving to these rural districts is the appearance of the new windmill generator. This device operates on the same principle as an automobile generator except that it is powered by a small and inexpensive propeller in the wind. Several manufacturers are now placing these units on the market and predict for them a great opportunity for creating radio sales in farm areas. With broadcast programs steadily growing finer and more interesting, radio manufacturers have looked about to see where most of the families without home electricity service are living. It has been found that they are not grouped in the states which are regarded as typically agricultural, but are found in great numbers in states which are essentially industrial. 26 Radio Today