Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

TELEVISION DIGEST— 9 f NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 1 I NOV. SALES POINT TO RECORD PHONO YEAR: Reports of really great Nov, sales now have phono f graph industry pointed straight at an all-time record in 1962. Preliminary & unofficial sales estimates indicate that Nov. 1962 was biggest single month for distributor-to-dealer sales in at least 3 years, and that 1 1-month factory sales were high enough to forecast their r total for 1962 may reach all-time peak of 4.8 million. I Factory sales for Nov, were understood to total about 667,000, up more than 33% from the 500,000 of i Nov. 1961, and bringing 11-month total to approximately 4,363,000. Distributor sales totaled around 633,000, (' more than 31% higher than Nov. 1961 figure, for 11-month total of 3,977,000, bringing 4.5-million total well within range for full-year 1962. I For first 11 months of 1962, incidentally, almost 50% of all consoles with radio were equipped with FM stereo. Of total of about 1.1 million phono-radio combinations, 534,000 had multiplex tuners. : IMPORTS-TINYVISION, COLOR; Interesting array I of new tiny vision imports — including 14-in. color and first TV to operate from flashlight batteries — 1 is greeting visitors to Chicago for International I Home Furnishings Show this week. ' First Sharp (Hayakawa) battery portables are being ‘ displayed — a 6-in. at $199.95 and 8y2-in. at $229.95, battery , costing $24.95 extra in both cases. Conventional sets shown j by Sharp at Conrad Hilton Hotel are 12-in. (no price I announced), 16-in. sets at $109.95 & $119.95, and 19-in. table models at $129.95 & $139.95. Sharp sets are beginning [ to arrive in U.S. in quantity, and it’s believed about 5-6,000 are now on hand and ready for distribution. The flashlight-battery set is Delmonico’s IVa-in. receiver made by Victor of Japan, with $149.95 list. It operates from 9 flashlight batteries or house current. Another Delmonico set, being shown at Merchandise Mart, is 5V^in. at $179.95 plus $20 for rechargeable battery. Both tiny I sets are scheduled for March delivery. Delmonico will also j show 16-in. sets, starting at promotable $99.95. It will I demonstrate 14-in. color set at $399 list and 17-in. color I (no list). ■ I I October factory sales of TV picture tubes slipped sharply in units & dollars from Oct. 1961. EIA also reI ported unit volume of receiving tubes down, but dollar !l value gained. TV picture tubes declined in unit sales to 879,588 from 912,281 in Oct. 1961. Dollar value fell to 1 $16,678,099 from $18,000,957. Cumulatively, unit & dollar i| sales lagged behind 1961’s Jan.-Oct. totals by some 100,000 b units & $7.9 million. Receiving tube unit sales slipped in \ Oct. to 32,257,000 from 32,480,000, but dollar value in I creased to $26,440,000 from $26,155,000. On 10-month ' basis, sales trailed year-earlier cumulative volume by 7.2 million units & $4.5 million. Here are EIA’s figures: Picture Tubes ReceivinK Tubes Units Dollars Units Dollars January 802,061 16,626,304 29,692,000 24,789,000 February 783,670 13,944,313 27,977,000 23,841,000 March 817,830 16,680,149 34,884,000 29,748,000 April 768,539 14,263,426 31,016,000 26,838,000 May 703,266 13,676,669 30,841,000 26,802,000 June 740,788 14,262,844 29,649,000 24,587,000 July 566,022 11,064,367 24,122,000 19,612,000 August 796,121 15,036,830 34,646,000 29,222,000 September 866,512 16,537,417 31,640,000 25,327,000 October 879,688 16,678,099 32,257,000 26,440,000 Jan.-Oct. 1962 7,662,386 $146,648,397 306,168,000 $254,941,000 Jan.-Oct. 1961 7,761,642 164,667,278 313,318,000 269,463,000 Trade Personals Frank B. O’Brien resigns as Seeburg pres. & treas.; Delbert W. Coleman, chmn. & chief exec, officer, also becomes pres. Richard D. Kennedy, former ad & sales promotion mgr., named to new GE Receiving Tube Dept, post of sales mgr., home convenience products, in charge of sales of receiving tubes to home entertainment equipment manufacturers . . . Howard E. Harry, ex-Minneapolis-Honeywell. appointed chief engineer. Zenith military engineering div. George R. Simkowski named Webcor Sales Co., pres., a new post, succeeded as Webcor Div. sales mgr. by Charles Dwyer. Joseph D. Ceader, Oxford Electiic chmn., also named pres.; Leon Sadacca named exec, vp; David E. Davis elected electronics div. operations vp. Herbert B. Hershfield named national sales mgr. of Ampex’s United Stereo Tapes div., succeeding Richard Blase, resigned; John Spellman, operations mgr., also appointed ad & sales promotion mgr. Herbert W. Pollack appointed pres, of Polarad’s electronic instruments div., Frank J. Skwarek, pres, of Radiometrics div., both new operations . . . William R. Heckman appointed ITT personnel dir. Bernard Walley named West Coast microwave engineering operation mgr. by RCA Tube Div. Distributor Notes: Webcor Sales names Ray Ferguson mgr. of Chicago office, succeeding Charles Dwyer • Steelman Electronics appoints National Functions Corp., Valley Stream, N.Y., mktg. rep. in U.S. & Puerto Rico for phonograph line. Philco’s defunct “Instant Dividend” program (Vol. 2:9 p7) made news in Pittsburgh again when federal judge John L. Miller enjoined Appliance Associates Inc. & Melvin S. Landow from infringing Philco Finance Corp.’s copyright. Philco filed infringement suit when defendants published plan entitled “Appliance Bonus Membership Form.” Uniform labeling of TV & FM sets, to show they comply with FCC radiation limitations, won’t be required by Commission. It decided to call off its proposed rule-making. However, it again said it “admonishes purchasers against buying FM & TV receivers which have not been certificated.”