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AUGUST 15, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
How the Music Merchants Are Buying
Radio Stock for the Fall
Concentration on Few Lines One of the Developments That Is Being Strongly Marked in the Retail
Music Merchants' Radio Departments at This Time—Distance Demand on the Part of the Ulti-
mate Buyer Disappearing — Proper Buying Creates the Essential Rapid Turnover
T
HE majority of the music dealers who
have been handling radio are fairly well
settled as to what lines they plan to
feature during the coming season or at least
have developed a definite policy as to just what
sort of receivers and accessories they contem-
plate carrying in stock, even though they have
not yet decided upon the exact makes. Others
who after experimenting are launching into the
radio field in a large way are likewise giving
much thought to the selection of stock with a
view to securing products that will sell well
and profitably and, most important, stay sold.
Concentration on Lines
It is significant that retailers of radio ap-
paratus have learned quickly by experience, and
radio departments this Fall will not take on
the appearance of a general exhibition of radio
receivers, with a dozen or more different makes
displayed on the shelves or the counter. The
dealer who at the outset fell victim to the
arguments of numerous salesmen and took a
chance on buying this or that outfit on the
promise that it would set the world afire and
bring to his store a mob of enthusiastic cus-
tomers is now looking very carefully before
he leaps. He is limiting the number of makes
carried and seeing to it that, so far as he is
able to judge, they will fit best into the require-
ments of his particular locality.
The dealer who, during the past season and
the season before, stocked a dozen or more
different makes of receivers and then paid for
his generosity through loss of profits, can not
blame his misfortune entirely upon the char-
acter of the sets. In many cases, dealers se-
lected and stocked as many as ten good makes
of receivers, each type of standard quality and
reputation, and, when handled properly, readi-
ly salable. The trouble is that found in any
other line of merchandising where so great a
variety of goods is carried that proper atten-
tion cannot be given to any one item.
We have a number of dealers who have
started out as exclusive purveyors of one par-
ticular make of receiver, or have been won over
to that plan. In such a case, it is possible for
the dealer and salesman to have a thorough
understanding of the structural qualities and
capacities of the set and to give their undi-
vided attention to the selling of it, without
having their arguments cramped through fear
of detracting from the qualities of some other
outfit in the same or a similar class.
Three or Four Styles
Although the dealers who are confining them-
selves to only one line are more or less scarce,
there are a far more impressive number who
have seen to it that their .plans for the coming
season call for the limiting of stocks to three
or at most four makes of receivers, each of a
different type. This is out of respect for the
demands of those prospective purchasers who,
while open-minded as. to the makes of products,
have definite ideas as to the types of circuits
they desire: It is found, for instance, that a line
including the super-heterodyne, radio frequency,
and neutrodyne types of receivers, including,
of course, a reflex model and perhaps a re-
generative circuit, is sufficiently well balanced
to meet any' ordinary demand, particularly
when the price range in those classes is of the
usual comprehensive type.
The Public's Attitude
It is conceded that the buying public has to
a large extent overcome its awe of radio, and
instead of accepting a receiver as something
mysterious and beyond the understanding of
the layman, now make definite demands when
inspecting various models. These demands in-
clude good tone, which is accepted as includ-
ing loud speaker volume. Selectivity is also an
essential particularly in view of the interesting
number of broadcasting stations which are
forced to use wave lengths more or less close
together, especially in the lower ranges. Then
comes the question of price and also the mat-
ter of satisfying appearance, because the radio
set now finds its place in the living room of
the home, where it is most desirable that it
harmonize to some degree at least with the rest
of the furniture.
Distance Demand Diminishing
The demand for distance is diminishing rap-
idly, and, although it is to be admitted that
every radio owner is desirous of trying at times
to see what distant stations he can bring in,
he attaches much more importance to the fact
that his receiver will bring in local stations
clearly and without interference. He has learn-
ed that the local station provides the enter-
tainment and that distance is simply distance
with little else to commend it.
In making la final decision upon types of
receivers to be handled, the dealer will do
well to give heed to including in the list certain
types that operate on concealed or even ex-
terior loops either exclusively or in addition to
an antenna operation. This will give him an
opportunity to offer a proper appeal to those
customers who for one reason or another can-
not have erected an outdoor antenna and who
object to the. appearance of the wires forming
an indoor antenna strung around the mouldings
of the room.
The average dealer as a result of his own
study of the subject or from the experience of
others is, or should be, pretty well informed
as to the status of the various manufacturers,
thereby selecting for his suppliers those of
reputation and standing, who have shown the
proper progress in the field, who have adopted
and put into effect proper merchandising sys-
tems that will protect the dealer in his territory
and in his profits and who have financial back-
ing sufficiently strong to insure them against
any sudden elimination from the field. There
is nothing serious or unusual about this selec-
tion of the proper manufacturers, for the dealer
in all his business experience has followed out
the policy of handling only the goods of relia-
ble manufacturers.
The retailer who confines himself to a lim-
ited number of lines of a variety of types, and
follows the practice of concentrating on those
lines instead of trying to divide his interest
and, just as important, his capital among a
dozen different makes, is in a fair way to en-
joy the rewards of permanency that by every
rule of the game should come out of the radio
field, following the period of readjustment and
stabilization through which the industry natur-
ally had to pass during the days of its infancy.
In the Dealers' Hands
The manufacturers have worked faithfully to
bring their products to a stage of final develop-
ment so far as they can see it and with their
jobbers have sought and with success to estab-
lish distributing policies that are sound and log-
ical. The question of buying stock properly,
however, is entirely within the hands of the
dealer, and on his good judgment in making
the proper selection and in buying products
that mean turnover and not simply stock, de-
pends entirely whether he makes profit or not.
Lee DeForest Describes
European Radio Conditions
admirably equipped stations in England. BBC,
at Daventry, fifty miles from London, the most
powerful station in the United Kingdom, is us-
ing 25 kilowatts on 1,600 meters.
"Rome has a novelty in the 'penny-in-the-slot'
radio listening machines.
For the equivalent
of one penny the listener is allowed to hear one
selection. I found that radio interest is slight-
est in Italy, probably due to the fact that ap-
paratus is scarce."
Chief Consulting Engineer of DeForest Radio
Co. Returns From Close Study of Foreign
Conditions
Dr. Lee DeForest, chief consulting engineer
of the DeForest Radio Co., returned home this
week from Europe where he made a close study
of radio broadcasting conditions in England,
France, Germany and Italy.
"Public interest in radio in Europe is now at
a very high point," Dr. DeForest stated. "New
and powerful stations are constantly being
erected. Interest is greatest in England, prob-
ably due to the fact that the programs there are
more diversified than in other European coun-
tries. France pays the least attention to broad-
casting, and with the possible exception of one
or two stations very little music is broadcast
there."
"Most of the receiving sets are home-made,"
Dr. DeForest declared.
"I personally noted
over eighty-seven different makes of vacuum
tubes or valves, as they are termed there, all of
high quality and sold at much lower prices than
over here. It is not unusual for manufacturers
to place from eighteen to twenty different styles
of tubes on the market. However, there is ab-
solutely no cutting of prices.
"I had the opportunity of inspecting several
New Radiation Preventer
The DeForest Radio Co. has placed on the
market a radiation preventer designed to put
an end to the interference occasioned through
the improper use of regenerative receivers or
of other types of receivers that have been
poorly constructed. It is stated that the new
device may be easily installed in any set at a
very low expense and completely elminates any
chance of the receiver rebroadcasting.
Sonora Line for Axelrod Go.
CANTON, O., August 10.—It is announced that
Axelrod Music Co. has taken on the represen-
tation in the Canton territory of the Sonora
line of talking machines. The Sonora line for-
merly was sold by the J. W. Brown Piano Co.,
and later the Alford & Fryar Co. This firm
plans to handle all styles of the Sonora.