Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1948)

COUNT OF TV OWNERSHIP BY MARKETS: Of the 845.000 TV sets manufactured up to Nov. 1 (Vol. 4:47), conservative NBC Research estimates that 718,000 had been installed as of that date in the homes and public places of the land - allowing the remainder for inventories, in-transits, etc. That's about as fair a calculation as we know of, and NBC's estimated TV set ownership by cities about the closest approximations reached by anyone (and bolstered, where available, by local distributor tallies). Here's NBC's installed-TV set census for the 21 areas served by TV as of Nov. 1; New York, 520,000; Philadelphia, 80,000; Los Angeles. 42,400; Chicago, 41,000; Boston, 30,400; Baltimore, 26,000; Washington, 21,200; Detroit, 20,500; Cleveland, 16,600; St. Louis, 13,000; Schenectady, 10,600; New Haven, 9,900; Milwaiakee, 9,300; Cincinnati, 8,000; Minneapolis-St . Paul, 7,500; Buffalo, 6,300; Toledo, 4,100; Richmond, 4,000; Atlanta, 3,800; Fort Worth, 1,200; Salt Lake City, 800. In contiguous towns or markets not yet served as of Nov. 1 (but soon to be), the count is as follows; Providence, 2,600; Dallas, 2,200; Memphis, 1,500 (local station started Nov. 13); Miami, 800; San Francisco, 700; Louisville, 600 (local station started Nov. 25); Dayton, 500; Indianapolis, 200; Peoria, 200; Pittsburgh, 100; others, 32,000. New TV areas iinaccounted for; Seattle, with new station starting Nov. 25; Albuquerque, new station Nov. 29. BIG DEPT. STORES SELL OWN $239 TV: Affiliated Retailers Inc., big buying organization of 30 or more of the country's biggest department stores (Macy's, May's, City Stores), this week began consignments of its own-brand TV set (Hallicraf ters-made ) to members in TV areas. It's a 10-in. table model iinder "Artone" brand and sells for $239 (advertised as "lowest priced 10-in. tube set you can buy") — installation with 90-day guarantee costing $50 extra, with 9-mo. guarantee $70. It looks a lot like Hallicraf ters ' T-67 model ($299.95) but Affiliated says design is its own, more production will come from other factories later. New York's R. H. Macy and Newark's Bamberger stores broke first TV Artone ads Monday, former calling results "very gratifying." Shipments also were said to have gone to the Macy stores in Toledo, Atlanta, San Francisco; the May stores in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Cleveland; and to Shuster, Milwaukee; Lit Bros., Philadelphia; White, Boston; O'Neill, Akron; Straus-Hirschberg, Yo\ingstown; KaufmanSt raus , Louisville; Fox, Hartford; Miller i Rhoads, Richmond; Wolf & Dessauer, Fort Wayne. On list to get some soon are Kaufmann, Pittsburgh; Maison Blanche, New Orleans. Whether private brands will come into TV in a big way is still undeterminable, albeit Affiliated says it has had plenty of offers of production contracts from "some pretty big radio manufacturers." Fact is all major TV factories say their capacities are being taxed to produce for their regular channels. Private-brand radio specialist Belmont (Raytheon-owned) has been considerably slowed down lately by strikes, its limited output under Belmont -Raytheon brand being sold through Montgomery Ward and others. There's expectation Sears Roebuck (still very mum) will come out with own "Silvertone" brand, produced by Sylvania's Colonial. Only other private brand we've heard of yet is "Muntz." It's supposed to be produced by an unnamed Pacific Coast radio maker (not Hoffman or Packard-Bell , to our kwowledge) for newly formed Muntz TV Inc. , backed by Hollywood used car dealer "Mad Man" Muntz. FACTORY NEWS & OTHER TV TRADE NOTES: Former Minerva plant at 238 William St., New York, is now being used by International Television Corp. . headed by John B. Milliken, ex-president of UST, who states (1) that a "few hundred TV sets" under International brand name will be produced before Xmas, and (2) that new subsidiary. Television Equipment Corp., has been formed to produce low-cost TV camera (around $7,000), engage in military electronics, later build TV transmitters. Ex-DuMont transmitter chief Leonard Mautner is v.p. ; Wm. Brown, ex-RCA Labs, is chief engineer National Union Radio Corp. , from whom Philco bought its increasingly important Lansdale tube plant, announces purchase of 70,000 sq. ft. plant in Hatboro. Pa. for production of 10, 12, 16-in. TV tubes, expects to turn out about 200,000 in 1949, upwards of 500,000 in 1950... New tubemaker, American Television Tube Corp.. has secured RCA license, says it will open plant in Newark soon, is sparked by