Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1948)

1949 TV 8; AH DIRECTORIES OUT SOON: Now being prepared, for distribution to our full-] service subscribers shortly after Dec. 31, are 2 new directories: (1) Quarterly TV ■ Directory (No . 6 ) , also known as "Television Rates & Factbook," and (2) Annual AM ^ Directory (No. 3) . They will be published in about the same format as their prede | cessors, with all data revised to Jan. 1, 1949. TV Directory No. 6 will include rates and data of the networks and of more than 50 TV stations on the air or due to start before end of January. Research thus far shows that, since our Oct. 1 directory, some 15 of the now-operating stations , have revised rate cards, mostly upward, and several have actually decreased rates. Also brought up-to-date in the directory will be our listings of CPs for New TV Stations outstanding as of Jan. 1, 1949 (some 75) ; Applications Pending for New TV Stations (some 310) ; TV Experimental Stations (25 or more) ; TV Program Producers (some 300) ; TV .Manufacturers & Receivers (75 or more companies producing some 250 different models) — all figures tentative. Extra copies of TV Directory No. 6 will' cost subscribers §2.50, non-subscribers §5. AM Directory No. 3, loose-leaf, with opposite pages in blank to allow for additions and changes through the year, will again list AM stations by States, by Frequencies and by Call Letters ; and AM applications pending as of Jan. 1, 1949 by States and by Frequencies. Preliminary compilations indicate it will show some 2,140 licenses and CPs outstanding as of Dec. 31, 1948 (vs. 1,961 at end of 1947) ; some 500 applications pending for new stations (vs. 604) ; some 250 applications for changes in facilities of existing stations (vs. 229). Extra copies of 200-plus page AM Directory No. 3 will cost subscribers §7.50, non-subscribers §10.00. NEWS JOTTINGS ABOUT THE TV HAKEBS: Cullings from TV manufacturers' reports sent us for inclusion in Jan. 1, 1949 revision of our Directory of TV Manufacturers & Receivers: Crosley offering no more consoles, only table models. . . Westinghouse has 12in. console with AM-FM-phono at §725. . . Stewart -Warner selling its two 10-in. consoles with built-in magnifiers as optional equipment .. .Videograph Corp. offers two 15in. table models, one TV-only for §695, other with jukebox at §1,695, both made for it by Emerson. . .Negro electronics engineer Wm. B. Still, Jamaica, L.I., plans to market 16-in. table model at §445 under "Jamaica" label . . . Vidcraf t reports new home line starting with 10-in. table model at §309, same with built-in magnifier at §369; also plans 7-in. at §199.95, ready in February. Noteworthy in all reports (we'll have more later) is that prices are up on nearly all standard brands, though often they appear as new prices on new (and usually improved) models. Other notes of the TV trade: Dr. Lee deForest has something up his sleeve in the way of a new TV, but he won't disclose much beyond fact it's presently in hands of Chicago manufacturingfinancing interests. "If the necessary distributing organization is formulated," he wrote us this week before returning to his Los Angeles winter home, "you will again see the deForest name on a good electronics implement "... Nev; in TV field, Wilcox-Gay Corp. , Charlotte, Mich., promises 10-in. TV-only console sometime in first quarter of 1949; it will be companion piece to its radio-phono-recorder consoles, will be priced somewhere between §350 and §375. . .Admiral ' s Ross Siragusa, in signed article in Retailing, says his 1949 TV production will total 400,000, current production 20,000 per month. . .Bendix Baltimore plant is currently producing 200 of its pushbutton table models daily, can increase as picture tubes become available. Industry's white hope for relief of picture tube shortage, Sylvania has purchased another plant for tube-making in Seneca Falls, N.Y. ; recently, it bought plant in Ottawa, 0., and trade rumors have it that it may soon push hard RCA's reputed 60% leadership in this field. . .Farnsworth' s E. A. Nicholas announces completion of Fort Wayne plant consolidation; Farnsworth's Marion, Ind. factory has been sold to RCA, which will use it as Midwest tube plant ... Specializing exclusively in 16in. metal-coned tube production will be American Television Tube Corp. (Vol, 4:48); promoter Henry Scharf, answering our inquiry, says production starts in February ... Immediately after closing deal to sell his tube-making plant to Zenith (Vol. 4:50), and agreeing to stay with his staff to run it, E. N. Rauland went into Chicago hospital for serious abdominal operation.