Motorola Inc. This is where your TV was made! Franklin Park, IL

[colorfixer]

Did anyone from the Matsushita side even send a card or condolences?

Originally Posted by Kathy

Wow. What a great blog. Too bad I missed it? Even Western Electric in Chicago has better documented history than the Motorola - Quasar - Panasonic phenomenon. In the 1960s CEO Mr. Galvin and Motorola were the subject of a court hearing that created the EEOC due to unfair hiring practices, etc. It made national news. Reads like a soap opera. In the 1970s Matsushita purchased the company from Motorola (then located at Franklin Park). Mass exodus of the middle management. Japan was not welcome in this country.. yet. My parents met at the Augusta Blvd location in the 1950s. They met in the company choir! Can you believe the company's HR department organized a huge employee choir? What company does that today? Dad became the Director of Engineering in the 1970s. He died at work in 1983 from a heart attack. Sorry to say the pictures remind me of his last moments. He gave his ALL to "work". (Damn work ethic) If only he could have lasted as long as those TV sets. I still have my TV set from 1983, it was my graduation present and it still works!!!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Kathy

Wow. What a great blog. Too bad I missed it? Even Western Electric in Chicago has better documented history than the Motorola - Quasar - Panasonic phenomenon. In the 1960s CEO Mr. Galvin and Motorola were the subject of a court hearing that created the EEOC due to unfair hiring practices, etc. It made national news. Reads like a soap opera. In the 1970s Matsushita purchased the company from Motorola (then located at Franklin Park). Mass exodus of the middle management. Japan was not welcome in this country.. yet. My parents met at the Augusta Blvd location in the 1950s. They met in the company choir! Can you believe the company's HR department organized a huge employee choir? What company does that today? Dad became the Director of Engineering in the 1970s. He died at work in 1983 from a heart attack. Sorry to say the pictures remind me of his last moments. He gave his ALL to "work". (Damn work ethic) If only he could have lasted as long as those TV sets. I still have my TV set from 1983, it was my graduation present and it still works!!!

I talked to two people that worked there!
Their recruiters used to haunt graduation day at MSOE, handing out invites to tour the plant and possibly apply for a position.
For factory positions, they generally hired relatives of other employees.
Both of these people said that practically everyone working there is related to another employee.

[AlanInSitges]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

What a great story! Thanks for sharing.
Exactly what year was that? (Trying to figure out if I was out of college and working there.)

I wanna say 79 or 80.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by AlanInSitges

I wanna say 79 or 80.

I was gone then - moved to Zenith in 75. They Quasar, owned by Matshushita, not Motorola any longer, when you visited.