The talking machine world (July-Dec 1927)

78 TJie Talking Machine World, New York, Se'ptember, 1927 Special Sales Drives Prove Successful in Building Volume in Kansas City District Volume of Talking Machine and Record Sales Reaches an Unusually High Point During August — Moderate Weather Has Been Big Factor — W. W. Kimball Has Seventieth Anniversary Sale Kansas City, Mo., September 8. — The month of August has proved a surprise to the talking machine dealers in Kansas City, according to the general expression here, volume of sales having reached an unusually high point for the last month of the Summer. Special sales drives conducted in several of the music stores have helped to explain this activity, while the moderate weather throughout the month has been a favorable factor. Machines in practically all styles and sizes have moved here in satisfactory quantity. Records have been particularly active with especial stress on several popular numbers. Portables are an active item at this time, showing no slackening in demand up to the last of August. JifAGNAVOX electro dynamic Power Cone Speaker Built under exclusive patents on electro dynamic principle made famous by Magnavox. Recognized by technical experts and music critics as the one method of construction for perfect reproduction. Type R-4 has 6volt, i,^ -ampere field. Type R-5 for A.C. radio or phonograph circuits using field as the choke in filter pack. Unit designed for easy installation in radio and phonograph cabinets. List prices: R-4, $50; R-5, $55 Beverly cabinet speaker, complete, with R-4 unit, cords, switch $75. Requires 6-voIt A battery for power supply. Type R-51 unit is R-5 with built-in power amplifier and rectifier using one 216 and one 210 tube. List $120. Easily installed in your radio or phonograph cabinets. Loboy cabinet speaker, complete, with R-51 imit, cords, etc., R-4 Unit R-SI XTnlt $165 Loboy Cabinet These speakers and units are being nationally advertised and are selling extensively. You should know about this advanced development in radio. Send at once for special bulletins about electro dynamic and permanent magnet type speakers and units — also name of nearest Magnavox distributor. THE MAGNAVOX CO. Oakland, Calif. Chicago Sales Office — 1315 So. Michigan Ave. G. C. Anderson, of the Brunswick Shop, reports that business is showing a nice increase at the present time, and he is looking to the Fall of 1927 for a very brisk phonograph and radio business. During August Mr. Anderson reported that the business done in the shop in records was very good. As for radio, Mr. Anderson looks for activity about the middle of September, with the Dempsey-Tunney fight stimulatinginterest in the condition of the family radio set. During the special seventieth anniversary sale which is being conducted by the W. W. Kimball Piano Co. here, J. D. Mahaffey, manager, says they have done the biggest business in phonographs which he has ever experienced in one month. The Kimball Reproducing phonograph has been featured throughout the sale. The Jones Store Co. is moving its phonograph department from the fourth to the third floor, where it will have an enlarged and completely redecorated department. The radio department, formerly located on the first floor, will be combined with the phonographs. According to Miss Poynter, manager of the department, they are making all of their booths into both demonstration and record booths, using only new machines. There are to be eleven booths in the phonograph department, and several for the exclusive use of the radio division. Miss Poynter says that business has been unusually good in spite of the fact that they were in the midst of moving. Portable sales are continuing brisk. Wurlitzer's phonograph department reports a very satisfactory August business, with sales above normal for that month. Automatic Orthophonics continue to move in good volume. Record business for August has been brisk. The record department of Wurlitzer's finds the Gene Tunney exercise set very attractive to men and they are doing a nice volume of business on this number. The Knabe Studios had a very good business in Orthophonies during the past month, according to D. B. Parcill. Mr. Parcill says that this has been the biggest August which his store has ever had. The Knabe Studios expect to be in their new building by October 1, and they are anticipating big returns from their new location. Philadelphia to Have Radio Rodeo in Autumn Instead of Formal Exhibit of Radio Apparatus Annual Display of Latest Models Will Be Combined With Entertainment Features Philadelphia, Pa., September 8. — This city is to have an entirely new plan for a radio show in the coming Fall, when, instead of holding a formal exhibit of radio apparatus, accessories and appurtenances, displays of radio wares will be combined with a "radio circus," or, as the exposition has been named by the management, a "Radio Rodeo." It will be held from September 12 to 17 and will include a gathering of radio artists of the front rank, with lively programs each night of the exhibit. The Radio Rodeo is sponsored by Laurence A. Nixon, of New York, and H. E. Bennett is general manager. Mr. Nixon is the executive secretary of the general committee putting on the Fourth Annual Radio Industries Banquet, in New York, on September 21, and was associated with last year's banquet. On the opening day of the Rodeo, September 12, the trade will be given exclusive reservation privileges with the public excluded, so that the dealers and manufacturers who are interested in radio from a commercial angle will have opportunity to review the exhibit and place orders for their own stocking. In conjunction with the entertainment features of the show the appearance of artists will tie up with the exhibition of the various types of sets and accessories linked with allied lines of merchandise. There will be no sale of merchandise on the floors during the remainder of the exhibit. The public is invited to attend and to meet the various radio stars of Philadelphia and the broadcasting chains personages who so far have been "voices on the air" and who will entertain the public in person. More than 400 radio artists are booked to entertain during the Rodeo. Mayor Kendrick, of Philadelphia; Senator William S. Vare and City Treasurer Harry Mackay, candidate for Mayor in the coming Fall elections, will officially preside at the opening of the show. Stations WIP, WCAU, WFI and WABQ all are occupying individual broadcasting stations in the great hall at the Commercial Museum, where the show is to be held. The radio trade dinner, which is to be broadcast, is to be held in the dining hall at the Commercial Museum, Monday, September 12, at 6 p. m., and will be attended by prominent radio men from every section of the country, among them the following: Paul B. Klugh, executive chairman, National Association of Broadcasters; Major J. Andrew White, vice-president, Columbia Broadcasting Co.; Harold J. Wrape, president. Federated Radio Trades Association; C. C. Colby, president. Radio Manufacturers' Association; Admiral W. H. G. Bullard, chairman. Federal Radio Commission; O. H. Caldwell, Federal Radio Commissioner from New York; A. H. Bellows, Federal Radio Commissioner from Minneapolis; L. S. Baker, executive vicechairman, Radio Manufacturers' Association; L. B. F. Raycroft, chairman. Radio Section, N. E. M. A.; M. F. Flanagan, executive secretary. Radio Manufacturers' Association; Irwin Kurtz, president, Talking Machine and Radio Men, Inc.; H. H. Eby, member board of directors. Radio Manufacturers' Association; J. T. Peirce, Philadelphia Radio Trade Association; H. H. Frost, past president. Radio Manufacturers' Association, and others. Fundamentals of Retail Merchandising Practice {Continued from page 76) persons entering and leaving your place. You can also keep your eye on the door all the time without having to turn your head around while selling your customers. A customer coming in to purchase records should be seated at a table used only for record lists and catalogs. Ask to be called when a customer has made his selection. When called, note the desired numbers on a small pad, go for the records, bring them back, make sure they are what the customer asked for, and then show him politely into a booth. Ask him to be seated while you wind the phonograph. Change the needle, start the first record playing, and leave the booth with a smile. Isn't this far better salesmanship than just pushing records over a counter at the customer a,nd ignoring him till he comes back to pay for a record or leave it? Selling by Suggestion Ask record customers if they are using fiber needles at home, explaining that you can advise them beforehand which records play successfully with fiber needles. Quite often this results in a request for a fiber needle demonstration and may lead to the purchase of a fiber needle cutter and needles when the customer realizes how beautifully and noiselessly the record will play with such needles. It is not so much in the way of a sale, but means much more from the standpoint of fully satisfying the customer. After a sale of records, when putting records into envelopes never forget to put in the latest monthly lists.