Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1949)

$985) .. .Brunswick has cut 15-in. TV-only $895 Canton and $995 Consort both down to $795, and AM-FM-LP plus 45rpm Tibet console to $1,295 (from $1,795) ; has added 12xl6-in. TV-only projection console Cathay, $895. Brunswick recently turned over 10-in. to Emerson (Vol. 5:4), has eliminated $795 Club and $1,450 Brighton, both 15-in. . .Midwest Radio & Television Corp., Cincinnati, selling 12-in. chassis and sets by mail (Vol. 5:5), has reduced prices, now offers audio-less chassis for $243.50; same with audio, $269; same with AM-FM, $344; audio-less consolette, $322.50; same with audio, $348; console with AM-FM-LP, $475... Mars Television has cut 12-in. Baldwin table model from $499 to $449, has added 15-in. Princeton table and LaSalle consolette at $549 and $649 respectively in place of former $750 Oxford table . . . Sentinel has 12-in. table out at $369.95. * * * * Newly formed Tel-A-See Co., 706 Walnut St., Cincinnati, plans to make console embracing TV-radio-phono-motion picture projector (with sound) at $350; founder is Fred C. Forney, industrial designer, with Samuel Shure, Cincinnati business man. Also planned is radio-silent movie console at $150, radio-sound movie, $200... New Snaider Television Corp., 540 Bushwick Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. (associated with kitmaker Television Assembly) has 12-in. table model at $425, 15-in. console $555, 20x26-in. commercial projection console $1,495 — all with FM. . . Scophony ' s new TV receiver, reports Time Magazine, was shown in London last week; it's 7x6)2i n. , sells for $220, and is said to use electrical wiring of home as antenna. Stewart -Warner is coming out with DC-only 10-in. consolette at $369.95 for DC areas. New York market first... New Delco private-brand TVs (General Motors) are 10-in. table and consoles (one of latter with AM-FM-LP and 45rpm) , and 16-in. table — no prices yet. . .Trav-Ler due with 10, 12-in. lines by end of March. . .Hoffman Radio out with new 10 and 12-in. tables, not yet priced; consolettes at $445 and $495; 12-in. console with AM-FM-LP, $845; 16-in. console with AM-FM-LP, $945; plans big dealer meeting in Los Angeles March 21. . . Gilf illan has quit making radios, turning entirely to Govt, radar contracts, which leaves Hoffman and Packard-Bell only sizeable manufacturers on Pacific Coast . . .Magnavox is including adapter for RCA's 45rpm in all combinations, which already include Columbia LP. EMERSON EXCITED ABOUT PROJECTIONS: Voicing what some radio makers and quite a few engineers are saying privately — though RMA production reports up to now certainly don't even hint any such trend — Emerson's president Ben Abrams predicts proj ection TV will dominate future set market. He told N.Y. Society of Security Analysts Friday his company is working on new low-price projection which will throw 12xl6-in. , 15x20-in., or even larger, pictures onto flat screen. Also in Emerson works is remote control device enabling viewers to operate TV sets from their chairs. Company, he said, is now producing 500 TV sets per day, expects to double that figure later, produce 150,000-200,000 this year; he estimated whole industry for 1949 at 2,250,000. Biggest of small-radio makers, Emerson's radio set production was reported running 3,500 to 4,000 per day, compared with 10,000 per day a year ago — yet, due to TV, dollar volume is considerably up. Of Emerson's 1938 volume of $31,000,000, Abrams said TV accounted for 25%, predicted it would be about 60% this year. Critical importance of TV to radio manufacturers is emphasized in statistics adduced by RMA president Max Balcom (Sylvania) in talk March 2 before Los Angeles servicemen’s Town Meeting. Though TV accounted for only 5.6% of all sets made in 1948, it accounted for 31% of dollars. During December, figures rose to 11)4% and “almost 50%,” respectively. And TV can take credit for pushing total value of sets sold in 1948 to record $750,000,000 (manufacturers’ level), despite 20% drop in sales of non-TV sets. It’s obvious radio industry would be in tough situation without TV, unless it had come up with some other potent revenue producer. Farnsworth report for 9 mo. ending Jan. 31 (subject to audit) shows net loss of $3,479,148 vs. net Income of $230,041 for same period preceding year. Westinghouse president Gwilym A. Price told newsmen Feb. 28 that TV will outrank AM-FM sales 4 to 1 this year, estimated Westinghouse will turn out 125,000 TV sets this year. Crosley radio-TV chief Stanley Glaser told Columbus dealer meeting same day his company will produce 200,000 TVs this year. Wall Street Journal says preliminary reports indicate DuMont 1948 sales more than double 1947, profits up 400%. Volume for 1948 is estimated at $26,000,000, profit more than $2,600,000 vs. $11,000,000 sales and $563,677 profits in 1947. “Since the turn of this year,’’ says the Journal, “DuMont, it is understood, has been operating at a rate of $50,000,000 a year.’’ Scophony Ltd., London, having recently acquired John Logie Baird Ltd., is changing name to Scophony-Baird Ltd.