Music Trade Review

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Gov't Restrictions Limits
Use of Cobalt for TV
The Government invoked rigid con-
trol on December 29 over the distribu-
tion and use of cobalt, a strategical
metal vital to the production of jet en-
gines and many other defense items.
Manufacture of television and radio
receivers will be affected by the action
as well as that of other electrical appli-
ances, according to a spokesman for the
National Production Authority
Cobalt, a vital metal of many uses,
will go under almost complete Govern-
ment allocation Feb. 1. The order af-
fecting it is the most stringent of its kind
yet issued by the National Production
Authority. After Feb. 1 every purchase
of more than twenty-five pounds of
cobalt must have N.P.A. approval.
Essential uses of the metal include
the manufacture of radar, of heat-re-
sistant steel, such as that needed for gas-
turbines, jet engines and gun-barrel lin-
ings, of cutting tools and of hard facings
for dies.
Permanent magnets used in radio and
television speakers contain cobalt. The
industry plans to switch to other types
of speakers, but production is expected
to be affected at least temporarily.
The United States obtains 95 to 99
per cent of its cobalt supplies from
Africa, mainly the Belgian Congo. It is
also produced in Canada, but none of
the Canadian output 'has been made
available to this country.
Supplies are extremely short, mainly
because of requirements for jet engines.
Consumption by the radio and television
industry increased about 200 per cent
in a year.
As an interim measure, the N. P. A.
reduced civilian use of cobalt in Jan-
uary to one-third of the total used in
January of 1950.
When the order takes full effect Feb.
1, monthly allocation authorizations
will have to be obtained from the N.P.A.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JANUARY, 1951
for the sale or purchase of more than
twenty-five pounds of cobalt. Use for
specified pigment-making purposes will
be limited to fifty pounds in any t'hree
months. Inventories will be limited to
one month's minimum requirements or
"a minimum practicable working inven-
tory," whichever is less.
RCA Victor 1951 TV Line
Has 14,17 and 19-Inch Tubes
RCA Victor's 1951 Million Proof
line of television receivers will feature
14, 17 and 19-inch picture tubes and
will be introduced later this month, it was
announced recently by Allan B. Mills,
General Sales Manager of the RCA Vic-
tor Home Instrument Department.
Suggested list prices for the 1951 line
will range from $219.95 for a 14-inch
table model to $825 for a 19-inch con-
sole with AM-FM radio, 45-rpm phono-
graph, combination 33 1/3 and 78-rpm
phonograph and generous record storage
space, Mr. Mills said.
Current models being carried over
into 1951 will have the suggested list
prices which prevailed at the end of
1950, Mr. Mills disclosed.
RCA Record Executives
More to New York Offices
To effect closer coordination of RCA
Victor Record Department sales, mer-
chandising, and promotional activities
with Artists and Repertoire functions
now located in New York, top executives
of the department have moved their
headquarters from Camden, N. J., to
New York.
Involved in the move, which is effec-
tive immediately, are Lawrence W.
Kanaga, General Sales and Merchandise
Manager; David J. Finn, Advertising
and Sales Promotion Manager; Robert
M. Macrae, Merchandise Manager; Ed-
ward 0 . Welker, Sales Planning Man-
ager; and Edward Dodelin, Field Sales
Supervisor.
Crosby and Gable Pictures on
Zenith Phonevision Test
After 191/2 years of research and the
expenditure of millions of dollars,
Zenith Radio Corp. launched its gov-
ernment authorized, limited commercial
test of Phonevision on January 1.
First full length feature motion pic-
tures without advertising to be offered
by Phonevision to the 300 Chicago fam-
ilies who are participating in the test,
at a home admission fee of $1 for each
picture ordered and seen, were January
1—4:00 P.M.—April Showers starring
Jack Carson and Ann Sothern; 7:00
P.M.—Welcome Stranger starring Bing
Crosby, Joan Caulfield, and Barry Fitz-
gerald; 9:00 P.M.—Homecoming star-
ring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.
These three pictures are of a caliber
never before presented to the home
video screen—since their release they
have grossed more than twelve million
dollars at theater box offices.
Following this "premiere" of thePhone-
vision test, feature films supplied by
Hollywood and European producers
will be presented to the Phonevision test
audience three times daily, at 4:00, 7:00
and 9:00 P.M. The film shown at 4:00
P.M. one day will be shown at 7:00
P.M. the next, and at 9:00 P.M. on the
third day. Hence, each family will have
the opportunity on three different days
to see 'each film, and will at the same
time have a choice of three different
pictures on any particular day.
Radio-TV Production Record
At the peak of the Fall boom, the
Radio-Television industry was produc-
ing television receivers at an annual rate
of 10,000,000 sets, and radios at the
rate of 17,000,000 units, according to
R. C. Sprague, President of the Radio-
Television Manufacturers Association.
An all time record for the industry will
be set for 1950 when manufacturers'
billings of television and radios exceed
$1,500,000,000.
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