Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

11 (4) Zenith v.p. H.C. Bonfig said mass market for color sets is at least 2 years away, added Zenith is producing 100 color receivers for January showing. He said they would cost Zenith about $2000 each, in prime labor and material. (5) Illustrating industry’s "truth" campaign was having effect, was the increasing use of the "Don't Wait for Color11 theme in newspaper ads and editorials. Nov. 27 Chicago American editorial said there will be no mass production of color sets before 1958, advised consumers to "get one of the excellent" black-&-white sets now on market. Editorial was deemed result of Motorola appeal to press for caution in handling news of color, as means of protecting trade and public (Vol. 9:46). (6) Better Business Bureaus' booklet on color (Vol. 9:47) moved closer to publication, with indications initial 500,000 may be printed in fortnight. * * * * TV production still shows no signs of tapering off much. Output was 146,727 week ended Nov. 20, compared to 149,724 preceding week, 161,337 week ended Nov. 6. It was year's 46th week, compared with 198,917 corresponding week year ago, and brought 1953 output to date to about 6,670,000 — 600,000 more than all of 1952. Radio production totaled 280,244, compared to 276,657 week ended Nov. 13 and 285,340 week before. It compared with 220,339 corresponding week of 1952, brought 1953 output to date to about 12,140,000 — compared to 10,934,872 all of last year. Topics & Trends of TV Trade: How the “average consumer” might feel about buying a color set may be illuminated by survey, first of its kind, conducted among the 545 employes of rectifier div. of Sarkes Tarzian Inc., Bloomington, Ind., by div. director G. Eannarino. It can be presumed most of them have never seen color TV — at least not the recent experimental colorcasts from New York as seen on 12-in. screens. These questions were asked: (1) What would you pay for a color set? 470 answered $500; 62 said $750; 10 said $1000; 3 said over $1000. (2) Would you be satisfied to wait 2 years for the price of color set to reduce to $300? Yes, answered 500; no, replied 45. (3) If your present black-&-white set were to fail beyond repair, or if you were buying a new set, what kind would you buy? 263 answered large console, 150 said small console, 132 table model. Average pay of employes, who’ve had no layoffs in 4 years, is $60 a week befoi’e taxes. Most are women and live on farms or in low-rent rural areas. * * * * Appeal to curtail discount buying was made this week by NARDA pi'es. Wallace Johnston, in identical letters to AFL pres. George Meany and CIO pres. Walter Reuther. Group buying and union discount stores were special targets of Johnston, who wrote: “We are handicapped in our work by people with ‘connections,’ group buying, such activities as ‘union discount stores,’ many of which have no official sanction. The salesman who creates a sale only to find it deflected by someone who could get it for the customer wholesale is soon discouraged and he quits selling.” He added: “We recognize, of course, the importance of marginal benefits to labor in addition to substantial wages and steady employment. But we urge you to seek those benefits which do not result in laying the groundwork for what could be an eventual logjam that hurts us all.” Don .1. Ferraro’s 3 companies— Fidelity Tube Co., Gem Radio & Television Corp., Jewel Radio Corp., all located at 900 Passaic Ave., E. Newark, N. J. — this week filed petitions under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act in U. S. Federal Court in Newark. Fidelity, maker of CR tubes, proposes to pay unsecured creditors 20% — 5% on confirmation and 5% every 6 months; Gem, maker of TVs and radios, 5% on confirmation; Jewel, maker of radios, 5% on confirmation. Admiral’s Ross Siragusa, back from Europe, doesn’t see much of an export market there for American TV sets for main reason that wages are low and costs of receivers relatively high. In Italy, for example, the average wage of girls working in TV plants is $35 a month, men $65. A 17-in. TV set costs about $400. “It doesn’t require too much mathematics,” he observes, “to ascertain that the average worker has enough of a problem trying to eat, let alone trying to entertain himself with a TV receiver.” Another major factor in what Siragusa sees as the “poor outlook for TV in Europe” is “the lack of commercial sponsorship and with it the short periods of programming.” Blow against trans-shipping was struck last week by New Jersey legislature, which enacted law (S 364) making it misdemeanor for anyone to remove or alter serial number or trade-marks of TVs and appliances for resale purposes. State was first to enact such a law, which was strongly pushed by DuMont gen. mgr. Irving Sarlin. * * * * Distributor Notes: Admiral establishes factory branch at Sixth Ave. & E St., Anchorage, Alaska (Wm. W. Winkels, gen. mgr.) . . . Raytheon appoints H. M Tower Corp., New Haven (Wm. G. Miller, pres.) and Wayne Distributing Co., Ft. Wayne (Kenneth C. Burtner, owner) . . . CBS-Columbia appoints Peninsular Distributing Co., Detroit . . .Emerson appoints Appliance Wholesalers Inc., Portland, Me. (Peter A. Anderson, pres.) . . .Arvin names Banks-Miller Supply Co., Huntington, W. Va. . . . WarrenConnolly Co. Inc., N. Y. (Hallicrafters) appoints Ronald Caiani sales v.p. and James Mannix v.p.-treas. . . . Westinghouse Electric Supply Co., N. Y., names Howard E. Oakes gen. specialties sales mgr. Dividends: Wells-Gardner, 15<f plus 15^ extra payable Dec. 15 to stockholders of record Dec. 4; Sprague Electric, 40<? Dec. 14 to holders Nov. 27; Bendix Aviation, 75<? Dec. 14 to holders Nov. 27 and 7% stock Jan. 16 to holders Dec. 3; Electronic Assoc., 20< to holders Dec. 21; WJR, The Goodwill Station Inc., 40*? Dec. 11 to holders Dec. 4; Strom berg-Carlson, 37% Dec. 31 to holders Dec. 15; Standard Radio Ltd. A, 10<? Jan. 8 to holders Dec. 18; Aircraft Radio, J 5(1 Dec. 14 to holders Dec. 4; Canadian Westinghouse, 50^ Jan. 2 to holders Dec. 14.