Play Meter

F
c
K'S
KS
By
Frank "The Crank"
5eninsky
Video jukeboxes give
operaton advantage
You can always count on me and
my curiosity to seek out and research
new developments in the coin-op
industry. The first time I heard about
the new-technology video jukebox
was more than three years ago when
friends from England (most of whom I
met at AMOA shows) told me about
these strange contraptions that gave
the public the choice of seeing their
favorite MTV music-video clips. MTV,
the first music-video cable network, at
that time was less than a year old, still
in its infancy. But even with graphics
inferior to today's models, those early
video jukes were viable products.
Rowe, the world's largest manu-
facturer of jukeboxes, introduced one
of the first video jukeboxes into the
U.S . in spring 1984. The company's
"combination box" had 160 record
selections and 40 video selections. Phil
Sternberg and Mel Sonier of Eastern
Music Systems in Philadelphia, as
Rowe distributors, had five of these
new R-88 models, and they sold me
four.
I bought the units for something
like $7,000 each because a large
amusement park agreed to a three-
year contract that guaranteed me at
least $150 a week from each box (my
end) and a split of the monthly tape
costs. That first season, the video
jukes averaged just about $400 a week
each. It is important to note that half of
the earnings were generated from 45-
rpm record (audio) play. Things looked
bright, because video selections then
were not the greatest, and I figured
the programming could only get better.
When the park closed for the
122
The Rowe uideo jukebox Mode l R-90
currently is the best buy in uideo jukes
because it is also a regular jukebox. Rowe
was on target with this concept.
season in October, I relocated the
video jukes to large college game-
rooms, where they averaged around
$125 to $150 a week. Those are not
numbers to get excited about, but
there were some interesting observa-
tions to be made. First, more women
were attracted to the gameroom, and
the overall gameroom gross held
steady at a time when video-game
revenue was declining. Second, the
video juke was accepted as a good
addition to the campus. Still, I couldn't
see buying more unless the gross
revenues could be increased.
When a new 40-selection tape was
installed at the beginning of each
month, revenues first would. rise and
then gradually fall until a new tape
came in the next month. Forty selec-
tions can be covered in a few days.
Remember, the same people hangout
in college gamerooms, and although
people love to hear their favorite tunes
frequently, they tire of seeing music
videos over and over again. I decided
to experiment with the video jukes in
different kinds of markets.
I placed three of the video jukes in
military-base snack bars, where I
found a hungry audience. There was
no competition from MTV (there were
no television sets), and a transient
audience helped keep revenues at a
peak. On military bases, $250 to $300
a week is common.
At that time Jerry Gordon and
Joel Friedman, highly regarded Rowe
executives, asked if I would consider
leasing more video jukeboxes if terms
were favorable. I was interested-I
needed a few more video jukes to put
back into the amusement park for the
second season, and here was a chance
to reduce my operating costs. Here is
what they suggested.
1. I would place the video jukes in
college lounges and snack bars (not in
more college gamerooms) and hook
up additional extension monitors and
Pt.A y Mrn:R. April 1, 1986