Electrical Dealer Magazine January 1956

[old_tv_nut]

Electrical Dealer Magazine, January 1956.
38MB pdf file; includes article on selling color TV.

http://www.bretl.com/tvarticles/docu...Dealer0156.pdf

[JBL GUY]

Very interesting!

Thank you for the link.

[wa2ise]

Interesting about the dislike of "discount" stores. And did people actually pay "list" prices? And did sales people who actually knew something about the merchandise ever exist?

[radiomec]

Nice!

[rca2000]

I looked though it last nigh--will look more later. There are a LOT of VERY interesting articles and ads there...

One thig I DID notice...is how EXPENSIVE stuff was then.

a 6K A/C unit in 1956...259.00 That is about 2 THOUSAND by todays standards !!

A 20" fan for $49.. say 350 today...

A NON stainless steel refrigerator for $400 WITH a 200.00 trade in.. OVER 3 GRAND today..

HOW did people afford things then?? Did people make that much MORE money then--compared to TODAY ???

[maxhifi]

Originally Posted by rca2000

I looked though it last nigh--will look more later. There are a LOT of VERY interesting articles and ads there...

One thig I DID notice...is how EXPENSIVE stuff was then.

a 6K A/C unit in 1956...259.00 That is about 2 THOUSAND by todays standards !!

A 20" fan for $49.. say 350 today...

A NON stainless steel refrigerator for $400 WITH a 200.00 trade in.. OVER 3 GRAND today..

HOW did people afford things then?? Did people make that much MORE money then--compared to TODAY ???

People have a lot more stuff now, simply. That and a lot of things which were once luxury items are now in every home. Even as recently as the 80s I remember there basically being two pieces of electronics in the house.. the single colour TV, and the hi-fi system. That's it that's all. The phone was owned by the phone company and rented along with the phone bill. Since the early 90s the quantity of "stuff" has multiplied exponentially and I am not sure if quality of life has followed.

[Gregb]

I remember very rarely getting anything new, used was what we could afford. I don't ever remember getting a brand new bicycle, they were always used.

Gregb

[ohohyodafarted]

Thanks Wayne. That was GREAT!
I especially liked the article about how dealers were marketing Color TV. Of special interest was the mention of dealers in the Milwaukee, and Racine/Kenosha area. Did you take note in the photo of Keystone Radio in Racine he was demonstrating a 21" Capehart color set. What a treasure that would be if it was still around. And Northern TV and Appliance in Milwaukee was promoting color sets big time. WTMJ channel 4 was the 7th station in the country to receive it's local broadcast color equipment and so we had locally originated color shows very early on.

[rcaman]

i read the ad for the revco freezers. my grandmother had one it was in the storage shed running after 45+ years i gave it away still running. the guy that came after it had to put a chain around it to pull it outside with his truck it was so heavy. and it was empty. things were made to last back then.

[dtvmcdonald]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Interesting about the dislike of "discount" stores. And did people actually pay "list" prices? And did sales people who actually knew something about the merchandise ever exist?

At least by the 70s there were mom and pop stores who certainly knew
about what they sold. We have two of them left, one now selling
high end stereo and one selling TVs.

Now knowing and telling the truth is different. If they thought you were a
tech person and would call them on BS they would tell the truth.

Story, TRUE. The owner of the now audiophool (well, mostly audiophool,
he sells some good stuff) store once, back in about 1978 tried to sell
me a very very expensive Krell amplifier (not audiophool material,
just expensive because it would actually drive 1 ohm speakers).
And he spent 45 minutes doing this. While we were both stark naked
standing in the showers of our University's (he was in business then,
but also getting an MBE) fanciest PE building. (I was waiting for
one of my students, who was forlornly trying to teach me racketball,
to leave the sauna.)

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

People have a lot more stuff now, simply. That and a lot of things which were once luxury items are now in every home. Even as recently as the 80s I remember there basically being two pieces of electronics in the house.. the single colour TV, and the hi-fi system. That's it that's all. The phone was owned by the phone company and rented along with the phone bill.

...add in an Atari game console -

[maxhifi]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

...add in an Atari game console -

we didn't have one, or a VCR for that matter, until the late 80s, and TV viewing time was very limited, and the TV itself wasn't even in the living room. My parents were of the opinion that too much TV would "rot your brain". Saturday morning cartoons were the only "free for all" TV time.

I forgot that we did have a Canon electric typewriter, where you could type a line of text onto an LCD screen and then press "enter", where it would print the line. The typewriter would also function as a serial printer, for the future, when computers would become affordable (it never did see that sort of use).

[ChrisW6ATV]

Wayne, you find the coolest things to post. I really appreciate your efforts.