Presto

P R E S T 0-T I M E S
January, 1931
R A D I O
W. G. KARMANN RETURNS
TO GULBRANSEN COMPANY
Prominent Representative Will Again Be Active with
the Gulbransen in the Southwest.
Announcement has been made by the piano division
of the Gulbransen Co., Chicago, that effective Janu-
ary 1, 1931, W. G. Karmann is again associated with
that concern and will cover his old territory in the
.Southwest in a wholesale capacity. Mr. Karmann has
had a very wide experience in the piano business,
including factory, office, retail, and wholesale activity.
Prior to his leaving the Gulbransen Co. to become
W. G. KARMANN
Representing Gulbransen Pianos
associated with a leading radio manufacturer he was
associated with the Gulbransen Co. for many years.
It will be a source of much gratification to his
friends in the piano trade to learn that Will Karmann
is again back in the piano industry, featuring the
piano with which he is so well acquainted and with
which he, in cooperation with his dealers, built up
such an outstanding sales volume.
The recent resumption of his old position as sales
manager of the Gulbransen Co. piano division by
Hugh A. Stewart, the appointment of W. A. Bannon
as advertising manager, the return of Clark F. Gross
to his old field of activity in Indiana, Ohio and Mich-
igan and the re-joining of his old associates by W. G.
Karmann reflects the increased activity in a business
way now being enjoyed by the piano division of the
Gulbransen Co.
FIGHTING CRIME WITH RADIO.
The Michigan State police at Ann Arbor are proud
of their new Sparton radio, the constant hum of which
is indicative of the closeness of contact it has estab-
lished between Washtenaw county and state police
headquarters at Lansing. Every state police scout car
is numbered and messages designed to test the scout
car apparatus are placed on the air every few hours.
The time also is broadcast every hour throughout the
day. The radio makes possible a cooperation between
county officials and state police which was never
before realized.
RADIO NOTES
John Monaghan was recently appointed by the
Common Pleas court at Toledo, O., to act as receiver
for the Stewart Warner Sales Co., dealers in radio,
that city.
The Tellison Music Store, 47 Fox street, Aurora,
111., is handling Radiola and Victor radios and giving
record programs from 11:15 until noon each day.
Cecil U. Price is manager of the Goodin Radio
Corporation, distributors in the Wichita, Kan., ter-
ritory of the Atwater Kent radios. Wichita dealers
who are handling Atwater Kents are Allen W. Hinkel
Co., Innes Music Co., J. W. Jenkins Music Co., Hel-
iums Furniture Co., and Adams-Bennett Music Co.
Mandel Bros., Chicago, announce: "Don't confuse
this Edison radio with an ordinary radio. It's one
of the world's finest electrical and musical achieve-
ments!"
Of the radio known as the Little General, the Gen-
eral Motors Radio Corporation's distributors at 35
East Wacker drive, Chicago, says: "Created from
authentic models of Gothic design, the cabinet of the
Little General is beautifully finished, for your choice,
in butt walnut, antiqued light green lacquer, and an-
tiqued buff ivory lacquer."
"Of the Bosch radio, Lee & Schiffer, Inc., 305 East
45th street, New York, say: "Unequalled beauty of
tone, tremendous power, sharp selectivity—these and
many other outstanding features make the new Bosch
one of the prominent radio values."
The Davega stores in New York are selling Ma-
jestic radios as low as $2 weekly. The ads read:
"Super-Heterodyne Screen Grid—Dynamic Speaker.
Your family will be delighted with one of these fine
Majestic radios."
The holy city of Mecca will soon be able to dom-
inate Arabia via radio. Over in Ireland, the Irish
Free State is erecting a new high-power broadcasting
station at Athlone, the government's aim being to
make radio available to all crystal set users in the
remotest areas of Ireland.
"Nothing is finer than a Stromberg-Carlson," says
the Aeolian Co., 689 Fifth avenue, New York.
Production and shipments of radio sets by the RCA-
Victor Corporation continued until December 23,
when the plant at Camden, N. J., ceased production
temporarily, as it has during the past several years,
in order to take inventory and make year-end adjust-
ments. Operations were resumed on January 5.
TRANSFORMER CORP.'S ANNUAL BANQUET.
Transformer Corporation of America recently held
its annual banquet for executives and department
heads at the Midwest Athletic Club, 6 North Hamlin
avenue, Chicago. At the speakers' table were R. D.
Siragusa, president; J. J. McCarthy, vice-president;
E. J. Doyle, chief engineer; E. J. Dykstra, general
sales manager, and J. M. Delaney, director of finance.
Clarion's new models, 61 and 70, were prominently
displayed and much importance was attached to the
necessity of stressing, in advertising and sales cam-
paigns, the superiority of Clarion's tone quality. Gifts
were presented to all those attending the banquet
and a spirit of loyalty and enthusiasm prevailed.
RADIO FOR AIRPLANES.
Francis M. Ryan, of the Bell Telephone laborato-
ries, New York, has invented new types of receiving
and transmitting instruments for use in airplanes. A
hand type microphone has been developed in which
the mouthpiece is held tightly over the lips of the
pilot. A phonette type of receiver also has been per-
fected. This weighs less than one ounce and is con-
structed with ear molds to fit the ears of individual
pilots.
FIRE IN CHICAGO RADIO PLANT.
A fire one day Christmas week swept through the
two-story building of the Midget Radio Corporation,
6318 Cottage Grove avenue, Chicago, causing damage
estimated at between $10,000 and $15,000. The blaze
originated from unknown causes in the first floor rear
of the structure.
MAJESTIC'S NEW PRODUCTION MANAGER
Albert Weiland, formerly vice-president in charge
of production of Radio-Victor Corporation, Camden,
N. J., has been appointed production manager of both
Grigsby-Grunow Co. and the Majestic Household
Utility Corporation, Chicago.
Shambeau Studios, Inc.; Oshkosh, Wis. Deal in
radios. $2,500 or 250 shares at $10 each. Wm. R. Sham-
beau, Jean Shambeau, both Oshkosh; W. F. Finney,
Clintonville, Wis. Wm. R. Shambeau, Shambeau
Studios, Oshkosh, Wis.
H. W. Wiedemann has been appointed manager of
the radio department of the Baldwin Piano Co., Cin-
cinnati. Mr. Wiedemann went to Cincinnati from Los
Angeles, where he had charge of the radio depart-
ment of a large music store.
BALDWIN RADIO MANAGER.
RADIO RECEIVING SETS
RADIO PARTS
RADIO—PHONOGRAPHS
RADI0=PH0N0GRAPH
COMBINATIONS GAINING
IN POPULARITY
Jack Hasson of the Housc-Hasson Hardware Co.,
Crosley-Amrad distributors at Knoxville, Tenn., in
speaking last week of combination instruments—the
kind Presto-Times has been describing of late—said:
"There is a growing demand for radio-phonograph
combinations, as people appreciate the advantages of
an instrument that possesses all the desirable features
of both. Excellent combinations are now to be had
at a price formerly paid for a radio receiver or a
phonograph alone."
Visualizing the forms of instruments of the Cape-
hart Corporation, the RCA-Victor, or the J. P. See-
burg or Waters combinations, Mr. Hasson continued:
"This new instrument offers far better reproduc-
tion than was thought possible a few years ago, due
to some radio features that are also used in connec-
tion with the phonograph. The radio receiver and
loudspeaker are used for the reproduction of the
phonograph music.
"The phonograph enables us, virtually, to have our
private orchestras and opera companies giving pro-
grams of our individual selection. With the com-
bination radio and phonograph the home becomes at
our pleasure a theater with an almost endless variety
of entertainment."
RADIO BOOSTS PIANO INDUSTRY
The daily papers of the country are aiding the cause
of the piano by publishing special articles on the sub-
ject, which is a movement in the right direction and
ought to offset the screaming headlines about crime
and more crime. The Philadelphia Inquirer says:
"One of the indispensables of a model home is the
piano. It is an index of culture. Fifty and more
years ago it was a sign of opulence. Then only the
very well-to-do could afford to have a piano.
"But now we are getting into a more civilized
atmosphere if one may speak of so intangible a thing
as 'atmosphere' as having any direct qualities. It is
not so much what a man has, but what he is that is
beginning to count.
"The piano in the home betokens a love of music.
In conjunction with the interior decoration of the
modern home it fits in with the general scheme of
things. Culture is the corner-stone of the model
home.
"The increase in the number of children studying
today is also largely due to the radio. It has stimu-
lated public interest in music and in so doing has
given the piano a decided boost. People who never
knew music have acquired a fine appreciation of it
which has in many cases led them to desire creative
playing ability—if not for themselves, for their chil-
dren. Through the radio the number of creative
artists are increasing every year. Moreover, the piano
is essential not only to radio, but to all forms of
mechanical music."
THE STORY & CLARK RADIO.
Lyon & Healy, Chicago, say: "This radio by Story
& Clark is an achievement made possible by modern
facilities and a background in engineering and knowl-
edge of tone. Listen today to its amazing voice, get
the effects you want with its tone control."
J. Bland Farnsworth is conducting a radio business
on State street, Bowling Green, Ky.
SCHAAF STRING CREDITORS' MEET-
ING.
A notice for the first meeting of the creditors of
the Schaaf Piano String Co., Chicago, has been sent
out by Harry A. Parkin, referee in bankruptcy. It is
to be held in room 620 at 137 South La Salle street,
Chicago, at 10 a. m., January 26, 1931.
DEATH OF CHARLES J. ROSS.
Charles J. Ross, aged 53, who died at Hollywood,
Calif., January 16, had been an executive of the
R. C. A. Photophone Corporation since 1921. For
ten years previously he was controller of the Radio
Corporation of America.
Preliminary dissolution of the Ackerman & Lowe
Music Co., New Castle, Ind., has been announced.
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