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Services Matters
Looking back at 2009
2009 was not the best year for our industry.
Barry Street looks over his shoulder.
This year is one which is best forgotten, designed electrically, and many were not
except that towards the end of it some light very pleasing in appearance. The poor
began to show, albeit too late for some. reliability and relatively high cost of colour
Apart from those in the retail sector who TVs was good for service engineers and
came unstuck, 270 workers in Plymouth rental dealers, but not for the public. In
lost their jobs when the very last TV sets to our own K-B products there were high
be manufactured in this country came out failure rates in valves, capacitors,
of the Toshiba factory. switches and particularly soldered joints.
Things got better later, but not enough
Factory life to prevent a Japanese TV takeover, and
I was once a part of the British TV then the factories began making Hitachis,
manufacturing industry, going from school Sanyos, Toshibas etc. The once-proud
at 16 to the Kolster-Brandes (later K-B, British brands were whittled down, and
then ITT) factory where we made black and the few that now remain have only the
white and colour TVs, together with name as a link with the original firms. In a
The old Bush radio logo
transistor radios of various sorts. Here there competitive market production has to be
were a few score men and hundreds of girls where it’s cheapest, currently in Eastern the criticisms of its fidelity, in most
– but that’s a different story. Badging, or Europe and China, perhaps next in India situations where a better quality radio
OEM production as it’s now known, is not or Russia? I’m sorry to see the last factory medium is not available (eg portable,
new; in those days we produced, alongside wound up here; the same sad story, to mobile, tiny-speaker and similar
the Kolster-Brandes products, Ace, Alba, different degrees and dates, applies to the applications) any shortcomings of DAB
Argosy, Regentone and RGD brands, with British motorcycle and car industries. are not really significant, and are
only cosmetic differences. The same thing outweighed by its many advantages,
was going on at BRC/Thorn, where Baird, Radio roadmap features and benefits, especially now that
Ferguson, HMV, Marconi and Philco Another significant happening in 2009 was energy consumption of DAB radios is
products were allied, and so on. The UK TV the announcement of the ‘digital radio coming down. DAB, in any form, is an
industry peaked in the early 1970s. For upgrade’, whereby UK analogue excellent thing, the biggest advance in
nostalgic picture galleries of British TV sets broadcasting will be phased out – except radio in its ninety years.
go to www.oldtechnology.net and for very local community transmissions – by
www.rewindmuseum.com. 2015, a rather ambitious timescale, I Retro radio
But there was a problem. British TV believe, but good for dealers and good There are still many of us about whose first
sets were unreliable because of poor (though they may not realise it) for listeners, step in this industry was with analogue
quality components and sloppy especially when the strength, range and radio, and many businesses which were
production. Many of them were badly coverage of DAB transmissions has been founded on it long ago. Technically it made
improved. Here, British firms are in fine a perfect introduction to electronics in a
“Badging is not new; in
fettle, with market leaders Pure and world where digital technology was
Roberts set to benefit from the changeover, unknown – or in relative infancy. Popular
those days we produced,
though I wish the government had properly long ago (and you can still buy them) was
alongside with Kolster-
addressed the DAB+ question, with a view the ultimate ‘green machine’ for radio, a
to mandating it, initially over a ‘dual-casting’ crystal set, needing no energy supply at all,
Brandes products, Ace,
period. I believe that this, like digital apart from the radio transmission itself,
broadcasting itself, is inevitable in the long though you had to strain to hear it in the
Alba, Argosy, Regentone
term, and that to delay its introduction is headphones. In today’s noisy world this
and RGD brands, with only
short-sighted. would be even more difficult and it would
Meanwhile I am a great fan of DAB, be hard to get DAB on it. The vendor’s
cosmetic differences” though I mourn some of the channels profit on a crystal set would also be rather
which have come and gone. Regarding meagre. Happy Christmas. a73
38 The Independent Electrical Retailer December 2009
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