Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

20 NOVEMBER 16, 1959 TV-RADlO SALES & OUTPUT: Both retail sales & factory production of TV & radio receivers stayed well ahead of 1958 in Sept., according to last week’s EIA figures. Sales of TV sets in Sept. 1959 totaled 684,773 units vs. 492,449 in Aug. and 605,638 in Sept. 1958. For the first 9 months of this year, sales totaled 3,811,784 vs. 3,468,090 last year. Factory output of TVs was 808,377 (51,555 with uhf tuners) in Sept. vs. 547,445 (32,847 uhf) in Aug. and 621,734 in Sept. 1958. TV production for the 9-month period totaled 4,488,857 vs. 3,572,189 in the year-ago period. Here’s the month-by-month comparison of TV set production & sales for first 9 months of 1959 & 1958: January .. February .. March April May June July August .... September TOTAL 1959 Production Sales 437,026 501,704 459.492 448,173 494,032 425,749 389,251 263,998 431,911 279,536 571,003 344,795 350,360 370,575 547,445 492,449 808,377 684,773 4,488,857 3,811,784 * * 1958 Production Sales 433,983 581,486 370,413 448,727 416,903 416,756 302,559 243,132 266,982 237,189 377,090 250,362 274,999 279,010 507.526 405,790 621,734 605,638 3,572,189 3,468,090 Radio retail sales totaled 928,457 in Sept, (excluding auto sets), up from 671,713 in Aug. and 750,026 in Sept. 1958. For the 9-month period, sales were 10,927,252 vs. 7,686,197 in the same 1958 period. Sept, radio production totaled 1,981,208 (717,501 auto & 76,942 FM) vs. 1,009,423 (279,424 auto & 42,866 FM) in Aug. and 1,492,668 (489,738 auto) in Sept. 1958. Cumulative 9-month output totaled 10,927,252 (4,151,846 auto & 367,804 FM) in 1959 vs. 7, 686,197 in 1958. * =1= * Factory sales of picture tubes for Sept, totaled 913,697 units valued at $18,066,647. For first 9 months, 6,857,682 picture tubes were sold at $132,465,278. Sept, receiving tube sales totaled 41,989,000 units at $34,594,000, and 9month sales were 315,797,000 units at $269,128,000. Record retail sales topping $200 billion and biggerthan-ever Christmas business were forecast for 1959 by the Wall St. Journal last week. Other facts noted in the business study: Sept, output of TV-radio was 28% ahead of Sept. 1958 . . . “Industry statisticians calculate there were over a million TV sets in dealers’ hands at the start of Oct. — compared with only 840,000 a year earlier.” . . . Giants RCA, GE & Westinghouse foresee ample inventories at the dealer level to supply anticipated heavy Christmas demand for TV-radio-phonos and appliances. Stepped-up enforcement of Robinson-Patman Act prohibitions against price discrimination by sellers in favor of preferred customers was announced last week by FTC Chmn. Earl W. Kintner. He told a N.Y. meeting of the Grocery Manufacturers of America that 10 of FTC’s “younger, most able executives” have been assigned to a special task force headed by secy. Robert M. Parrish to make sure that the law is “more plainly & forcefully interpreted” to businessmen. Kintner’s move in the fairpricing field followed his order last month doubling the FTC’s TV-radio monitoring unit for a bigger campaign against fraudulent broadcast commercials (Vol. 15:43 p44). Emphasis is on sound in Packard Bell’s new model 17T-4 Astronaut 88 portable. It contains a front-mounted 6-in. speaker with hardwood sound chamber. In saddlestitched alligator cabinet it lists at $230, in black at $220. COMPONENT SALES SOAR: Confirming the results of our component survey last week (Vol. 14:45 pl7) and the analysis of component makers’ financial reports on page 18 of this issue, a new govt, study shows the electronic part & tube industry is now on the crest of its biggest rise since the Korean war period. First-half 1959 shipments of tubes, semiconductors and other major components were 30% higher than during the comparable 1958 period and 15% above last-half 1958, according to the electronics div. of the Commei’ce Dept.’s Business & Defense Services Administration. Director Donald S. Parris of the electronics div. said the data were developed from an analysis of returns from 450 firms “whose output represents a very large sample of the total production of these products in the U.S.” Principal categories of components shipped during the first half of this year are presented in the abbreviated table below. The complete table, including subdivisions of the categories below, is available from the electronics div.. Business & Defense Services Administration, Commerce Dept., Washington 25, D.C. TUBE & SEMICONDUCTOR SHIPMENTS First-Half 1959 Category Units (add 000) Mili Non Value (add 000,000) Mill Non Total tary military Total tary military Receiving Tubes .... ..214,903 17,036 197,867 $188.1 $35.4 $152.7 TV Picture Tubes.. Power & Special* .. 4,500 — 4,500 87.9 — 87.9 Purpose Tubes .. . 5,751 1,702 4,049 124.7 87.5 37.2 Semiconductors .... .. 93,880 22,723 71,157 177.2 74.4 102.8 ELECTRONIC COMPONENT SHIPMENTS First-Half 1959 Category Units (add 000,000) Mili Non Value (add 000,000) Mili Non Total tary military Total tary military Capacitors 587.8 67.6 520.2 $111.1 $33.8 $ 77.3 Connectors 41.4 26.6 14.8 69.8 49.1 20.7 Quartz Crystals 1.8 .7 1.1 5.1 2.0 3.1 Relays 11.7 4.5 7.2 85.2 45.1 40.1 Resistors Transformers & 972.9 151.8 821.1 112.0 53.9 58.1 Reactors 11.2 3.2 8.0 68.0 38.2 29.8 Good business in 1960 for the appliance industry was predicted last week by GE pres. Robert Paxton, currently on a tour to ascertain consumer buying attitudes. Looking ahead to what he termed a strong business year, Paxton foresees an expansion of consumer credit purchases — also a rise in appliance prices if the cost of steel should increase. “We have no magic wand to halt inflation,” he said. Paxton pointed out that the steel strike had not curtailed GE production to any extent until recently, that GE consumer products have been produced in ample quantities to supply retailers through Christmas, and that “any production we carry on now will be for 1960.” Hoffman Electronics last week unveiled “the world’s largest solar energy converter,” Big Bertha, to demonstrate the growing use of sunlight as a source of power. The company’s giant generator, whose silicon solar cells convert light into electricity, powered a door-opening device which dedicated the firm’s new $2-million semiconductor center in the El Monte suburb of Los Angeles. Hoffman Pres. H. Leslie Hoffman said at the ceremony that the center was designed to meet the growing requirements for electrical power generators in space vehicles, including manned “platforms.” Completion of the new center more than doubles the semiconductor div.’s production capacity and increases its annual sales potential to about $35 million. Sylvania adds 12 stereo consoles to its hi-fi line, at suggested list prices from $200 to $595.