Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE WORLD OF RADIO
total unit sales. It had been estimated that
midget production in 1931 will exceed 50
per cent of the total.
Total radio sales, including sets, acces-
sories, tubes and other parts, aggregated
F. Arnold has been appointed manager of
$500,951,500, as against the industry's fig-
record sales; Walter W. Clark, formerly ure of $842,548,000 for the preceding year.
manager of the record department, has been
Console and midget receiver sales totaled
placed in charge of artists and repertoire; 3,672,400 units, valued at $298,010,000, for
E. M. Hartley is manager of the service de- 1930, as against 4,200,000 units, valued at
partment, and B. Aldridge and A. R. Beyer $525,000,000 for 1929. Radio-phonograph
have been placed in charge of distribution combinations totaled 155,400, valued at $34,-
188,000, as against 238,000 units of $67,068^-
000.
Radio tubes, including new installations
and replacements, totaled 52,000,000, which
realized $119,600,000 in 1930, as against 60,-
000,000 tubes, valued at $172,500,000, in
1929.
Speakers, excluding those already in re-
ceivers, sold during 1930 were valued at
$3,500,000, while those sold during the pre-
ceding year were valued at $16,000,000.
"A," "B" and "C" dry batteries sold dur-
ing 1930 were valued at $21,514,000, as
against $30,530,000, while other accessories
had a value of $6,700,000, as against $9,-
600,000. Parts sold at retail to other than
manufacturers were estimated at a value
of $6,000,000, as against $7,500,000.
The remainder of the industry's total was
made up by sales of automobile radio re-
ceivers to the extent of 34,500 units, valued
at $4,519,500.
The replacement business in tubes was
PIERRE BOUCHERON
considered disappointing by the industry.
order routine and general distributor contact. With 12,000,000 modern tube sets in homes
The new appointments mark the completion as of Jan. 1, 1931, there should have been,
according to the industry, replacements of
of a reorganization consolidating the Victor at least 30,000,000 tubes, whereas actually 24,-
and RCA Radiola Divisions of the RCA Vic- 000,000 were sold for this purpose.
tor Company. According to the announce-
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS
ment, realignment of the wholesale distri-
bution system of the two divisions has been
With respect to sales possibilities for the
practically completed, and shipments of the current "radio year," the industry feels there
first product bearing the combined RCA should be as many radios in use as there
Victor trademarks, an 8-tube superheterodyne are passenger automobiles, and on that basis
receiver (with a new super-control tube) to figures there exists a future market for not
be known as the Superette, have begun.
less than 8,000,000 sets in private homes
alone, when replacements and "two sets in
the home" opportunities are considered.
Moreover, the farm or battery set field is
a large one, since less than 20 per cent of
the nation's unwired homes are equipped with
suitable reception apparatus.
PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS IN
EXECUTIVE STAFF OF RCA-VICTOR CO.
A
NNOUNCEMENT has been made of
the following promotions and ap-
pointments in the sales and adver-
tising staffs of the RCA Victor Company, in
Camden. E. A. Nicholas, formerly head of
the distributing company bearing his name,
has been appointed general sales manager
E. A. NICHOLAS
in charge of all sales excepting the for-
eign field, and succeeding H. C. Grubbs, re-
signed; Ernest H. Vogel, formerly manager
of Radiola sales, has been promoted to man-
ager of domestic sales; Pierre Boucheron,
who for eight years was advertising manager
of the Radio Corporation of America, and
later in charge of the Atlanta district office,
has been appointed manager of advertising
and sales promotion; L. W. Yule, formerly
Pacific Coast district manager, has been made
assistant manager of domestic sales; William
AVERAGE UNIT VALUE OF RADIO SALES
DURING YEAR 1930 WAS ONLY $87
F
IGURES compiled by the electric equip-
ment division of the Department of Com-
merce covering radio sales during 1930,
as compared with the previous year, indicate
that during the year there was a decrease of
nearly fourteen per cent in the number of
receiving sets sold and a decrease of forty-
four per cent in dollar volume, due to the
introduction of lower priced products.
The average list price of a radio receiv-
ing set in 1930 was estimated at $87, less
tubes, as against $133 in 1929, Mr. Way
stated. While the total unit sales of radio
receivers for 1930 exceeded the expectations
of the industry, Mr. Way asserted that the
industrial figures show a 44 per cent decrease
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
in dollar volume, due to the advent of the
midget set, price-cutting, general business
conditions and heightened sales resistance re-
sulting from growing saturation. The dollar
volume for the year w r as placed at $332,198,-
000, as against $592,000,000 for 1929.
Unit sales of receiving sets and radio-pho-
nograph combinations, according to the indus-
try's figures, were 3,828,000, as compared
with 4,438,000 for 1929.
SMALL SETS ARE POPULAR
Although the midget trend did not become
a real factor in the industry until the Fall
of last year, some 1,130,000 units were sold
prior to Jan. 1, 1931, on 30 per cent of the
REVIEW,
May,
1931
COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
STILL FAR IN FUTURE
"Nothing has been exaggerated as much as
the advance publicity about television," Dr.
John D. Ball, vice-president of the Wiscon-
sin School of Engineering, believes.
"I have heard business men say that they
were putting off the purchase of a new radio
set for a couple of months," he added, "as
they wanted to wait for a television set.
They will have a long wait; even the most
optimistic engineers believe a workable house-
hold television set will not be ready in less
than five years."
33