Brief Public on Audio Firms Push for Major Sideline
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The SIXTV-FOURTU 'YEAR PRICE: 35 CENTS SEPTEMBER 22, 1958 (MI THE AMUSEMENT INDUSTRY'S LEADING NEWSWEEKLY ABC Brief Publicon CANADA FIRST WITH REGULAR Audio Firms Push Its Stereo ABC's PAY TELEVISIONStereo Disk Sales MONTR \ I -- 'a nada Diskeries, Dealers, Equipment Firms, willbe thefirstnationto have regular subscription tele- Mags Climb Mass Education Bandwagon vision, due for an April start, For Major Sideline now that the Federal Commu- By BOB ROLONTZ Magazine (August,1958)rana nications Commission has de- NEW YORK - The mass edu-lengthy six -page story ,on stereo layed' U.S.pay TV fora Foresee Two -Channel Bonanza; cation for the latest advance in re-recordings.Altho it was elemen- minimum of 10 months. Con- cording-stereo-rhos gotten under-tary as far as many tradesters were certs, ballet, musicomedy and Shy Off Monaural Inventory 'way. In newspapers and maga-001 carried, from another point of pop music touring packages zines, in advertisements and stor-view it tboroly covered the entire will he featured by Electronic By RALPH FREAS and City boroughs, two in nearby New ies, the explanations of what stereostereo story, explaining fullyjust Theaters, Ltd., the Canadian CHARLES SINCLAIR Jersey and one in Boston. is, how it wor11, the type of equip-how it came about, what itdid, firm which iscurrently test- NEW YORK -- With its closer - "A year ago, we sold a few rec- ment you need to playit,etc.,how it came to market, and what ing pay TV in Quebec. this t- ords every day. You know, audio- it could mean to the record busi- ever link between audio iis being featured with more and equipment sales. and record sales,phile things, like Cook or Audio more regularity. The explanationsness.More important,itpictori- This system gives subscrib- stereo is proving a two -channel bo-Fidelity,"reports Jimmy Carroll, are offered by manufacturers ofallyillustratedstereorecording ers punch cards which un- the audio manager of New York's scramble the signal received nanza for many of the country's records, equipment, engineers, andtechniques, stereo playback equip- top audio dealers. andisrapidlyHarvey Radio. Corporation, well- the regular record reviewer or fea-ment And the method of cutting viaclosedcircuitforeach making them an important factorknown mid -town audio specialty ture writer. and playing back the 45-45 stereo specialevent.Telemeter.a in disk retailing. shop."Lately, we've been selling Thatstereorecordingwouldgroove with one.07milstereo licensee from Paramount Pic- . By even conservative estimate,a hundred records a day and we're i: need some explanatory aids wasneedle. Even a novice, as far as tures, also has a system an- selling many different labels like records and sound equipment is nounced for an Ontario test, audio shops - those whichsell understood by all tradesters when equipment as their primary busi-Columbia and RCA Victor.It's stereo was merely a gleam in theconcerned, could read the Fortune wherein dropping coins ina story wnd come out with a pretty ness, and records as an increasinglythe stereo boom. We don'tsell eyeof a few engineers. For stereo collection box unscrambles the anything but stereo records.No reproduction needs two amplifiers,good education concerning stereo set. lucrative sideline - will do about records. The Wall Street Journal $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 in totalmonaural at all." two speakers and a special needle, album sales this year, and. toapublic generally (withhas also- had an important front No delaying action will be in No Yardstick Yet kthe exception of the true hi-fi bug)page story on stereo. forthcoming onthe_ partof stereo disks. "We just don't know how big accustomed to the use of monaural Inadditiontothe magazine Canadian government, accord- Here's what disk - selling audiostereo will go, or what our prob- pieces,key dealersstartedtheir cording to Canadian Broad- firms have to say of the boom: lems will be," says Sol Bast. equipment this required a new ed- caster "We're letting the customer push v. -p. ucational approach. At that timeown educational techniques to ex- Magazine. Pay TV in charge of the three -year -oldrec- record companies and equipmentplain stereo reproduction. Inmany solons are blaming the recent us, rather than us push him on ste-ord retailing activities of Hudson manufacturers started to concernstores in large cities like New York, failure in Bartlesville, Okla., reo disk ,sales.Bid' we're sellingRadio, Another major New York onthestrictlymovie more stereo disks to audiophiles in themselves with methods ofex-Chicago, etc., large dealers have set diet, audio parts firm that successfully . planting stereo first to the dealerup stereo equipment so that pro- now maintaining that music a week than the average recordinvaded record retailing. "As far as storesellsin and distributor and then tothespective customers can come in and and livetheatrical -type per- a month,"reportsinventoriesareconcerned,we're record customer. learnwhat stereoisallabout. formances are the key to the Lewis Kornfeld of Boston's hugeplaying it by ear. Our inventories Some have dressed up their win- financial success of the sys- Radio Shack, which just openedare down, and we're watching ev- Mags Have Helped dows with displays of stereo equip- tem's early months. the doors on an. 80,000 - square -erydevelopment verycarefully. But the most difficult phase ofment to induce customers to enter footestablishment on Common-But, I'll tell you this:we're buying stereo to explain to the mass mar- Big outdoor events,espe- wealth Avenue, in addition toits the store for their stereo education. cially if they're geographically every stereo release made. Frankly, ket is not the new equipmentre-Others have signs plasteredover other retail operations. we don't see how, it can go wrong. quired.Rather, it is the explana-thestorewindows distant, are thought to be sec- tion of the two -channel reproduc- exclaiming: ond best category, followed Full Stereo Stock Chicago's Allied Radio Corpora- "Convert, to Stereo Now! Come in tion, one of the biggest mail order tion-what it is, how it works, howfor Free Demonstration." by sports and then by first -run "We stock every stereo album it is recorded, etc.In this, record films.Telecasts are planned that's on the market, and they'reand retail outlets, considers therec- Equipment Ads moving at the rate of nearly 2,000ord business as "a small but companies and record manufactur- The equipment manufacturers in by Electronic Theaters and neces- ers have been helped out by the TelemeterfromCalifornia, albums per week in customer sales.sary adjunct to a bigger business their ads in magazineslikethe Incidentally, that's almost a one-to-of selling high-fidelity equipment." many artioles on stereo that haveNew Yorker, or Esquire,or trade Broadway and Mexico City. been appearing hamany mass cir- There's even talk that pay TV one ratio between stereo and mon-But, as an Allied top exec points journals, have bad capsule explana- out to The Billboard, "our disk in- culation magazines. High Fidelitytions of stereo. These explain the willbeatfreeTVtrans - aural," says Gerald Orbadi of New Atlantic. York's Lafayette Radio, which hasventories are up 50 per centover and other special magazines for the (Continued on page 3) hi-fifanhave,ofcourse,been three retail outlets in New Yorklast year. This is the result of ste- carrying stories on stereo fora long reo. Most of our inventory is stereo. time, but magazines that usually Our customers are hip. They'll he didu't touoh record news have also thefirsttogetstereo playback been carrying such stories. equipment." Just two months ago Fortune One of the key success secrets of the audio retailers' invasion of NEWS OF THE WEEK (Continued on page12) Monaural LP Orders Drop 'Sam Goody, Artist Personal Managers Serve NEW YORK - The New CAC Plan Offers Jocks mass edu- Varied New Functions in '58 Role... Promot'n Cut on Live Shows ... cation for stereo, according toa We Are Here' story last week (Sept. 15) in the Personal management functions have changed General Artists Corporation is setting up' a plan Wall Street Journal,may be suc- with the years. Diversification is the keynote whereby deejays across the country will be NEW YORK- Thestereo ceeding too well. The ads,stories, cut in on thepromotion of live shows in a big boomisspellingoutan even articles,and of today's manager who finds himselfnot only dealer - consumer a keen talent scout, but one who is way via a membership book deal offering cut- greater expansion, particularlyin pieces on stereo disks, says the busi- just at rateadmissionstoaseriesof GAC-Feld the disk field, for audio firmsthat ess paper, has gotten so many LP home in a recording studioas he isina package shows. Page 3 startedoutoriginallyas"parts buyersinterestedin stereothat costume and wardrobe house Page 2 stores" catering to do-it-yourselfers. nanufacturers are of the opinion DEPARTMENTS AND FEATURES and the soldering -iron set. hat many customers are refusing NBOA Meet to Consider By the time most of the big o purchase conventional monaural Amusement Games 70 Music Pop Charts- National Publicity Drive audio shops got into the record P s. .. AudArena 46 Album Buying Guide. 18 According to the WSJ, ship- 22' act, the monaural catalogs were too Carnival 53 Honor Roll of Hits ieuts of monaural LP's so far this A national public relationsprogram to spark Best Seller Lists -21 big to stock in any kind of depth. Circus 52 Tips on Coming Tops ear are running 12 per cent be- more interest in dancing will be proposed to 3.1 Stereoissomethingelseagain. rind 1957. A number ofretail Classified Ads 60 Outdoor 41 Now, audio shops can match the 11th annual convention of theNational Coin Machine 62 Parks t Pools 49 per - hops checked by the WSJ in New Pipes 58 chase -for - purchasewith Ballroom Operators Association, Fairs & Expositions 50 almost rk and other Eastern cities told opening in Radio 2 anybody.