Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

18 MAY 16, 1960 Delmonico's transistor portable may be first such import to hit U.S. market — deliveries being scheduled to start by air late next month — and importer is shooting at $199.95 price although Kabat said there's still some doubt whether this figure can be met. Market for the transistor TV will be "limited this year because of the price," Kabat told us. He said key promotions in possibly 4 cities — N.Y., Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco — will begin in time for political conventions. Delmonico hopes to tie transistor set exclusively to one quality store or chain in each city. Liberty Music Stores having been selected in N.Y. Toward year's end, however, he sees price beginning to drop out of luxury class, followed by larger-scale merchandising. Delmonico also showed monster of a color set. Conceding this model couldn't be sold in U.S., Kabat said his company hopes to import color chassis, and perhaps cabinet, installing RCA tube here — "if we can sell it at a lower price than American-made sets." He added that he thinks there's good market for lowpriced color set, but not the Goliath-sized sample shown this week. An old hand at stereo imports (mainly from Germany), Delmonico showed Japan Victor AM-FMstereo consolette (on legs), with 4 speakers and remote balance control, to list at $129.95, but with sufficient markup to be sold by promotional stores at $99.95. Higher priced Japanese stereo shown was marked $299.95 — and both rmits were characterized by U.S.-style cabinets appearing far more tastefully designed (to us, anyway) than the traditional high-gloss "borax" cabinets of European stereo. Among other features of new Delmonico line is 8-tube AM-FM table radio (also Japan Victor) at $29.95 list, lowest price we've seen on such a set. Delmonico plans to set up network of service & parts depots for its Japanese line, as well as assembly plant in this covmtry, hopes for UL approval of its TVs. For more details on Delmonico line, see opposite page. • • • • First complete 1961 American TV line will be announced this week — by Motorola, simultaneously with Eastern distributor meeting at Grossinger's Hotel, Grossinger, N.Y. Also slated this week is annoimcement of RCA's new color line, to be followed next week by unveiling of its black-&-white sets. Japanese-made Hitachi TV sets are scheduled to be shown this week by Sampson Co. at Ports Show in Chicago. TV-RADIO PRODUCTION: m statistics for week ended May 6 (18th week of 1960): Apr. 29-May 6 Preceding wk. 1959 week '60 cumulative '59 cumulative TV 103,432 110,499 106,359 2,106,587 1,886,943 Total radio 316,261 301,665 244,083 6,014,766 4,882,140 auto radio 110,266 97,682 111,747 2,372,848 1,898,461 Zenith dealers of Westchester county, N.Y., through distributor Zenith Radio Corp. of N.Y., have brought a 4-hour program 7 nights weekly on N.Y. Herald Tribune’s radio WVOX New Rochelle. The unique volume buy gives 30 dealers joint sponsorship of 28 hours weekly (5-9 p.m.). Show is The Sound to Remember, program of big-band recordings of the 1930s & 1940s, interspersed with news, weather, traffic reports, etc. Total U.S. radio set count stood at 156,394,000 as of the first of the year. Radio Advertising Bureau has reported. RAB’s estimate for radio set sales during 1959: 18,167,000, or 59.4% higher than in 1949. Each of the country’s 52 million homes has at least 3 radios, including 40,387,000 auto radios, said RAB. (The figures do not include radios out of order.) Trav-Ler Radio, which has made no formal new-line announcement, is advertising to the trade 3 new 19-in. thinline portable TV models with 114-degree short-neck aluminized picture tubes, hand-wired chassis — plus “phenomenally-priced 23-in. table & console models.” No prices are given in the ads. The sets are now being shown in TravLer’s Chicago showroom, 571 W. Jackson Blvd. Admiral has shifted hq of its commercial electronics div. from Newark to the Chicago main office. The division, headed by vp Frank J. Rogers, provides & services a complete package of hotel communications & control systems. It has installed more than 100,000 hotel TV sets since it was formed 3 years ago. Emerson’s newly-formed Emertron subsidiary (Vol. 16:16 pl7) has been awarded an initial contract of more than $1 million for the production of radar altimeter systems for the Navy A3J attack aircraft. Marketing vp George Rappaport announced that the contract had been awarded by prime contractor North American Aviation. RCA has been cited for “good taste” in TV styling by the American Institute of Approval on the basis of its 23-in. “Bordeaux” model. James M. Toney, product planning & development vp for RCA consumer products, received the award from AIA at its luncheon recently. State fair trade law was declared unconstitutional by | the Minnesota Supreme Court. Minnesota thus became the 17th state to outlaw fair-trade acts, while 16 states have upheld their constitutionality.