Music Trade Review

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16
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
RADIO MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION
REORGANIZED O N BROADER BASIS
COMPLETE reorganization of the
Radio Manufacturers' Association,
designed to unite all elements of the
industry in one strong central body and to
permit of the carrying out of an ambitious
and constructive program for the general
benefit of the trade, was effected at a meet-
ing held at the Hotel Cleveland, Cleveland,
O., on August 23. The meeting was attended
by some fifty executives and representatives
of the leading companies in the trade, many
of whom will take an active personal part
in promoting the affairs of the association.
Fred D. Williams of P. R. Mallory & Co.,
Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., was re-elected RMA
president by unanimous vote of the associa-
tion's new board of directors, and compre-
hensive programs were founded to promote
every unit and interest in radio.
The new board of directors elected and
placed in control of the RMA, comprising
twelve leading set manufacturers, three tube
manufacturers, two parts and accessory
manufacturers, and one director representing
sound equipment and amplifier manufacturers,
follows: A. Atwater Kent, president, At-
water Kent Manufacturing Co.; James M.
Skinner, president, Philco Radio & Television
Corp.; W. Roy McCanne, president, Strom-
berg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Co.;
J. R. McDonough, president, RCA Victor
Co., Inc.; William Sparks, president, the
Sparks-Withington Co.; Powel Crosley, Jr.,
president, the Crosley Radio Corp.; J. Clarke
Coit, president, U. S. Radio & Television
Corp.; Arthur T. Murray, president, United
American Bosch Corp.; A. S. Wells, presi-
dent, Gulbransen Co.; Franklin Hutchinson,
Jr., president, Kolster Radio, Inc.; Paul B.
Klugh, vice-president, Zenith Radio Corp.;
B. J. Grigsby, president, Grigsby-Grunow
Co.; Elmer T. Cunningham, president, RCA
Radiotron Co., Inc.; S. W. Muldowny, chair-
man of the board, National Union Radio
Corp.; George Lewis, vice-president, Arc-
turus Radio Tube Co.; Leslie F. Muter,
president, the Muter Co.; Richard A. O'Con-
nor, president, Magnavox Co., Ltd., and
Fred D. Williams, vice-president, P. R. Mal-
lory & Co., Inc.
Vigorous cooperative action was promised
by the new directors, nearly all of whom
were present, and the many members at the
Cleveland meetings and many initial projects
were actually begun following the adoption
of new by-laws completely reorganizing the
association for more effective action, especial-
ly of sales promotion and merchandising.
President Williams explained in detail the
comprehensive reorganization plan and how
it will bring direct action as well as com-
plete control by the industry's leaders.
Noticeable improvement during August in
radio sales was reported by several indus-
try leaders and confident predictions of a
business upturn next fall and winter were
made. In the grand ballroom of the Hotel
Cleveland there were present representatives
of nearly fifty companies and firms of the
RMA, considerably more than the requisite
quorum—one-third of the membership—a
testimony to the interest and support for the
new industry reorganization and plans.
Several new companies, notably the Zenith
A
Radio Corp. and the Grigsby-Grunow Co.
of Chicago, were elected to RMA member-
ship and also to representation on the board
of directors.
Creation of four distinct divisions in the
RMA to press special interests of manufac-
turers in each of the four groups is a feature
of the reorganization. These are the Set
Division, the Tube Division, the Parts, Cab-
inet and Accessory Division, and the Am-
plifier and Sound Equipment Division. Initial
organization meetings of each division were
held at Cleveland following the general
membership meeting.
Chairmen and representative executive
committees to function for each division were
chosen, and all of the divisions began dis-
cussion of plans and programs and important
industry problems.
Following are the chairmen of the four
new divisions:
Set Division—Chairman, Arthur T. Mur-
ray, president, United American Bosch Corp.,
Springfield, Mass.
Tube Division—Chairman, S. W. Mul-
downy, chairman of the board, National
Union Radio Corp., New York.
Parts, Cabinet and Accessory Division—
TEACHING THE PIANIST
TO KNOW THE PIANO
{Continued from page 15)
Then I turned around the action, and did
exactly the same thing on the other side.
Then I took a specially made iron which I
have, consisting of a lj^-inch chisel cut off
square, heated that with an alcohol lamp and
pressed each hammer first all on one side
and then all on the other, upwards and in-
wards towards the head or crown, leaving
this latter in each case so far untouched.
Then, with a fresh file, I carefully shaped up
the crowns as best I could (they were very
bad) and succeeded in this way in getting a
fair oval shape to each of the bass and
middle hammers, with sharper pointing, of
course, towards the upper treble.
I then needled all the hammers, not fan-
wise or wheel-spokewise, but as Charles
Frederick Stein once showed me, straight
downwards on either side of the crown, with
three No. 6 needles set into a Steinway fac-
tory needle holder. The working length of
each needle is about J^ inch. This done, I
replaced the action and proceeded to set
above each of the hammers, in turn, a depth
gauge, set at a height corresponding with
the distance between key bed and strings (al-
lowing for the different levels of bass and
treble strings). With this as a guide I raised
the hammers the proper distance above their
cushions. Then I checked the operation
of the escapements and tested and lined up
the back checks. Then I returned the ac-
tion and keys to the pianoforte, and tuned
the whole thing carefully. Then I evened
up the tone quality, using one long fine
needle and two short ones in separate hold-
ers ; and the job was done. Once more my
friend had a beautiful piano and I had had
a lot of fun.
REVIEW,
August-September,
1932
Chairman, Leslie F. Muter, president, the
Muter Co., Chicago.
Amplifier and Sound Equipment Division
—Chairman, Richard A. O'Connor, presi-
dent, Magnavox Company, Ltd., Fort Wayne,
Ind.
All four division chairman also were
elected vice-presidents of the RMA, and, with
President Williams, will compose the execu-
tive committee, finance committee and budget
committee of the association.
E. N. Rauland of the Rauland Corp. of
Chicago was re-elected treasurer, and the
association's personnel, including Bond
Geddes, executive secretary at Chicago;
Judge John W. Van Allen of Buffalo, gen-
eral counsel, and Frank D. Scott, Washing-
ton, legislative counsel, were continued. The
Chicago headquarters office of the association
at 307 North Michigan avenue will be con-
tinued, but the New York office of the asso-
tion will remain closed indefinitely.
Following adoption of the new association
by-laws, embracing the reorganization plan,
and meetings of the four new divisions, the
new board of directors held a meeting and
started vigorously at work on many industry
activities which will be pressed in the fu-
ture. President Williams and the executive
committee were authorized to draft a plan
of committee organization and programs for
consideration at another meeting of the board
of directors next month.
LEADING TO AN IDEA
Will readers now please tell me this: How
often when you have to tune a fine grand piano
do you find, among musician owners, badly
collapsed action adjustments and badly in-
dented hammers? It has been my experi-
ence that pianists learn everything about a
piano save how it works, and that even their
supposedly trained hearing and tone sense
can become accustomed to positively dread-
ful maladjustments. In the present case my
lady friend made her first test on her re-
adjusted piano with the soft pedal. Of
course, what had been happening was that
the deeply indented hammer heads would
not strike properly when the action was
shifted over by means of the shifting or soft
pedal. She told me that she had actually
been unwilling to use the shifting pedal just
because of its effect upon the touch.
I have forgotten to mention that during
the Summer I have been teaching a class of
musicians, holders of the Bachelor of Music
degree, who are working to complete the re-
quirements for Master of Music. My subject
was "The Acoustics of Music." I de-
voted one whole lecture on the construction
of the piano and another to the science and
practice of tuning in equal temperament. My
students were one and all intelligent women
(too bad that nearly all music is in the hands
of women only) and all of them professional
teachers. Yet not one had ever learned how
the action of a piano works, or what is the
relation between the movement of the key
and the movement of the hammer, to men-
tion only two points. Would it not be a
good idea for tuners who feel the urge to
expound and impart knowledge, to consider
forming classes among musicians and music
students in piano construction, the theory of
tuning and the acoustics of musical sound
generally?