December 8, 2014 – Motor City Radio Flashbacks

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1966

RADIOS FM SALES BOOMING THANKS TO SIMULCAST FM STEREO PUSH

NEW YORK — Sales of FM stereo, already enjoying a healthy spurt, are expected to increase substantially, due in part to the Federal Communications Commission ruling affecting AM-FM simulcasting, according to William B. Keepin, manager of Norelco radio department at North American Philips Company, Inc., in New York.

1965 GE Table Radio AM-FM (click on image for larger view) — **1965 GE Table Radio AM-FM (Model C-596)** *(click on image 2x for largest detailed view).*

The FCC has decreed that AM-FM stations in cities of more than 100,000 in population cannot simulcast in more than 50 per cent of the time as of January 1, 1967. It is felt this will result in greater programming variety. Keepin predicts 1967 sales will jump to near the 12 million mark. An estimated 34 million FM receivers are now being used in this country and the Norelco executive expects this figure to double in a few years.

“There are now more than 1,500 FM stations, representing more than 27 per cent of all radio stations,” said Keepin. “This marks a 70 per cent increase over the number in operation five years ago.”

Static-free reception, ability to reproduce the full range of audible sound and the increase of stereophonic (multiplex) programming are other factors cited in the growth of FM radio, according to Keepin.

EIA Sales Figures

Keepin estimates and enthusiasm for FM’s future is substantiated to some degree by figures recently released by the Electronic Industry Association. Cumulative distributor figures to date for 1966 now shoe FM radios at 2,593,358 or 37.0 per cent over the comparable figure of 1,892,324 last year. FM sales of 428,876 in September were 28.1 per cent over last September’s figures.

Other increases in radio distributor September sales were registered in home radios, a category including table, portable and clock sets, where the increase was 21.5 per cent over last September’s figures. Auto radios rose to 35.5 per cent for September but for the year the cumulative figure showed a 7.8 decline.

Console phonographs show a 15.6 increase in cumulative figures for 1966, while portable models, up 10.1 in September, remained even with last year’s cumulative figures: 2,354,844 to 2,387,478. Total 1966 phonograph sales are up 3.9 per cent cumulatively, according to September’s numbers for the year. END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 17, 1966)