What Killed Consumer Electronics in America? What Happened to Magnavox? General Electric Raytheon
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2022
- The once-proud Magnavox brand was born in northern California in 1917. The founders had literally invented the loudspeaker. The SPEAKER, no kidding. They went on to be prominent players in the two most popular electronic products of the 20th century, radios and televisions. So how did they come to this?
Magnavox made radios, televisions, phonographs, and stereos. Their products--and their brand--were highly regarded and widely respected, as is generally the consequence of a company founded by inventors and engineers who desired first to make good things, and, secondarily, to make money doing it. With brand new transistor technology emerging in the mid-1950s, Magnavox issued its first transistor radio, the AM-2, in 1956. But then... shortly after that...Magnavox management made the decisions that would eventually lead to the company's demise. All manner of spin was put on those decisions, then... and now, obscuring the real reasons for the company's failure and serving instead the agenda of whoever was telling the story. But their products do not lie. And their transistor radio line tells the story more honestly than anything else. Have a look at these. These are a couple of Magnavox transistor radios from the early 1960s, made just five years after their first transistor radio. What happened? If you're not a collector of these things, you might not see any big deal here. These radios don't look so bad... and they're smaller than that first one--and would fit in a pocket. That's progress! But beneath the surface of this apparent progress there was a transformation at Magnavox in these years that proved ultimately fatal... The once-proud firm was probably quite proud still of these early-'60s models. And that would be the problem. Proud--that in these few years they had shipped the American jobs that built their radios overseas to the far east so they could undercut their American competitors. Proud--that they could outsource the research and development budget too, by just letting the foreign suppliers absorb the costs and risks. Proud--that they had taken the low road and stripped away any interesting design from these products... that might have cost a penny or two per unit... Pride, always a short-term enterprise, collapsed for Magnavox when in the 1960s Hong Kong got into the radio market in the United States with even less expensive radios and Magnavox learned the hard way that cost cutting was not a strategy for success.
Meanwhile, business was good for The Nippon Electric Company, who made these radios for Magnavox. NEC, unlike Magnavox, was focused on the future. They'd take Magnavox's money, while it lasted, and build them a good product. It wasn't NEC's problem that Magnavox was more focused on next quarters' earnings than on providing customer value. It wasn't THAT hard to make a stylish product, but you don't make one pinching pennies. While Magnavox laid off workers and saved money here and there, NEC took a different path. And where... did those paths lead? Today, NEC's annual revenue--as of 2021, was 27 billion dollars, with 114,714 employees worldwide. And where is Magnavox? Where are their factories and employees? Nowhere. Within a dozen or so years of the appearance of these radios, Magnavox as we knew it was gone. Since 1974 Magnavox exists as nothing more than a brand name owned by the Dutch company Philips. Philips has so little use for it that they license out the Magnavox name to Funai Electric of Japan and they stick it on the front of TVs and accessories that you can find today at places like Walmart and Walgreen's. No, the classic American brand Magnavox doesn't belong to any actual American Magnavox company. Yeah, boys, you can take the flag down now.
What happened to Magnavox? Well, I've got 49 Magnavox transistor radios in my collection--and these are the best looking ones. Not great. That... was part of the problem at Magnavox. But other forces were at work too in American business at the time. Forces that, in the end, resulted in virtually ZERO American-made consumer electronics brands surviving past the early 1970s. - Zábava
Excellent video. I am British and can only endorse every part of your report, now retired I was employed in the consumer electronics industry and after leaving school thought I had a job for life, through take overs, mergers, outsourcing and selling out I went from piller to post and into the service industry, sadly now even the service side has disappeared as we have become a throw away society driven by built in obsolescence, fashion and the Moore effect of rapidly changing technology.
yes quite agree. Not sure about the British consumers but the majority of the Yank consumers can no longer really distinguish poor quality from good quality or are not willing to pay for a better-quality product. Its all about price, price, price which has led to a throw away society, planned product obsolescence from some manufacturers and the closing of tons of repair shops. And a similar event has now occurred in Japan with the major electronics companies (Sony, Panasonic, etc.) are outsourcing all their manufacturing on most of their lines to China, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysa. Only some of the high end products are still made in Japan.
100% correct. I collect vintage AMERICAN manufactured radios, phonographs, and combinations. I especially love the Magnavox products from the late 1930s, to the mid 60s. Fine quality and styling, as well as performance. Now, it's a throw-away culture and an endless race to bate the consumer with the "latest" as well as built-in obsolescence!
Name me an all USA built, high end audio system. Best of Best! A USA built 8-track deck? Cassette same? Reel to Reel? High end turntable and tonearm? AMERICAN can do some things, but some items in some categories, cost far more money, or no automatics which compete with Germany!!!
Very powerful thoughts! I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about what was, what got traded for, what got lost. All I’ve ever seen in my 58 years of living were closing factories, job losses, hateful meaningless stab you in the back corporate greed. America has been a sinking ship my whole life and there’s nobody to come to the rescue! Each president gets worse, more corrupted and just evil for war.
A lot of American companies are very short sighted and look into future only as far as the next quarter. Make the quick buck and don’t plan for the long haul. On the other hand a lot of Japanese companies plan for the future and have a cultural of pride in what you make and do. I have seen this first hand played out over and over in my life.
67 year old Rust Belt native here. This excellent video chronicles the liquidation of the industrial economy I grew up in.
Great video. I'm a 63 year old Australian. The last things I can remember were Magnavox speakers in my mothers radio gram. I pulled them out and built 2 passive crossovers 3 way in cabinets I had made. They sound incredible. What a tragedy.
I thought this was going to be another one of those company history videos but then it got real deep. Real big eye opener and great video.
Very well done.
Granted, we do have to spend a great deal on Military, but your point is valid.
Radios: C.Crane has been wanting to produce their radios here in the U.S. for a long time now.
They are an American based company, and radio design/ circuit design and development is done in-house.
But they do outsource to others for actual production.
Usually , Sangean, or RedSun, or another [ can’t remember the name]. They do at least, have very tight quality control, so they sell some of the best made radios on the market today.
And someone said something about one of the Ham Radio makers still make radios here in the U.S..
Great video.
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I loooooove this video!!! As a fan of vintage consumer electronics and a former Christian conservative turned way left by the blatant hypocrisy this video is perfect for my Sunday morning. Thank you! My grandpa would have loved it too
Proud leftist eh? You must have bumped your head.
Great video that beautifully develops a huge, important theme with the tiny transistor radio as its focal point. Nicely done! President Eisenhower warned of the "military industrial complex" six decades ago. Seems not many were listening...
I like the tone of your voice, and how well researched these videos are. Thank you for such a quality video!!
Thank you! I appreciate you saying that.
Wow, So true, and so well said, and an argument I have not heard before. Now I have something new to think about, thank you.
I love your editorial at the end.
Great work sir thank you for your enlightening video.😊
I spent my life in the electronics business always know when to make a move to save my employment until i didn’t and found myself on the junk pile at 56. I made a major change in my skills and went into teaching 50 year old technology to college students. Basic electronics never really changes.
Your awesome historical insight brings a whole other dimension to the transistor radio collecting hobby!…many post-war television and radio company ads tout their contribution to WWII victory as a way to endear themselves to the consumer…less than a decade later the boardrooms have outsourced everything to Japan…really?…must have made for interesting water cooler conversation back in the day…keep up the great work!
Thanks! Yes, lots of such ads were run. And many of those companies managed to wean themselves from the government military teat in subsequent years. But many didn't, of course, including those discussed in the video. And yes, that is a fine observation about those water coolers. We think from our perspective that this outsourcing "just happened." Oh no. That's what they want us to think--that outsourcing was, and is, a natural, purely organic response to competition. I'm sure many brave souls complained. And were told to shut up.
I couldn't say anything better than you have,thank you oh and what a great radio collection you seem to have
Thank you!
Excellent video, gets to the point on the corruption of America's business, and the ending with all of the shuttered business hit the point completely.
Well said. A lot of what you said has hit home for me since I do actually try to find things that are made as locally as possible. I know a man who had his car reupholstered and was disappointed at all the different places various parts of the car came from. Canada, Japan, RSA and other places. He thought he bought an American car.
Insightful and spot on...
Eisenhower tried to warn us of the military industrial complex even though he was partially responsible for it! I'm glad you had the balls to call out the elephant in the room!
Good analysis. Thank you.
I collect and restore vintage stereo receivers made mainly from the early to mid seventies and all of them were built in either Japan, Taiwan, or S Korea. Two days ago I finally picked one up which was made in the USA, a Magnavox 750. When I pulled the cover off to blow the dust out, I was impressed with the build quality. The lower cover is stamped out of heavy gauge steel as is the main frame. The top cover is of heavy material to and held on by twelve heavy sheet metal screws, unlike any of the others. Once it's on the bench, I'll be able to see the quality of the electronic components in it.
I still use the America made Dynaco amp and preamp I built from a kit in 1969. In my experience in those days, hifi buffs considered the major consumer brands little more than furniture. Whether that was fair or not, I can't say. But the thinking was, those products "colored" the sound and what "we" hifi buffs were looking for was accurate reproduction above all else and it was thought that that could only be achieved with "component" systems.
You’re brave sir. I completely agree with your point of view. Hope someone in the Board is Directors at Raytheon saw this video
Enjoyed my Grandma's 1969 Magnavox Stereo very much.
My father and my uncle swore by Magnavox TVs and stereos back in the day. Zenith is the brand I miss!
Well said
I worked for a Canadian resistor company supplying the North American TV manufacturers in the early to mid 70s. What I remember is that normally after summer shut downs, our business would experience a fall surge as manufacturers went all out for the Christmas season. Except in 1974. That fall surge simply wasn't there, as the Japanese destroyed all of our customer base. And North American consumer electronics never came back.
Ah, thanks for relating your first-hand experience. The way you frame it ("the Japanese destroyed...") is the framing we were taught by self-serving American corporations. This video challenges that framing and you might want to reconsider its continued use. Japan stepped in when the US abandoned consumer electronics for the war machine. 1974's oil embargo was a bad year for the US economy. From that year, as you say, the American consumer electronics [industry] never came back. Yet many of those corporations are larger and more profitable than ever today. They just don't make things for the living, they make things that kill. And they continue to reframe reality to suit their bottom line--framing their dangerous efforts as making the world "safer."
Right on
I was with Admiral when the family sold it to Rockwell. They loaded us up with engineers shredded from the space program. They designed some very high tech products none of which could be produced due to the high cost. They were used to doing cost plus 10% government work We went belly up in 1978. One guy only knew about artificial intelligence , never designed a TV or stereo.
Thanks for your valuable contribution to the conversation here, and for the interesting added perspective.
@@collectornet Thanks. I spent my early career in Admiral engineering and when they folded in 1978 I went to GTE Sylvania as a Service Branch Manager in Detroit, Batavia NY, Boston and then Chicago. I was at the Chicago Branch only a few months when Sylvania was sold to Phillips . I then left consumer electronics forever and got into the telecommunications field with Westell and never looked back. It was an interesting period in our electronics history and I do enjoy your recalling it.
It's sad that what we once had is gone, and never coming back.
Where have I heard this before?
Ho yes, I remember. Good old radio and television manufacturers like Bush, Pye, Murphy, GEC, Decca, Ekco …need I go on?
All the best from Phil.
Great video!, but where I'm at in Southern California, I haven't seen any magnavox branded electronics anywhere!, all are mostly visio brands!
Telling it like it is! It goes a bit deeper than this video but the electronics industry started producing junk worldwide in the mid 80s, for the most part. Many American companies who outsourced their manufacturing are no longer with us. A pity really, for their workers and their customers. Now an item fails (through planned obsolescence via cheap components and staged engineering) and it becomes e-waste. Then we go buy another one and hope it lasts longer than the last one did, because the last cheap junk we bought wasn't worth the cost or time to repair it. Bean counters run industry, not great engineers, unfortunately. Great video!
Good job. Only Zenith and Harman, to some extent, held out for a long time.
Why do many of these vintage radios have the numbers backwards?
High numbers left and low numbers right.
In the 1960's if you wanted to denigrate a product you said it was made in Japan . Japanese people take pride in their country , manufactured goods and services unlike some other countries I could mention .
I’m a Vietnam Era disabled veteran. I 100% agree with you.
The same is true for GE, Emerson and others .. just a “rebadged” brand name. I remember “Made in Japan” junk .. until it was not junk.
What happened to American companies?.... CAPITALISM ....the greatest system in the world... for the capitalists... not so much for labor ...
Off shore manufacturing…hiring outsourcing cheaper labor overseas. What is made in the USA now?
Weapons.
What is also perplexing is companies manufacturing overseas where environmental laws are lax yet tout that "we" need to do everything we can to fight climate change.
Domestic Shooters trained in video games.
Whirlpool/Maytag.
Unfortunately, their quality is not good.
( a lesson I learned the hard way - before I checked up on them.😢).
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American has created with all this advertising this "Me generation" with all this individualism which sounds ok but it becomes selfish with a loss of community love and responsibility towards each other.. We call these companies American but they're not anymore they're just internationalists looking to undercut each other with all this outsourcing. And they don't really about America it's labor and keeping the workforce strong here. All this automation and outsourcing has made this country has left many people uncertain about the unless you're very well to do you can work in otherwise the American labor after being ban diesel by these outsourcers, if they don't have imagination to rise Up from that disaster. They'll just be living paycheck to paycheck with some meaningless job like working in the service industry getting shot if you serve somebody's french fries cold... This is the new America..We love your videos but this video tops what's been happening with one good example electronics companies once made in America have long gone for cheap labor although starting with Japan. And Hong Kong? Back in the late 50s. And I thought outsourcing came about in China starting with President Nixon visiting that Stone face Mao. Who never trusted American ways and culture and intentions when Nixon came to shake hands back what 1969-70. Wasn't this the start of so-called Detant' between the Communist East and the capitalist West.. it seems to lay down the arms race with cooperation.. that cooperation is the beginning of the sellout having more manufacturing companies looking for great profits by super cheap labor and who cares about child labor us manufacturing globalists say to themselves. If it gives the CEOs a quick buck selling out America who cares if they use child labor like I hear Apple manufacturers had been using for such a long time now.. and this military thing you brought up is simply said and said very well and distinct that they have to stay in business like Eisenhower said. We hear the logo we have to make the world safe for democracy. That's by using military force right all these companies Raytheon and all the blood money manufacturers hand in hand in This dance of death around the world. We thought we were going to cure communism was exporting our companies overseas lay the manufactured products well Japan made fantastic products with style. But going into communist China our so-called enemy. It's not an enemy no longer these companies have become traitors.. they say we have to keep the world safe for democracy.. no no we have to make the world safe for greedy capitalists don't care how the Communists use their slavery to manufacture products for the world.. so these companies and the military have forced the world to bow down to these greedy dam capitalists making us think they're the best that America has produced.pretty much ugly American arrogance, with this to ”me generation"with tasteless media entertainment war movies disaster movies with no substance just a lot of bloody action. Bottom line is only thing now made in America is war and greed
Closed their factories, told American workers to take a hike, and still failed....MAYBE IT'S KARMA!
I think a lot of it is those products became obsolete, as is the case still today. Pioneers like Dr. Amar Bose and Henry Klaus were going in new directions with projection TV and Direct/Reflecting sound.
They made Magnavox TVs in Greeneville TN when I was a kid. It may hurt, but these tvs were thrown together by country laborers. Not saying you necessarily needed a college education to do these jobs but the people who worked there just ‘did a job’. They didn’t give two shits about the tvs, they just were doing a job with really no pride. The upper management was probably the worst..and yes I knew a few. They just gathered their white collar paychecks and went to the club. I personally never thought of Magnavox as being a premium brand. Magnavox is long gone now and the buildings remain..empty, like the tobacco warehouses that once were king so long ago.
Suggest you get a copy of Fortune Magazine - February 1964 to learn what Magnavox was really like. Like the fellow who did this video, you are viewing Magnavox through a peephole...neither of you have anywhere near the whole picture.
First transistor radio was made by Regency in 1954.
Yes, many videos featuring that radio are on this channel.
I thought venture capital ruined manufacturing over 30 years ago. Everyone laughed because their stock portfolios and 401k's went nuts. With union busting in the 80s which was one of the first things I remember because of cheaper Japanese steel wiping out American steel manufacturing we started sealling the fate of American manufacturing for good. It benefited the guys suits. I said then it was a matter of national security and the day was coming we wouldn't even make light bulbs and people laughed. I was right.
Yes, it seems you were. I wish I hadn't spent those years in ignorance. Oh, I was well-informed, all right--by the mainstream, corporatist, establishment sources. So I knew nothing, really, that mattered.
I have several magnavox consoles and speakers. Magnavox up until 1964 was a innovative company, Peter Jensen designed their speakers then went out on his own. Jensen still exists today. Anyway, I only own magnavox tube equipment, in 1964 they went over to transistors and the eventual destruction of American manufacturing.
Didn't Jensen make the speaker in the Regency TR-1? By the way, your comments sound like those made by folks who don't actually watch the video, or certainly not the whole video. I think if you watched these videos, you wouldn't need to ask the question you asked in another comment, "Why do you love this transistor junk?"
This video should be viewed by everyone who votes in these United States and every politician. It should be aired on television, no matter who made it. It should be shown to impressionable school students who can't spend 10 seconds away from their Apple I phone. I could go on, but I was very impressed at the way this video said what it had to say.
Well, I made it. Wrote and narrated. And THANK YOU very much!
It really comes down to a lack of respect for your own customers and their homeland fellow workers.
With the model trains it was nice to have many of the larger ones, O gauge, made here, but that changed a lot since around 1983. The stuff is still pretty neat and the electronics are a nice addition but if there are parts to be bought for them; either you have to buy another one or a broken one to get parts or wait for a long time or be forced to upgrade the electronics, or your brand or the former version of it went out of business..
Magnavox was USA made, but most Magnavox record changers were built by Collaro, in Barking, UK. Cheaper was V-M until around 1970, tape units made in Japan!
The USA economy, and inflation, the buyers went from console Stereo sets to compacts or separate components, and also cost cutting happened. Magnavox could build great separate components, but people also wanted magnetic cartridges standard. The Collaro component series changers with 1/2" mounts and counterweights should also have been in $699 or higher consoles. Plugs should have accepted the changers or turntables from other brands of buyers choice. USA manufacturing costs also increased and the better items got too expensive to make, and sell at affordable prices.
Much of that could be the pool of people that would assemble these products, the skill set from ww2 was retiring or dying off, and the workers that were highly skilled and dedicated were replaced by less educated and dedicated workers, quality of the product suffered and consumers wanted something that worked properly. The same thing happened with the automobile industry where good workers retired and were replaced by lower skilled and attentive employees, replaced at a lower wage also, which didn’t make a worker feel like he or she were appreciated. The owners of these facilities also needed to modernize and chose to close and have manufacturing done overseas for cheaper pay for workers. The company still took in the revenue without the responsibility of physically running things, win win for the fat cats. The environment and osha came to be in the 70s where worker safety and pollution. To make these factories compliant cost money, that makes prices go up because the owners have to install or modify existing equipment and retrain workers. That’s why everything’s made in China, no environmental concerns, workers are paid a fraction of their worth and work long hours in unsafe conditions or being replaced by robots. All to keep prices lower, a new iPhone is 1500$ not cheap in my book. I can only imagine what the cost if they were made in the USA.
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The same thing has happened all over the World with once respected domestic electronic companies as well as companies in other industries. The story of Bush in the UK is incredibly similar to the story of Magnavox, it is nothing more than a once respected named now stuck on the front of cheap Chinese made products. Grundig of Germany is the same, Japanese brands like Marantz and JVC are going the same way slowly.
Yet modern companies don't learn the lessons of the past, Dyson for example have closed their UK factories and now manufacture in China. Dr Marten boots are now primarily made in China too,
I wear Clarks 'Desert Trek's every day and occasionally I find an old pair made in England, but everything recent is from Vietnam. So I know what you're saying. By the way, Marantz was an American brand that was sold to Standard of Japan (the makers of the Micronic Ruby radios). It is MANAGEMENT that makes these decisions. We need to always keep this in mind. It is management, the grossly overpaid, out-of-touch elites who continue to bungle the companies they control. The only thing they seem to be good at is placing the blame for their failures anywhere and everywhere else.
America's #1 strength is it's #1 weakness. (Or at least used to be...)
Innovation.
Once the new and shiny wears off, and you can no longer fetch a premium on the novelty it gets sold off.
{edit} - 100% agree. The U.S. government is little more than an aristocratic stratocracy. I do have faith in facets of our private sector. We still have some of the greatest innovators on the planet.
And another thing vintage American turntables were made to last, today we only have the option of generic plastic junk or overpriced elite audio electronics. Thankfully I can build my own. Once I die I guess it is streaming for to masses,
Funai and Emerson tv's were brands I disliked to see come into our repair shop.
Why's that?
Oh those emersons. My folks bought a Emerson console back around 1958? It had I think a 16-in screen behind some nice doors but that's all it was. TV went dead months after they got it I don't know if they got it repair after the warranty. But it's stayed dead for years. My godparents said to Dad why don't you take out the TV and chassis and use that section for a little bar?; I dreamed that would have been a great idea I must have been like 10 years old…but now my dad just let it sit as I said reminder how Emerson sucks never buy Emerson buy an admiral or DuPont in televisions..But it did had a good mono turntable and and radio with think it had a 15-in speaker it was huge had some great Bass.. I wonder how much a council like that cost back then. Just to have it only as a radio and a turntable.
The military industrial complex is killing us. Unfortunately, I believe that lower wages in Asia was a major factor in the disappearance of the American electronics industry. Europe has experienced the same.
I don't suppose that the financialization of our economy at about that time is coincidental.
The sad truth. 👍👍👍
Magnavox, Zenith, Dumont, Philco. Etc...
Maggy was around in a way till the end of CRT TV. You could watch the chassii evolve from the early 70's on.
NAP also swallowed up Sylvania & Philco. They all used the same chassis & that was a Maggy chassis most
built in Tenn.
LFOD
BTW Funai was considered trash. IMHO it was trash.
Thank you for this thoughtful video putting the decline of US electronics manufacturers in a polical perspective. It really hammers home with me on this historic day: 3h and 30min from now, ARTEMIS 1 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral. ARTEMIS ushers in the second era in "moon travel". 50 years ago the 1st man ever to set foot on the moon was Neil Armstrong, a US citizen like all the astronauts repeating his feat. IMHO this achievement will always be a historic "first". It was certainly worth focusing the efforts of thousands of NASA contractors, attracted by generous government money. Alright so! Nevertheless the "militar-industrial complex" saved many a job from going down the drain. It even serves as a sanctuary for manufacturers that might not survive outside the military. I sincerely hope ARTEMIS will turn the tide on US industry and rekindle JFK's spirit of hope. BUY AMERICAN!
I was a little boy shopping around for a transistor radio when a kind gentleman tried to steer me away from Sony towards a Regency (which at that time was still US made). I didn't understand at the time the urgency of buying a US made product.
Thanks for that. In school we had American-made Wollensak tape recorders that were occasionally used to play a tape as part of some sort of lesson. For whatever reason, the teachers frequently could not get them to work. This was around 1965. I had access to a Sony tape recorder at home which worked perfectly for me. So being the little smart-aleck that I was (and am), I said to my teacher one time when she was struggling to get the Wollensak to work that she should 'throw that junk out and get a Sony.' For my trouble, I got a lecture on American jobs and their importance to the community, the state, and the country. It's a lesson I still remember, even as I continue to learn of the dozens of other factors that come into the debate. it's a worthy discussion, for sure. And in looking back, I now suspect that those Wollensaks were perfectly fine; it was likely the teachers' tech literacy that was the issue.
@@collectornet I am 71, and remember well the Wollensak brand in the classrooms. I also remember when all the classrooms got brand new phonographs with the front metal grill so you could see that 'huge' 6x9" driver with a whizzer cone at it's center. I don't remember the brand, but, I do recall the great BASS they produced.
Especially when at home, my folks had a Voice of Music phonograph with the front grill (felt on metal screen), but alas, only a 4" full range speaker - volume and tone control, the sound I grew up with around the house back in the 50ies. Thanks for your presentation.
Were those phonographs maybe "Caliphones?" or some name like that? Cal-Phone? Or maybe Newcomb? Around the house we had a Zenith console hi-fi with AM/FM and a changer with that Cobra tonearm Zenith had (with a head like a snake). Just mono. You COULD get the second unit to attach to it for stereo, but my folks never had the slightest interest in stereo. It had, I think, a 12-inch woofer but was just a boomy old thing with little definition in the bass. Sounded nice and warm at low volume and that's what it was used for. When I challenged it with some rock-'n'-roll, it was not happy.
@@collectornet Thanks for your reply! Newcomb sounds right, I am going to look up images, that should bring back a memory of my 4th grade class ((O: Ok on the family audio system, background listening. My mom had a table top Motorola AM radio in the kitchen on one of those enamel steel cabinet drawer units, it was PINK, 4" speaker on one end, clock on the other, tuner dial in the middle. That played day in and day out for year. Like all that owned the model, the 1/4" thick plastic CRACKED over the heat from the tubes (on the top panel). In 1966, my dad bought mom a Zenith FM radio. I was amazed that during thunderstorms, there were NO static crashes..it was a revelation! ..ah, the stories one can tell huh ?
Oh yeah, the stories one can tell. I've been tellin' 'em on this channel for years now. But there's just not that many of us who want to hear them. It's a little like talking to your grandchildren. At some point, you wonder why you bother. Hearing from someone like you who can relate to these stories is a treat. @@garysmith8455
It used to be RCA meant quality as well too. Now it doesn't mean much. Just a name on cheap electronics.
Samething for RCA, you see the name today on cheap TV made by Curtis (chineese).
Because in the late 70s and 80s America made junk and charged a fortune for it. Quality was not on their minds.
Oh goodie! Another comment about a video from someone who didn't watch it. That's just what we all need and so look forward to.
You left out that the Nixon administration looked the other way, when in the 70's the Japanese were dumping their goods for below cost on the market, because Japan is a military ally.
And YOU left out the "Fair Trade" laws that kept Japanese goods more expensive than they otherwise would have been. Yes, I left out the tariffs, and the dumping, to focus on the big picture and I suggest my viewers SEE that big picture instead of nit-picking what I "left out."
wasn't trying to nitpick. I just remember seeing that on maybe a PBS special? About the decline of American Audio. The Japanese also could concentrate on cars, since they didn't have to research weapons.
You should reconsider making transistor radios the fulcrum of your story about "what happened to Magnavox", which is told in an outrageously simplified and (likely unintentionally) misleading fashion. In truth, Magnavox - as an upscale brand - was interested in the making their own transistor radio when it was an innovation and luxury item in the 1950s...but as the Japanese proved themselves to be unbeatable in this category (i.e. cheap labor), almost all US companies went to Japanese vendors to make this product line. Magnavox went on to carry transistor radios only to be a full-line supplier to its carefully chosen franchised dealer network.
What Magnavox really cared about was console TV and stereo - most of which they made in the US well into the early 1970s...and then into the 2000s in the world's largest TV plant in Greeneville, TN. You need to look at the February 1964 issue of Fortune magazine and read their "Magnavox Goes its Own Golden Way" article for much better insight (transistor radios do not even rate a mention as this product line meant almost nothing to Magnavox) into what made Magnavox "tick" and how they became so successful. Few companies in any field enjoy the outright dominance that Magnavox did for almost 40 years as they led the world in radio-phonograph production and introduced the world's first random access tuning in television in 1974. Forbes Magazine ranked Magnavox in the TOP 10 of all US companies in their January 1970 issue...long after you suggest that Magnavox' downfall began with their sourcing of transistor radios.
There were many years of success and innovation at Magnavox through 1974, and even after the Philips acquisition (e.g. Magnavox introduced the CD player in the US and was also the first brand to offer the comb-filter in consumer television for the highest resolution available on the market). The real story is that cheaper labor in Japan/Taiwan/Hong Kong/China eventually sent the entire US television business (and the vast majority of all other consumer electronics) packing. In this, there was no particular singular event (especially - NOT - sourced transistor radios) or decision that Magnavox ever made that doomed its future. Rather, it was overwhelmingly the result of a globalized shift in the location of the most efficient manufacturing. No leading US company - not RCA, Zenith (which LOVED the transistor radio business), Motorola, Sylvania, etc. - could compete with the low-labor cost Asian producers. This is especially true now that China artificially keeps the value of its currency low at the expense of its workers...who often literally LIVE at the factory.
And finally, one of the reasons we enjoy our Thanksgiving dinners in peace is the contributions that Magnavox and many other companies made to our country's defense. Magnavox was a leading supplier of Sonobuoys...which allowed the US to monitor Soviet submarine activity.
PS...how do I know all this? "I was there" and worked for Magnavox for 30 years after selling the brand at retail in high school and college. I know you have many fine videos - and that you are fascinated with transistor radios and are a deservedly respected authority - but you simply cannot accurately tell the story of Magnavox chiefly through this single and relatively unimportant (to Magnavox) product line.
Thank you for your comment. You touch on some important points and I'm happy to respond.
1. You've made the usual "cheap labor" argument here. That argument has been fed us unchallenged by self-serving American business for years. It is a rather too convenient excuse for their repeated failures and is used, I believe, to mask other deficiencies. More about this in an upcoming video. 2. If, as you say the transistor radio "meant almost nothing to Magnavox"--it meant everything to Sony in that era. The record in hindsight is quite clear on which corporation made the right call on that one. And I don't think I'd be citing Magnavox's prowess with TVs and stereos, considering Sony trounced them in those markets too within a few short years. 3. If, as you say "Forbes Magazine ranked Magnavox in the top 10 of all US companies in their January 1970 issue"--one has to, in hindsight, admit something seriously wrong, or corrupt, in Forbes's rankings. If Forbes were more honest or knowledgable, as we're trying to be here, Magnavox would have been better-served. 4. If, as you say, the military/industrial complex is "one of the reasons we enjoy our Thanksgiving dinners in peace," one must be a firm believer in American exceptionalism not to notice the lack of peace--or indeed dinner--in the many countries around the globe where the American military, its contractors and weapons makers, wreak death and destruction for a buck, having captured both our major political parties into the promotion of perpetual war. This is to say nothing of the millions in our own country who go hungry while our military gobbles up half the federal budget.
@@collectornet It is tempting to reply further, but it is quite easy now for me to see your general mindset, and that all the words (or facts) in the world are unlikely to change your mind...but I tried! So, I will end this with my best wishes to you for Happy Holidays!
@@murphman76 Ah yes, and I recognize your mindset as well. We can agree on that. But ask yourself what lies ahead for defenders of the conventional ways and the conventional wisdom. More of the same. I think mankind is running out of time where this is still acceptable. We can try and mold the change that inevitably comes or be run over by it.
@@collectornet The lust to project power does seem, now that it has been embraced for a long time, to want a place to go even when the practical possibilities in the world have been exhausted.
History is still frequently a sordid thing. It's not fair to say that envy of the USA was why the Russian Reds arose, because it wasn't. It was trouble with their own decadent monarchy. However there was a mentality that went along with being Russian which wasn't pretty, and they didn't try to set up a nice, fair socialism like, say, Sweden was later to do. They enthusiastically set up a nasty, brutal, corrupt one. There arose a political battle between that and the Western world. The dysfunctional Bear is still sore today and is trying to assuage it through an attempted conquest of Ukraine.
The world needs peace, but until a reason becomes sufficiently apparent to think that way even when sacrifice is required, it won't be invested in. Perhaps as attrition wears on Russia and the world alike, later generations will lose interest in war conquests and gain interest in peace conquests.
Forget nice technologies at least for a moment; how are people treating people? If it's not obvious by my moniker, may I say I believe it a spiritual quest, which also has to dodge the bullets of organized religion which make it narrow and selfish.
While you do have a point, there’s no way laptops could be made in 1972. It wouldn’t have developed 15 years ahead of Magnavox was involved. GE iPhone?? Apple’s American! Though of course they no longer make anything there.
And it takes no innovation to make free public wifi, had nothing to do with American military contractors. You can thank from American telcos for that. Several cities tried that but cellphone and ISPs didn’t want it cutting into their bottom line.
The US was on the vanguard of computer innovation. Practically _every_ major computer innovation was made by American companies, universities or other organizations.
Aw, man, why such a literal interpretation? My conjectures about WHAT could have been made WHEN if not for our best minds and bodies being squandered on war are meant to stimulate thought. No need to quibble with my conjectures. Why not instead come up with your own? And in your linear pursuit of criticism, you utterly miss the point about free public wifi. The point in that section is that America's military budget starves out a great many things needed for the public good. Again, don't bother quibbling with my illustration. Think for yourself of all the ways what I'm saying is true.
@@collectornet Oh for sure. I've often wondered what the US space program would have been like if the Vietnam war and nuclear missile buildup wasn't happening at the same time.
Yeah!
What happened they ask. Ha benadict Arnold government is what happened to America
Free tip for you: Next time watch the video all the way through before having your say.
I disagree. Many industries including clothing, shoes, and appliances moved production to cheaper labor markets in Asia. You blame management which was only focused on "next quarter's earnings." There's some truth in that, but the main reason was the average American consumers desire for cheaper products. So it made sense for American manufacturers to focus on defense contracts because the military is more interested in performance than simply the cost. But with consumer electronics, price was the main driver--not quality or innovation or design or performance. Price.
Sure there were some brands that focused on quality (Sony comes to mind) but for decades Sony was not a sales leader. It's products were better, but they were much more expensive. The average American consumer (accounting for the bulk of sales) wanted "bigger and cheaper." The only way to meet that aspect of consumer demand was offshoring labor to Asia and making products as cheaply as possible regardless of quality (which was not an important factor). So many American brands became crap over time chasing lower costs in order to be able to sell at a lower price. They did this until the products were total crap and the companies went under. You can blame management for that but they were just responding to consumer demands.
The focus on price over quality was especially true with American cars of the 60s and 70s. They were bigger and cheaper than cars from Japan and Germany but as we all know not as well made nor as efficient. American manufacturers were forced by consumers to cut costs until the product was utterly crap because to most American consumers, the price tag is their main focus.
It's a form of Gresham's Law at work--cheaper products, despite lower quality, tend to drive out higher quality-higher priced products. It's consumer behavior and not simply short-sighted management.
These days, even the South Koreans and Japanese are offshoring to China and Vietnam for the American market because American consumers still are almost exclusively focused on price, not quality.
The purpose of this video was to make people think. It presents a perspective you won't hear elsewhere. You have chosen to respond by regurgitating the chamber-of-commerce position--that it can't be the corporations' fault, it must be those stupid, lazy, ignorant, cheap consumers. I offered you something fresh and you respond with the same old establishment talking points that got us into this mess. I should add that you might want to stop using Sony to illustrate your arguments until you know something about their actual history. Most of what you had to say about them is just wrong.
I spent a career in American manufacturing (in Marketing) so I know from actual experience what I'm talking about. There's a reason WalMart is America's number one retailer. The American consumer is (often shortsightedly) cheap compared to consumers in Japan and the EU (the rest of the adjectives are yours, not mine).
And my first job was selling Sony TVs and stereos retail--from behind the counter I know the difficulties selling Sony against Zenith, RCA, Philco, and other American brands that were not as good but far cheaper. I would also note that the leading American electronics brands today (Raytheon, Racal, Garmin, and Honeywell) are barely in the consumer market if at all and concentrate on commercial and military sales where the cheapest price is not the only criteria.
Thanks for that. I don't disagree that American consumers are price conscious, and that they often choose price over quality. But this is by no means universal and it is up to product designers, makers, and marketers to overcome this. That is literally their job. Those illustrated in this video chose the easier task of selling to the military where they can charge what they want to a bloated Pentagon that is spending OUR money with reckless abandon. And, as you say, these companies also sell to other corporations, who deduct these purchases from income. So it seems both of these buyers are subsidized by taxpayers.
This video gave me chills. Every American should watch this video. I have been stating similar facts for the past year. As a collector of the bigger console units, I am speechless at what I just saw.
Thank you!
Those transistor radios were pure junk
WHICH transistor radios? Magnavox-brand? American? Japanese? Specific models? And kindly define "pure junk." Many of us here collect these things and would not like to think we are collecting "pure junk." Speaking for myself, I collect them primarily as appealingly attractive historical objects. If they are "junk" as radios (performance-wise), well, that case could be made, but of course you haven't made that case with your general dismissal. IMHO, as collectibles, junk they are not.
Funai & decent don't belong in the same sentence, they have junk to an art.
Liked it ! BUT, you know it's just NOT THAT SIMPLE... All of human history is a story of us humans, constantly attacking & killing each other. But I don't think you'd be happier, if today we were a vassal state of a Nazi Empire ? Without the American war machine, that's what you might have or worse ? It's so complicated, sure we humans throughout history, have wasted & destroyed so much of our potential to needless war & killing. Yet, I'll bet without out the drive & determination to out do & out perform our (enemy) neighbors, we probably would have never invented half of the technologies we now have ??
So I'm just wrong, then? And the trajectory of our corporations, foreign policy, and military industrial complex is all just fine? And if we just keep on the same path we will somehow produce a different result? I don't think so. I need to point out also that the "American war machine" you cite as having defeated the Nazis bears almost NO resemblance to the bloated and unaccountable military industrial surveillance complex that now saps the lifeblood of this country.
I didn't say wrong ! I said: "it's just NOT THAT SIMPLE"...The trajectory of our corporations, foreign policy, and military sucks! All things have good, bad, & often unintended results. 80 years of human nature working it's sly ways on what may have been a just cause, now gives you the military you got. Greed is a human nature that doesn't want to be stopped. But even if we did have control over our "public servants", they can't control the world either. Russia, China, UK, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, India, NATO, etc. , ALL have "bloated and unaccountable military industrial surveillance complex". I agree with your complaint. Perhaps I just missed your simple solution ?@@collectornet
Thanks for that. You seem resigned to the idea that our present military industrial surveillance complex was inevitable. I don't believe that and neither did Eisenhower. You are quite right that greed is the underlying problem. The video makes quite clear my opinion that our military enablers are far more interested in the almighty dollar than peace. I must pick, though, at something else in your most recent response. In excusing their own abysmal behavior, our military industrial complex likes to point to their counterparts in Russia, China, etc. And you accept that framing. I don't. The American citizen may disagree with policies of other countries, as observers, but those policies are not things we as citizens of the US are entitled or empowered to change. Those countries are not our country. We ARE, however, duty-bound as patriotic Americans to speak up against the perversion of our own military.
I believe that Eisenhower actually did think it was inevitable! His speech was a prediction, even more than a warning...
My point about the other countries is they provide a constant "boogeyman" which is hard to argue against, when perpetuating the "need" to continue the Madness. If you feel duty-bound to speak up, go ahead, but where I come from, we call it "pissing in the wind". We've identified the problem, it's Greed. Which is not just in the military, but throughout our whole governmental & social structure. The USA was built on Greed ! The solution has to entail a solution which promotes equitable social justice throughout our society. Otherwise any "fix" to the military is just like taking an aspirin to cure cancer, it does nothing to alleviate the underling problem & it will just pop up again in another form. @@collectornet
Your words express a clear rebuke of capitalism. You know this yet you realize you cannot put it in those terms without annoying capitalism's apologists (the majority), so you don't. Consider that maybe the fatalism you express in all this is really just a cover, an excuse, for not making your voice heard for what you know is right, regardless of the odds against you. It perhaps makes you uneasy to see someone who is.
You seem to ignore our enemy’s threats. Sounds quite similar to defunding the police. Just spread love right? Then we’d have a utopian society , no enemies and an abundance of USA made products. Right?
Enemy's threats? This video was made to help you THINK--and all you do is parrot back at me the propaganda we've heard all our lives. What threats? I have no beef with the people of China, Russia, or wherever. Do you? Nor do those people have any beef with the American people. It's our LEADERS who can't get along. It's our leaders who serve the military industrial complex and keep convincing us we have "enemies" so they can perpetuate their forever wars. I'm sick of it. How about you? Will you continue hating-on-demand for our leaders? Or are you ready to reject this warmongering mindset that threatens the planet?
@@collectornet our leaders are the issue. Do you trust the communist Chinese government to not want to challenge our military in the future? Do you think weakening our military is some sort of peace offering? Do you think for one minute that our adversaries won’t take advantage of any depletion of our military spending? You are on a planet of countries that are going to compete for world dominance and you are either going to be dominated or be the dominator. This is whether you are sick of it or not. You are not going to ever see world peace. Get used to it.
No. No world peace as long as your mindset prevails. All I hear from you is the same crap I used to believe, the same failed crap. For example, why do you refer to the Chinese government as "communist?" What has that got to do with anything? But that's your framing. Just a small taste of the biases that affect your thinking. Are you aware of what is spent on the US military vs all other countries? Look it up. Those are the dollars that should be going into our communities, making life better for Americans. Instead it goes to blow up people. Your fixation on "world domination" is cartoonish on the surface and deep down reveals a most troubling "us or them" mindset--and a person definitely NOT at peace in the world. I guess that's ultimately the thing--some of us want peace and do our best to achieve it; some of us don't.
@@collectornet Sorry, I’m not about fantasy, I’m a realist. I hate lots of things. I hate murder, child abuse, car accidents, tornados, you know… lots of bad things. But I am not going to pretend I can make it all better by changing minds and being naive about the huge differences in governments, economies and cultures. Good luck. Sing kumbaya while you watch your hero Meathead on All in the Family on your old Magnavox Tv.
@@collectornet And you listen to IMAGINE over and over, I can tell.
I noticed the Chinese and Japanese made for America Junk...is what it is...i never liked American Radios... they were never look good...The Dial Scale would never showed anything special... take a look at German And Japanese...it looks special..
Seeing Berlin and London and Rome...or Tokyo and Naha....or Hong Kong or or Australia.....what one would look better!!?
GE was always crap!
Your hatred is misplaced; the greed is from our own government with one of the highest corporate income taxes in the world. It was 27% when Trump took office but was lowered to 21% triggering an economic boom during the Trump years and saving many jobs from leaving the U.S. However, 21% is still too high considering that Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam have a much lower corporate tax rate. This sent American jobs overseas. Coupled with high state taxes, you can see why we can't afford to build anything here today especially since our competitors don't have such financial burdens on their corporations. It's much better to lower the corporate tax rate and create good paying jobs for many reasons; more good paying jobs expand the tax base, lower unemployment, less government programs like welfare, unemployment and food stamps. Furthermore, the contributions to the Social Security fund will increase making Social Security more stable.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, there is much more that this country can do.
Hatred? Words have meaning and I suggest you be more careful with them. Criticism is not hatred. So it's corporate tax rates, is it? You say we should "lower the corporate tax rate and create good paying jobs." You believe there is a linkage there. Why? Because the corporations that want lower taxes tell you that? And you believe them?
Well Done I Tech too Saw ALL This Sad What Greed Did
Greed was only part of the story. It's the most understandable and predictable part. But it's the OTHER part of the story that this video documents and brings to light.
The Japanese companies made higher quality stuff
No. That's just the flipside of American Exceptionalism. A broad generalization that "X made higher quality stuff," X being a country, is simply not true.
Stick to your transistor radio collection.....you have conveniently glossed over MANY details that you neglected to mention. I'll only mention one: By and large, MANY consumer end use items were created via the various military research and development programs undertaken by the manufacturers. Those products indeed, made life more enjoyable for the average human being....worldwide. And there were many of them.
An open mind doesn't tell others with what they should "stick." I think you need to watch the video again. And this time with an open mind instead of the chip on your shoulder.