DEAR
ZENITH PEOPLE:
--and join in
the conversation about that great company Zenith, which is, sadly, no more, yet
warm in the memories of so many. Please note that there is not much “on” the
Zenith Facebook as yet, but there will be much more as we all learn how to
interact on Facebook. Note: About 300 million do use Facebook,
worldwide. So can we!
This little guy—the Zenith Town Crier, will announce all new developments on the Zenith Facebook and in this blog—
This little guy—the Zenith Town Crier, will announce all new developments on the Zenith Facebook and in this blog—
Access the Zenith Book blog at http://www.zenithbook.blogspot.com/ (You know this,of course, otherwise you wouldn't be reading it here now!)
The first two posts of this blog was written to whet your interest. Two stories were offered: The Story of Zenith and The Birth of Zenith. Now is the time for a another story—
The first two posts of this blog was written to whet your interest. Two stories were offered: The Story of Zenith and The Birth of Zenith. Now is the time for a another story—
Two women were conversing while wading in
the warm-water pool of the Gottlieb Hospital Health Center, located on the west
side of Chicago.
One woman asked: “Do you remember the Zenith
‘porthole’ television set—the one with the round picture window?”.
“Yes,” the other answered. “It was the
television set of ‘Mr. Zenith’–Commander McDonald.”
The two were recalling Commander Eugene F.
McDonald, Jr. one of the founders and long-time President of Zenith Radio
Corporation, and widely-known as "Mr. Zenith." And they were speaking about a Zenith television set that had appeared on the market 30 years before that talk in the warm water swimming pool!
Such
was the legend of Commander McDonald and Zenith in Chicago!
About that porthole television set--It all
came about because Commander McDonald took a personal and intense interest in
every aspect of Zenith manufacturing. Before it left the factory, every Zenith
product had to meet the credo The Quality
Goes in Before the Name Goes On! So McDonald examined every
television set before it went into production. One day, he was shown the
latest model, one however without the escutcheon—that rectangular metal plate
that encloses the picture tube and defines the televised image. The escutcheon
wasn’t ready, but McDonald insisted on seeing the set anyway. So he was shown a
cabinet from which projected a round picture tube—but no picture-outlining escutcheon.
The foregoing question was answered by Walter Fisher, President of Zenith Sales
company.
That particular issue of ServiceWorld magazine goes on
to tell how the distributors help satisfy Zenith customers. There were 85
distributors located throughout the United States and Canada that employed
thousands of American workers. What happened to them when Zenith went out of
business? Did they go bankrupt as well? Or did they try to diversify into other
forms of service?
The distributors were a vital component of
Zenith’s reputation for quality and service.
They were also a financial load in that they comprised 15% of the cost of
a Zenith set. When the big box, cut-rate stores appeared on the marketing
scene, there was little or no maintenance and service figured into their product costs. So the
stores could undersell Zenith by at least 15%.
Potential customers would “showcase” Zenith sets at a distributor, decide what
features they wanted, get the model number, and buy the set at the cut rate of
the big box store. But if that set
failed, he would come to a Zenith distributor for the repair of the set. But the
distributors said “Not! If you bought it
at big box store x, let them repair it.” A large controversy inevitably ensued.
When Zenith and the rest of the consumer
electronics industry disappeared from the American scene, so did the repair
protocol, and the throwaway society was born.
Manufacture it as cheaply as possible,
and if it stops working, throw it away –because there is no one to repair
it. As a result, a new industry was born--the reprocessing of computer waste, especially of the plastic components. Most of the discarded computer components are sent overseas, mostly to China, where labor is cheap. (For more information, see the March 2014 issued off Popular Science magazine. It is a fascinating story!)
Which leads us (kind of!) to the question: What destroyed
Zenith and all the companies such as those distributors, and so many others who
depended on Zenith? And what happened to all those other consumer electronics
companies: Wells-Gardner, Motorola, Stewart-Warner, et al, and all the other electronics
companies and the tiny independent servicers that in total employed 800,000
American workers? The Zenith Book, as presently temporarily embodied in this
blog, will attempt to answer that question. The battle for survival of the
American Consumer Electronics Industry is describe in a book written by Zenith
attorney Philip J. Curtis, and titled: "The Fall of the U.S. Consumer elecronics Industry; An American Trade Tragedy." The book is being remaindered by Amazon at a cost of$113.95.
What
the Curtis book covers is summarized in this review printed in the book-selling
division of Amazon--
The story of a cartel that destroyed an American industry
By
Philip J. Curtis
Format:
Hardcover
If
you have ever wondered why you can't buy an American-made radio or television
set, the answer is in this book. And if you have ever wondered why the
all-American company--Zenith Radio Corporation (later renamed Zenith
Electronics Corporation) was driven to failure---Philip Curtis answers these
questions. Curtis writes a brilliant and disturbing story and backs it up with
citations, references, and compilations of evidence. Curtis was the "point
man" for Zenith in two epic battles. Zenith won the first battle, but lost
the second. The first battle was against a world-wide patent cartel, and the
second, against an overseas dumping cartel that destroyed Zenith and the entire
American consumer electronics industry. It is an epic story--an up-to-date
David and Goliath story--with Zenith as little David against a Goliath
comprising not only cartels of American, European and Far Eastern companies,
but also the United States government.
--Ralph E. Clarke
--Ralph E. Clarke
And those two epic battles for survival of
Zenith, and eventually, the survival of entire consumer electronics industry, is
told in the words of Phillip Curtis in forthcoming Posts of this blog. It is an
exciting and distressing story.
* * * * *
NOW--BOOKS ABOUT ZENITH! Those who love the old
Zenith will delight in adding such books to their libraries. Four such books
are described below. They are primarily the work of two college professors,
Harold N. Cones and John H. Bryant, who earned the name “The Radio Professors”
because of their dedication to writing the history of Zenith and its products.
Zenith Trans-Oceanic: The Royalty of Radios.
(2008) $22.95.
Zenith Radio: The Glory Years, 1936-1945.
(2003) Illustrated Catalog and Database. (With Martin Blankenship.) $23.46
Zenith Radio: The Glory Years, 1936-1945: History
and Products. (With Martin Blankenship.) $27.05.
dangerous crossings (sic) 1925. $2.85 (Actual price quoted!)
The book “dangerous crossings” describes the exploration of an area of the far north by Donald MacMillan, Richard Byrd,
and Eugene McDonald. McDonald played an extraordinary and heroic part in the
expedition. It is there that he introduced the Zenith short-wave radio system
that revolutionized world-wide communication. The radio system was perhaps the
first of the many “firsts” that Zenith was notable for.
The books are available
from Amazon.com. Prices are effective as of March 12, 2014. Bookseller Barnes and Noble and your local bookseller may also have
them, or can get them for you.
Above is a recent photo of
Professor Marianne McDonald, the daughter of Commander McDonald. She is a woman of many accomplishments, and a
daughter the Commander would be proud of. Click on Wikipedia to see what she
has accomplished. I have
been trying to reach her to tell her about this blog and the Facebook pages,
but have not been able to do so.Perhaps
you know how to contact her.
* * * * *
This is the third Post. Your
opinion is requested: what do you think of
this blog? Please respond in the “Comments" section at the close of this
blog.
I have been trying to expand
the readership. I had hoped to get a list of those who attended the Zenith breakfast
get-togethers, but the list seems to be missing. There were over 400 in
attendance at the final meeting. So, again, please
tell all former employees that you know about this blog and ask them to read it.
As noted, you can respond
directly to this Post 3 by using the Comments box below. Some readers have found the box
difficult to use. If you have found it so, go to the Zenith Facebook page to express yourself, greet
your old friends, and reminisce about your Zenith experience. It is your Facebook page! Here is that Facebook
address again—
WATCH FOR POST 4, coming soon!
We’ll begin the story of how and why the American Consumer Industry was
destroyed, and how Zenith, and Zenith attorney Philip J. Curtis, were the valiant
fighters in what turned out to be a lost cause.
--Ralph Clarke (Note: There is just me writing this blog about Zenith. There may be grammatical and spelling errors, and some unhappy page layouts, but I have no proof-reader or QC manager, so please accept my apolgies for that. I shall try to do better.)
