Play Meter

Issue: 1980 December 31 - Vol 6 Num 24

UPDATE EDITION
December 31 , 1980
Volume 6, Number 24
Ro we/AMI's '81 boxes debut
wit h 'heated' sales talk
By RALPH C. LALLY II
Rowe International's President
Merrill Krakauer had the honor eJ
addressing an enthusiastic annual
meeting of Rowe distributors
October 2-3. Pleased with the
performance of Rowe's distributor
network over the past year ,
Krakauer announced that Rowe
had, for the second year running, set
a new record in sales and return on
investment.
It was also announced that Rowe
had dramatically increased its share
of the phonograph market. For the
first time in a very long while, the
Rowe president said, he was in a
position to state: "We are the largest
supplier of phonographs worldwide."
Rowe had chosen the Registry
Resort located in Scotsdale, Arizona
as the site for the 1980 annual
distributors meeting. Enthusiasm
was a high as the Arizona tempera·
ture when Rowe distributors ob·
served coming out of their best
selling year ever.
As a further compliment to his
distributor network, Krakauer
stated that "Rowe has the strongest
marketing organization in the
industry. With aggressive marketing
backed up by support services, we
will continue to dedicate our efforts
to keep Rowe a success ."
Senior Vice President/Marketing
Matt Russ discussed Rowe 's success
over the past 12 months . He
announced that sales were up by 22
percent over the previous year and
that every Rowe distributorship had
made its sales quota.
The highlight of the Rowe meeting
was the introduction of the new
Rowe phonographs. In additional to
the console model and the new 160·
selection R/-3 compact model
released several months ago, three
new 200 -selection madels were
shown for the first time .
With the accent on advanced
tech nology and design simplicity,
Rowe 's Ted Lloyd unveiled the three
new Rowe phonographs- the Star-
light, the Starburst , and the
Starwood. The sleek look of the new
models delighted the distributors . A
newly designed cabinet and new
lighting effects were the two major
changes in the new phonographs.
Technical improvements included
an improved Memorec system, new
pricing features, and an ambient
noise compensator that auto -
matically raises the volume of the
phono as the level of noise in the
room increases.
In additional to the new phono-
graphs, a new full -view wall box was
also introduced. This new box
displays all the song titles and
enables pricing. to be done through
the phonograph instead of through
each wallbox.
The new lineup of Rowe phono-
graphs were to be on display at the
AMOA Show in Chicago and will
also be featured in a special section
in the next issue of PLAY METER.
Matt Russ, senior uice president/ marketing (left) , outlined the success of
Rowe in past year. At right, Rowe Sales VP Ed Wiler giues a welcoming
address to distributors at Arizona meet.
Update
Edition
Vo l. 6, No . 24
Dec . 31 , 1980
Staff
Publisher and Editor:
Ralph C. Lally II
Editorial Director:
David Pierson
Manag ing Edit o r:
Ray E. Tilley
Adm in istrati ve A ssistant :
Valerie Cognevich
Art Directo r:
Ka te y Sc hwark
Circulatio n Man ager:
Re n ee' C. Pierson
Te chnical Edit o rs:
lac Oliver
Rand y Fromm
Jim Calore
Corresponde nts:
Roger C. Sharpe
Pat Matthews
Dick Welu
Mary Clair Blakeman
Tony Licata
Steve Kirk
Classified Advertising:
Valerie Cognevi c h
Advert isin g Man ager:
David Pierson
Europ ean Re presentative :
Esmay Leslie
PLAY METER , D ece mber 31 , 1980.
Volume 6, o. 24. Co pyright 1980 by
Skybird Publishin g Company. PLAY
METER (ISS
0162-1343) is pub-
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Ring out the old,
ring in the new-Update
PLAY MET ER UPDATE will go into a larger format with the ne xt issue,
Volume 7, Number 2, which is scheduled to be mailed to our subscribers
on December 22, 1980. T he size of tha t publication will resemble a
newspaper tabloid and will represent twice the amount of printed space of
the present UPDATE, beginning with that issue.
The resemblance to a newspaper will be more than just coincidental.
The expansion of UPDATE will allow the Play Meter staff to bring all of our
coin industry news together in one place- one monthly publication that
supplements PLAY METER. In addition to the news, cu rre nt new
product information will be found here, as well as the technical a nd music
programming columns .
Play Meter Publisher and Editor Ralph C . Lally II explained that "t his
move will advance our aim of printing news of the industry that is as up-to·
date as the press schedule will allow. Meanwhile, the feat ures of Play
Meter Magazine in its regular monthly format will continue to embrace
business advice , industry interviews, more technical data, and readable
articles- all the things that have made PLAY METER the leader in
publishing for the coin-operated amusement industry."
News of a " har.d ," factual , or timely nature will be presented in the new
UPDATE , under deadlines that will send the supplement to PLAY
METER on its way to its readers as quickly as possible , on a regular basis.
PLAY METER UPDATE is mailed only to subscribers of this
magazine .
:j:
Xcor cash results improve
OAK BROOK, 111. - Xcor Inter·
national , Inc. reported that for the
nine months ended September 30,
1980, its revenues were $118,367,000
and net income was $4 ,523 ,000, or
$1.5 7 per share . These results
compare with revenues of $106,472,·
000, and a net loss of $326,000, or 6
cents per share for the first nine
months of 1979.
For its third quarter, ended
September 30, 1980, revenues were
$29,685 ,000 and net income was
$606,000, or 22 cents per share.
These results compare with reven ·
ues of $31 ,936,000 and a net loss of
$4 ,858 ,000 , or $1.61 per share in the
same period of 1979.
Income in the third quarter of 1980
included a $2 ,250,000 net settlement
of the Choice Vend , Inc. business
interruption insurance claim . The
claim was based on the shutdown of
the Choice Vend facility in Windsor
Loc ks , Connecticut from October 3
throgh January 14, 1980 as a result of
tornado damage. In the third quarter
of 1979, Xcor had established a $4 .9
million provision (net of tax credit)
for losses against its investment in
The Seeburg Corporation.
In commenting on the results ,
Xcor Chairman Louis J. Nicastro
said, "The company showed opera!·
ing profits in all areas of its business
for the first nine months of the year,
with the exception of its Choice
Vend subsidiary which manufac -
tures bottle and can vending
machines. Choice Vend continued
to suffer from a general softening of
the vending machine market."
He explained further that "during
the first nine months of the year ,
Williams Electronics, Inc . continued
to strengthen its position as the
leading ma nufac turer of pinball
games, and King Musical lnstru·
me nts , Inc. showed strong earnings
ga ins ."
Seeburg slots named G.D.I.
John Nicastro , general manager of
Williams Electronics Slot Division
(Seeburg Slots) announced in late
Octobe r tha t fi nal arrangements
were being made for installation of
546 Seeburg slo t ma chines a t the
Jockey Club in Las Vegas.
Nicastro pointed out that the
Jockey Club will purchase 100
per c e nt of its s lots from his
company-" whic h will give us a
premiere showcase for our product
in the heart of the world's gambling
ca pital. "
The G.D.I. logo will soon be
repla c ing that of Seeburg on
Williams' slot machines, to mark the
introduction of "a new generation of
microprocessor-controlled slot
machines," said Nicastro.

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