BRITISH RADIO SHOW

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26515, 1 September 1951, Page 2

BRITISH RADIO SHOW

FEATURE MADE OF TELEVISION

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, August 30. Britain’s national radio show, which has opened at Earls Court, indicates that in spite of the rearmament programme there has, as yet, been no appreciable interference with production for civilian, needs. The industry’s output has in fact reached an unprecedented level. The annual value of equipment being manufactured exceeds £85,000,000, including exports worth £21,000,000 Preliminary figures for the first seven months of this year show that exports are six times greater than in an entire year before the war. They are nearly 40 per cent, more than those for the corresponding period last year. For the first time in the history of the exhibition the number of television screens equals radio speakers. There was a great contrast in the television screens illustrated by one company; which showed two models—one a 275 guinea console with a 21in direct-view-ing screen, and the other carried under an arm by a workman, was a bedside television set a foot square, with a 2jin picture. The midget contained only £25 worth of components, but it is unlikely to be manufactured for commercial sale.

Two entirely different methods of television viewing were featured, first the direct, in which the viewer looks at the picture shown on the end of the cathode rav tube, and second, projection, in which the picture is thrown on a flat screen and viewed much as a cinema picture. Each system has been adopted"by many manufacturers, and several firms are producing, both systems and waiting to see which proves the most popular. The cheapest table radio sets on show cost between £lO and £l5 and most portables cost £lB. There were two radio consoles, one a table radiogram costing between £3O and £4O. Most radiogram consoles, like most television table sets, cost between £7O and £BO. The majority of television console sets were about £lOO each. There were several designs dearer than £4OO.