Play Meter
Issue: 1980 December 31 - Vol 6 Num 24 - Page 1
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.
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.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).