ATWATER KENT RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 529, 5 December 1928, Page 16

ATWATER KENT RECORD

2,000,(XX) SETS MADE A new record in radio production—both in the total number of receiving sets produced and in the output of the past two years—was established by the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Co., of Philadelphia, on October 24, when Mr. Kent produced his 2,000,000 th receiving set. This set —the first two millionth receiver to be produced by any radio manufacturer —is the compact, simplified Model 40, operating direct from house current, with one dial and singlevolume control. In a statement announcing the production of the set Mr. Kent said: “It is naturally a source of gratification to me to feel that our company has reached the two million mark in the production of radio receiving sets. I am doubly gratified by the fact that the second million sets have been made within the short space of two years. Our first millionth set came out of the factory on December 3, 1926. Our total of two million to date has been produced in less than six years. “This production, necessary in order to meet public demand, actually tells the story of radio more graphically than any other words could tell it. Nothing has ever so caught the imagination of the American people within such a short space of time, and brought to them a utility for practical advancement in their social, cultural, business, professional and recreational relationships. “It makes me happy to feel that we have been able to do our part in such a widespread field, contributing something of real merit to the lives of so many people. "While our business has prospered I like to feel that our part in radio is more than a business venture and has been, in addition, an influence which helps to make the world a better place in which to live. This is my thought as our two millionth set comes out of the factory. “It also interests me tremendously to consider our two millionth set in terms of the future of radio. Rapid as its strides have been, I believe that radio is still an infant with greater and wider fields of opportunity before it. The standardisation of receivers, the steady improvement in the quality of entertainment programmes, the daily expansion of the use of radio in commerce, industry, agriculture and education, and the perfection of the all-electric set give assurance that the present radio season will be the greatest in its history. Indeed, I anticipate that for the next six months the problem of the manufacturer will be not to sell radio sets, but to produce them in sufficient numbers to meet the public demand.” The production by Mr. Kent, in December, 1926, of his one millionth set, marked the high peak of radio output at that time. That record, not then equalled by any other radio manufacturer, had been established after about four and one-half years of production. The extent to which the demand has mounted, particularly since the advent of the house-current set, which does away altogether with batteries and connects direct to an electric socket for power, is revealed by the fact that this new record seems due to be broken, by Mr. Kent himself, almost before it is established. His immense plant now is turning out receivers and speakers at the rate of more than 8,000 daily, and indications are that the current “production year,” which began in May, 1928, will show a total of more than one million Atwater Kent sets produced and sold in 12 months.