Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL 16: No. 25 15 13% of Sumitomi Electric Industries, Osaka — both of which ITT lists as "associate licensees for manufacture and sales." ISE's overseas affiliates known to make home TV & radio sets: Compania Standard Electric, Argentina (3,100 employes); Standard Telephone & Cables, Australia (3,100); Standard Telephon und Telegraphen, Austria (1,400); Bell Telephone Mfg. Co., Belgium (10,200); Standard Electrica, Brazil (1,800); Compania Standard Electric, Chile (300); Standard Elektrik Lorenz, Germany (20,200); Standard Electrica, Spain (7,050); 4 companies including TV-radio mfr. Kolster-Brandes, United Kingdom (25,400). TV-STEREO'S BIGGEST PRODUCT SHOWS: Home electronics spotlight swings this week to Chicago with opening of summer 1960's International Home Furnishings Market at the Merchandise Mart (June 20-July 1). This will be followed next month (July 11-14) by National Assn, of Music Merchants' show at Chicago's Palmer House — which has now become TV -radio-stereo's No. 1 product show. Ten major manufacturers are exhibiting this week in their permanent spaces at the Merchandise Mart. While none of them will be revealing new lines to dealers for first time at this show, there's feeling that Mart serves good purpose as permanent showroom for their goods. There's some orderwriting, particularly by Midwest distributors, at this summer mart — which is basically a furniture & housewares show. Displaying TV-radio-phono wares at Merchandise Mart are Admiral, Columbia, GE, Magnavox, Motorola, Philco, RCA, Sylvania, Westinghouse, Zenith, in addition to 6 transistor radio importers and several smaller radio manufacturers. The July Music Show — not basically a "selling" show, but an occasion where dealers con inspect wide variety of competing merchandise — will have more TV-radio-stereo exhibitors than ever this year. Later in the season than in former years, all new TV (but not all stereo) lines will have been shown by that time. All of the TV exhibitors at Merchandise Mart — with 2 exceptions — also will show wares at Music Show. This year's Music Show will have as exhibitors nearly all the big names in TV-radio-stereo, plus a smattering of smaller ones, component hi-fi makers, importers, etc. Among those represented at Music Show will be Admiral, Arvin, Bell Sound (Thompson Ramo Wooldridge), Capehart, Columbia, Delmonico, Dynavox, Fanon, Granco, Hoffman, Magnavox, Majestic International, Motorola, Muntz, Olympic, Petely (Japan Victor), Philco, Pilot, RCA, Sony, Steelman, Symphonic, Stromberg-Carlson, Tele-tone, Transistor World (Toshiba), Videola, V-M, Waters Conley, Webcor, Westinghouse, Yashica, Zenith. While Merchandise Mart and Music Show do attract different types of dealers, distinction is becoming less sharp. Mart TV-radio-phono displays have always catered to appliance, furniture & housewares dealers, while Music Show was principally for music stores — but Music Show now has enough emphasis on electronics to attract dealers who don't also handle such items as band instruments & records. One TV-stereo maker summed up the difference between the shows this way: "Our permanent exhibit at the Mart is valuable to our over-all marketing effort and is successful in creating actual sales and broadening distribution. The Music Show is gaining in popularity, but it's a one-shot trade show and not a trend away from the Mart." Both shows serve an imadvertised, but useful, purpose in TV-radio-stereo field. They permit manufacturer personnel to get first close look at competitors' new products — important in this competitive industry. For more reports on new TV-stereo lines (including Du Mont, Emerson, Philco, Symphonic), see p. 16. TV-RADIO PRODUCTION: El A statistics for week ended June 10 (23rd week of 1960): June 3-10 Preceding wk. 1959 week '60 cumulative '59 cumulative TV 99,432 87,977 128,049 2,634,168 2,456,128 Total radio 316,421 259,116 299,599 7,547,718 6,252,324 auto radio 123,364 107,090 134,167 2,951,688 2,527,536 Hammond Organ isn’t counting on sales of its reverberation device to phono manufacturers to show up strongly in profits. Finance vp Robert H. Nelson told the Indianapolis Society of Security Analysts last week that “it will take a substantial volume to make any appreciable effect on our after-tax earnings.” Zenith & Philco are using the Hammond device in their high-end stereo consoles (Vol. 16:22 pl6). British TV sets in search of a U.S. distributor are being shown by Bush Radio Ltd. at the current British Exhibition in the N.Y. Coliseum (Vol. 16:23 p21). Two sets built to U.S. standards with British-made 23-in. bonded tubes were lowboy console models. The special feature of the sets is 8-channel pushbutton tuning, pre-set to the N.Y. channels (and one to grow on?). They are designed to retail in U.S. for $375 (one speaker) & $390 (2 speakers).