Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

SET PBICES UP, MOHE FMs: Upsurging prices seem to be order of day in radio retailing field. Survey of Washington distributors (who may be taken as typical) discloses that during 3 weeks since lifting of OPA controls, prices have gone up on such name-brand sets as Admiral, Bendix, Crosley, GE, Olympic, Sentinel, Westinghouse , Zenith. No jumps were reported as yet for Farnsworth, Freed,, Philco, RCA, Scott, Stromberg-Carlson. What this will do to set market, particularly FM, is still conjectural. One school insists prices will recede as materials shortages are met, production catches up v;ith demand, normal competition resumes — though these factors still discount main reason for increases: hi.^er cost ,of component parts. Situation has set makers concerned enough to put it at top of agenda of RMA mid-winter conference Dec. 10-12 in New York's Biltraore Hotel. RMA monthly set production figures, meanwhile', show all-time record month in October: 1.670,444 sets, of which 1,128,616 were table models (not including battery sets). FMs reached highest monthly total of year: 25,795, of which 22,960 were consoles, 833 table models. The FM total still doesn't bulk large, but it is going up steadily; Jan., 27; Feb., 182; March, 1,771; April, 3,784; May, 15,609; June, 16,923; July, 19,213; August, 12,717; Sept., 16,706; Oct., 23,793. T¥ SET OUTPUT DIPS; it's a case now of getting on dealer's list and taking your turn, as you must for a new car, if you want a TV set — that's how quickly the first batches of medium-priced RCA models have been taken up since its Nov. 2 "T" Day. Some 3,000 sets gobbled up the first few days from 800 dealers, is the story in a nutshell. Production by other firms is Still negligible, though certain to increase shortly. Meanwhile, the RMA's TV set production figures for October (only ^27) cause puzzlement , unless last month saw stoppages on v/ider scale than first believed. (DuMont, for example, is said to have many of its deluxe models on factory floor, all ready to ship except for missing inductuner motors, still unobtainable.) September production was 3,242, August only 3, July had 41, according to RMA — the sum total of post-war production. Thus the total up to Nov. 1 was only 4,113 — indicating bigger figures may be expected for Novem.ber and December, inasmuch as RCA alone Still promises 5,000 to 10,000 sets by end of year, and Viewtone says it is geared for 300 per week. SSkTEVEPSST PBSSE^ FK: Facsimile — the "sleeper," the "puzzler, " which suffers from recurrent bursts of enthusiastic acclaim and strange periods of neglect (as did TV) — has stirred the Saturday Evening Post into an article. Staffman Robert M. Yoder's Nov. 23 story is titled "Will Your Newspaper Come by Radio?" It puts FX this way: "It is a prospect that has bored, disturbed and excited newspaper publishers and radio men, for it might have m.ultimillion-dollar consequences, if any." Yoder finds the general attitude; It's v/onderful, but v/hat good is it? He tells of its tieup with FM, of Hogan's work and Finch's, of newspapers' and radios' intention not to be caught napping — how even old Editor & Publisher (its early radio myopia gone) has warned that FX is "no gadget." Regardless of predictions, rosy or otherwise, Yoder sees as most significant fact that FX can transmit, with absolute fidelity, any printed information faster than any other means. MDID TIME F0H MBIO; In an introspective mood, radio men are going to give radio a bit of self-analysis, with the public as confessors. CBS's Bill Paley, whose Speech on what's right and wrong with radio was a highlight of NAB convention (Vol. 2, No. 43), opens CBS series on "Radio and the Public" to be conducted by Lyman Bryson, Sundays, 1;30-1;45 p.m. (EST), starting Dec. 1, and continuing "as long as necessary to cover the subject." And ABC's Town Meeting Thursday, Dec. 12. 8;30 p.m., has scheduled debate on "Is Radio Serving the Public Interest?" ABC President Mark Wood and another speaker i;et to be chosen will argue the affirmative vs. FCC Comr. Durr and Frederic L. Wakeman, author of "The Hucksters."