September 1962 Zenith roundie ad

[Sandy G]

I have heard the following story on Zenith TVs ever since I've been into old TVs. Anybody know if its true, or just a good story ?!? Supposedly, Cdr McDonald was not gonna get into TV, as he thought it was a passing fad. But, when NOBODY was gaining on sales of TVs, he took another look at things, & decided to jump in. But, he told his engineers he wanted a ZENITH tV. one that was built to Zenith levels of quality, & also used as few of the RCA patents as possible. THIS could be why an early Zenith TV is often VERY hard to kill, & why if given half a chance, they still give excellent service. Truth or BS ?!?

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Aimed at those with a level of disposable income to support a golf habit and other such things.

That could be one reason the second ad was created, for those who were more into quality than excess.

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I have heard the following story on Zenith TVs ever since I've been into old TVs. Anybody know if its true, or just a good story ?!? Supposedly, Cdr McDonald was not gonna get into TV, as he thought it was a passing fad. But, when NOBODY was gaining on sales of TVs, he took another look at things, & decided to jump in. But, he told his engineers he wanted a ZENITH tV. one that was built to Zenith levels of quality, & also used as few of the RCA patents as possible. THIS could be why an early Zenith TV is often VERY hard to kill, & why if given half a chance, they still give excellent service. Truth or BS ?!?

I don't know about the story but the last part is definitely true. Trouble is, very few appreciate them.

[reeferman]

[QUOTE=Jon A.;3185938]That could be one reason the second ad was created, for those who were more into quality than excess.

Why the second ad?
Black and white ads are not conducive to the sale of color televisions!

Phil

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by reeferman

Why the second ad?
Black and white ads are not conducive to the sale of color televisions!

Phil

I don't think we're on the same page. I was referring to the ad you posted.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I have heard the following story on Zenith TVs ever since I've been into old TVs. Anybody know if its true, or just a good story ?!? Supposedly, Cdr McDonald was not gonna get into TV, as he thought it was a passing fad. But, when NOBODY was gaining on sales of TVs, he took another look at things, & decided to jump in. But, he told his engineers he wanted a ZENITH tV. one that was built to Zenith levels of quality, & also used as few of the RCA patents as possible. THIS could be why an early Zenith TV is often VERY hard to kill, & why if given half a chance, they still give excellent service. Truth or BS ?!?

Mostly true. Zenith did not have flyback sweep design down in the B&W porthole era, and some of those chassis were as fly hungry as RCA color sets were. By the time rectangular hit the scene Zenith had got it's act together, and was making that stage as good or better than the rest of the industry....Once they had that sorted they were about as good as they could be (once paper caps got phased out in the early 60's they hit a stable peak).