Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

FOR RADIOREFRIGERATOR DEALERS • UNWRITTEN pledge by the industry to sell 2,000,000 refrigerators in 1936 will demand spirited, intensive, well-directed promotion on the part of the manufacturer, jobber and dealer. Within the next 10 weeks, many a housewife will have to receive the final reasons why she positively should own a "box." Researches on how costs of electrical current will be, or have already been, reduced to figures within reach of additional groups of householders will be used in national promotional schemes. Also, the features of the 1936 models will be presented sensationally from the economical point of view. Sales activity for the season will run less to the matter of the appearance of the refrigerators, though some be "the most beautiful in the world," and more to the matter of how they are actually a moneysaving proposition for the consumer, particularly with their late improvements in operating costs. "BOXES" FOR IGLOOS • Paul Palfy, FairbanksMorse dealer at Fairbanks, Alaska, insists that "although outdoor temperatures up here are always extremely low, the temperatures in homes are no different than those in other parts of the world." Promoter Palfy, therefore, goes after the refrigerator biz in his frozen land with the conviction that the need for adequate storage is as great there as elsewhere, and he looks forward to a thriving response to his 1936 line. + Lincoln Sales Corp., Baltimore distributor for Crosley, cooperated with the Hecht Bros, store in staging a glittering electrical exposition in that city, April 2 4 to May 2. Feature was Station WEE, described as the world's tiniest broadcasting station, the 175-lb. 4/100 watter built by John R. Boyle of Philadelphia. + Home Appliance Division of Fairbanks, Morse & Co., Indianapolis, Ind., reports the appointment of Mrs. Faith M. Richards as Home Economics Supervisor of the company's Home Laundry Laboratory. Mrs. Richards will serve as consultant to FM dealers and distributors on both technical and selling problems. * Electrical, Radio, and Refrigerator Dealers' Club at Richmond, Va., has indicated its dissatisfaction with current advertising methods. Action was taken at a recent meeting to check inaccurate statements made in ads, a committee was appointed to look into the matter, and the organization goes on record as being interested in having out-ofproduction or obsolete models clearly described as such in all advertising. * Norge refrigerators will now be sold by the Rice Furniture Co., Jackson, Miss., in a new department headed by Roy Weinberg. Laughable refrigeration adventures of Grace and Eddie, NBC "Newlyweds" team, have been transcribed on 13 records, available to Westinghouse dealers. * Wheless Gambill, Jr., president of the Gambill Distributing Co., Crosley jobber of Nashville, Tenn., plans to open a branch office at Chattanooga. Gambill says the move follows an increased demand for "boxes" in the area. This distributor saw to it that the Tennessee dealers who had sold their quota had a trip to the Crosley factory, Cincinnati. Gambill men in the trek were J. F. Blackford, J. R. Burnett, and J. R. Koonce. Guest dealers were Joe Snsman, Lookout Furniture Co.; C. S. Green and wife, Lawrence Furniture Co.; George W. Neff, W. C. Teas Co.; Charles R. Reddick, Storage Battery and Elec. Shop; Arthur Davis, Smith Furniture Co.; and Roy Newsom, Hoover & Newsom Co. * Series of 12 sectional meetings for Grunow refrigerator dealers in Washington and Oregon was recently wound up by F. B. Connelly Co., Seattle distributors. More than 400 dealers were involved in the meetings and others will see the Grunow line via the F. B. Connelly Display Coach. 175,000 NEW BUYERS * Leading item of home equipment to be purchased by war veterans when they receive their bonus checks, June 15, appears in the estimates as "to purchase electric or gas refrigerator." The much-quoted survey made by the American Legion Monthly, as to where a representative 42,500 vets planned to spend their money, shows that out of the total payment, approximately $21,234,000 will be invested in new refrigerators. Other facts are that nearly 5 per cent of all certificate holders will be definitely interested in a new "box." This means that the refrigeration biz may expect some 175,000 new customers after the middle of June. Some of these have been approached already by enterprising dealers who went after the new set of prospects soon after it was known that they would be paid. Refrigerator dealers are jubilant that this extra buying power appears at a seasonal period, and at a time when manufacturers are offering dozens of new features with their lines. IS HE THE OLOEST RADIO JOBBER? • Frank H. Clay, "wholesale only," Kalamazoo, Mich., began traveling and selling merchandise in Southwest Michigan in 1882, and is now selling sons and grandsons of his former customers. He has been in radio, and a Crosley distributor "since the radio business started." Radio Today would like to hear about any distributor with a longer record than this ! 50 Radio Today