Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

Record Details:

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VOL. 16: No. 20 21 INSIDE JAPANESE ELECTRONICS: A Japanese eye-view of Nippon’s burgeoning electronics industry was projected for the recent Chicago gathering of IRE’s professional group on engineering management by Dr. Osamu Mabuchi. He is deputy chief of the central labs I of Osaka-based Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and » exec, vp of its U.S. sales wing Matsushita Electric Corp. of America. Dr. Mabuchi indicated clearly that when it comes to labor, engineering and production problems, the grass is no greener in Japan. The Japanese are a research-conscious people, he I stressed, but are handicapped by their lack of experience I in engineering management. “In other words,” he added, ' “they are not adept to capitalizing on new concepts & I developments. How about the production techniques in ! Japan? This is also a very weak area. Japanese industry, in the old tradition, usually depends upon their hard-working, loyal and skilled labor.” However, significant change I is evident. “Mechanization & automation are now becomI ing increasingly popular. Some electronic tube & semiI conductor factories are even more mechanized & automated I than many comparable American factories.” Dr. Mabuchi emphasized that the abundance of cheap I labor in Japan doesn’t necessarily produce low production I costs. “The ratio of skilled labor wages between American i & Japanese workers is about 10 to 1,” he said. “Yet, the I most complicated & expensive die made in the U.S. costs ; only about 3 times more than in Japan. A simple punching die costs less in America than in Japan.” He explained : that Japan’s production costs are kited by “the lack of ; capable production engineering & the very heavy overhead of Japanese industry.” Labor costs are also on the rise, he added. I Illustrative of Japan’s progress in electronics, here I are the 1959 production figures of Matsushita Electric as \ quoted by Dr. Mabuchi: 780,000 TV sets (or 27% of I Japan’s total 2,900,025); 2,160,000 radios (21% of I 10,350,664); 24,000,000 transistors (28% of 84,700,583); f 30,000,000 radio tubes (11%% of 200,000,000). The varied ( production, he noted, also points up “a characteristic dif! ference in the electronics industry in Japan. The large I Japanese manufacturers of electronic consumer products t have also embraced the manufacture & sale of specific electronic components. Thus, special electronic component manI ufacturers are relatively few in number and small in size.” Commenting on Japan’s competition for foreign markets, Dr. Mabuchi said: “I personally have no fear of a Japanese-goods invasion of the U.S. electronics market. ^ The flood of Japanese transistor radios into the U.S. I unfortunately occurred because U.S. manufacturers of these I items did not have competitive & comparable products i during the initial years when Japan started to enter this I market. Japanese manufacturers did much of the ploneer\ ing work in the pocket-size transistor radio and helped I create the public demand for this merchandise.” He also emphasized Japanese imports of American ' products and “the many dollars coming to the U.S. from Japan for patent licenses, “know-how” and technicalassistance agreement fees. This amounted to over $70 million in 1959. I believe the 2-way street of international trade now has nearly equal AmericanJapanese traffic.” Price reductions in Sears Roebuck’s “Summer Sales Book:” 17-in. portable TV, cut from $149.95 to $129.95; transistor clock radio from $54.95 to $34.95. 1. Finance Capital Cities Booms: Acquisition-minded Capital Cities Bcstg. Corp. (WTEN & radio WROW Albany with satellite WCDC Adams, Mass.; WTVD Durham, N.C.; WPRO-TV & WPRO Providence) racked up sizable 1959-over-1958 sales & profit gains and kept climbing through 1960’s first quarter, Pres. Frank M. Smith informed the annual meeting. Revenues in 1959 and in 1960’s first quarter were more than double those of the same year-earlier periods. The profit in the 1960 quarter was more than 2% times ahead of the year-ago net. Capital Cities is growth conscious and “is actively engaged in studying possible acquisitions of suitable broadcast properties both in radio & TV,” Smith said. “This fact is well known throughout the industry and [Capital Cities] will continue to research all opportunities for such acquisitions that may be available.” The corporation’s 1959 financial statement showed a cash position of $506,076, up from $172,944 at the end of 1958. Total assets (less current liabilities) climbed to $10,020,067 from $2,923,023. Property, plant and equipment, listed at cost, totaled $6,244,760. The statement also provided a financial breakdown of the purchase April 16, 1959 of WPRO-TV & WPRO (Vol. 15:11 p5). The agg^regate purchase price of $6.5 million applied $2,871,002 to properties; $410,273 to film-rental contract rights, inventories; $3,218,725 to network affiliation contracts. For the year ended Dec. 31 (1959 table includes operations of WPRO-TV & WPRO) : 1959 1958 Bcstg. income $6,067,424 Net income 380,545 Per common share 33<f Common shares 1,149,798 For the quarter ended March 31 $2,880,003 314,050 27<f 1,149,798 (Operations of WPRO-TV & WPRO are reflected only in the 1960 table): 1960 1959 Bcstg. income $1,798,163 $714,348 Net income 205,916 76,940 Per common share 18^ 7^ Metropolitan Bcstg. Corp. reports net income of $150,000 (9^ a share) on a gross of $6,936,936 for 3 months ended March 31. The company said major acquisitions in the first quarter and the issuance of 150,000 additional shares make year-ago comparisons “pointless.” Stockholders voted last week to increase the ceiling on stock options to 120,000 from 100,000 shares. NAFI Corp., automotive & carpeting firm which owns KPTV Portland, KCOP Los Angeles and is purchasing radio KXYZ Houston, reports increased earnings on lower net sales for the first quarter. These figures for 3 months ended March 31 do not include earnings of Chris-Craft Corp., which was acquired last month: Net sales Net income Per common share Common shares . 1960 $6,210,385 262,413 25«‘ 1,029,155 1959 $6,462,420 195,452 20(f 987,655 Times-Mirror Co. (KTTV Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Mirror) received stockholder approval last week to increase the authorized common stock to 5,907,000 shares from 4,407,000 and to create a new issue of preferred — 100,000 shares of $100 par value (Vol. 16:17). Pentron Electronics Corp. has been admitted to trading on the American Stock Exchange. Symbol: PEN.