Zenith Company News and other Documents

[maxm]

I purchased a bunch of company related documents and some other Zenith items at the estate sale of a former Zenith employee in Chicago last winter. They had worked for Zenith from the 1960s to the 1990s.

I had some time to scan a few of them and wanted to share them in case they are interesting to anybody else. Some nice information about the company and its employees. Note that some of these are somewhat large files.

I have more of the Zenith News that I may try to scan in the future if I have time and there is an interest in seeing them.

Zenith News August-September 1977

Zenith News January-February 1980

Zenith News March 1980

1966 Annual Report

Service World Spring 1974

Service World Summer 1974

Plant 3

-- Max

[wa2ise]

RCA used to have these as well. I have a few, if I ever find them I may scan them.

I don't have a scanner modern enough to have a windows 7 driver, so I crudely took pictures. Off angle, as the paper is glossy.

[Electronic M]

Cool stuff, it is remarkable that it still exists.

[drh4683]

Max, this is excellent. Thank you for taking the time to scan and share these. I love finding stuff like this, it adds a special dynamic to the tv collection as it helps you connect to what these companies were all about. Hearing peoples stories is one thing, but to see publications for the employees are great as they have great photos of the living company. I have found quite a few things like this from Motorola as well from my estate sale routes. Would like to see the RCA stuff too when you come across it wa2ise.
I particularly liked that plaque that was pictured from the loyal Zenith owners'65 Zenith color set in the 1977 news letter. I dont think you'll find brands (or people for that matter) who would be so proud of a quality product today to do something like that. Its a shame its all gone now, Chicago lost so much when all the big electronic companies and manufacturing vanished.

[Carmine]

Maxm,

Thanks for posting that info. I am working on a book related to American manufacturing and Zenith is of particular interest to be because they chose to redress illegal dumping through our US court system and they were foiled time and time again by revolving door bureaucrats who one day administered trade policy on behalf of the US government, and then within the cycle of Presidential appointments, were suddenly highly paid members of the legal team fighting the US government. The message was obvious... Ignore complaints, drag your feet and go through the motions as slowly as possible and you'll be handsomely rewarded.

This info helps put a human face on all that and shows the value and loss of not just Zenith, but an entire industry. That thought deserves more thought than any service effort made to resurrect the dumped, knock-off sets that helped destroy the entire domestic industry.

[n2bew]

Facinating stuff!
Thanks for posting this. I am new to the forum and was just reading through the Spring 1974 service report and there is a detailed discussion with Robert Adler the Vice presedent of research at Zenith about the demise of TV service repair at that time, and he was quite accurate in seeing the end of it, However for the wrong reasons. He thought it would because of dependabilty! Maybe that would have been true if Zenith kept making the sets!
He did correctly predicted the use of the flat screen TV's and need for new broadcast facilties, but missed it when he predicted the flat screen TV's would still need some service.
While that would have been true had they continued to be made in the U.S., what he did not anticipate was the cheap manufacturing of electronics in China that made it more economical to just throw them out instead of having them fixed!
If he has passsed on he is rolling over in his grave.
And so, sadly unbeknownst to him at the time he predicted the end Zenith itself. If only he had known.
I was surpirized at how accurate he was in seeing the future. Must be why he had that position at Zenith.
Great reading.

Tom B.

[mercury6768]

I'd like to add my thanks for posting these. They are very interesting to read.

[KentTeffeteller]

The biggest factor which hastened Zenith, RCA, and Magnavox's demise was the Japanese TV Manufacturers dumping Color TV sets in the USA. At below the cost of manufacturing them. There used to be busloads of Japanese tourists going to the electronic stores in big cities and purchasing Color TV sets, cameras, and other electronics to ship home.

[maxm]

Doug had asked if I could post some more scans of the Zenith newsletters I have. Below are some more, I have a few more to scan that I will post in the next few weeks.

These are 10-20MB PDF files.


Zenith Log - December 1970

Zenith News - April 1980

Zenith News - August / September 1980

Zenith News - November / December 1980

Zenith News - October / November 1981

Zenith News - March 1982

Zenith News - April 1982

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by maxm

Doug had asked if I could post some more scans of the Zenith newsletters I have. Below are some more, I have a few more to scan that I will post in the next few weeks.

...and Doug will be entertained for a month!!

Thank you Max! I'm getting my reading in too! Will there be a quiz?

[old_tv_nut]

Thanks so much for posting these!

[rca2000]

SOMETIMES...people will STILL fix flat panel sets. Especially the 32" and above sets. Capacitors on the fail MUCH more rapidly...than in a CRT set...likely due to the FACT..than they are 'baked to DEATH"..by the heat from the BL through the back of the panel--be it a CCFL or LED_-it STILL produces heat. And Plasma sets run HOT...

One is NOT likely to get rich doing so today...b ut one MIGHT be able to 'survive"...working on tis stuff..

But I DO admit...the "toss at first hint of a problem" is a BIG thing for many nowdays...

[Adam]

Look on page 10 of the 66 annual report. There is what looks like a metal cabinet color set with a remote (below the picture it says it uses the SC600). I knew Zenith made some metal cabinet rectangular color tube sets in the late-60s, I used to have a '68, but I've never seen a remote one before.

[rca2000]

I like the spring 74 issue the BEST. That talk by adler....It makes me almost wish I was "in it back then"..when we STILL had a robust electronics industry here !! But..since I was just SIX years old...that was not possible...

He REALLY was optomistic...for a "flat panel by 1983." he was not the ONLY one--radio-electronics predicted it too.

Those darn things did not REALLY "take off" till about TWENTY years later....2003. Maybe a year or two before--but a 42 inch plasma was STILL about $4k in the fall of 03...and not even full HD. And there were still a LOT of CRT sets out then. and RPTV sets--both CRT and "New technology sets"--ALL using a xenon-mercury lamp for the light source... (LCD, DLP, DILA, LCOS)...were the RAGE during that time.. Those bulbs were VERY expensive back then. Not now... So in 2003...the flat panel was the "new kid on the block"..trying to "go big time." But the CRT STILL ruled and so did the NT sets..


But the "writing was on the wall"...

[drh4683]

Max, thanks for posting all of these! They are great! Its interesting how in just a few of these surviving newsletters, I know some of the people named, some are even family.

First off, I see Wayne got his name mentioned in the April, 1982 issue for receiving or having filed for a patent in 1981. My cousin, David Utt, was also shown in the March, 1982 issue on page 1. Dave joined Zenith engineering back in 1981. I need to send him this one, he'll really enjoy seeing it if he doesn't already have a copy himself.

Another guy I know is Gus Theodos who was shown on page 1 of the March, 1980 issue. Gus worked as a line troubleshooter in plant 2 on Austin Ave. starting back in the 60's as I remember him telling me. He had a lot of great stories working at Zenith. Once he left Zenith in the 80's, he joined in ownership as a service technician at "Better Audio & TV" in Elmhurst, IL which was one of the local TV shops I used to go to when I was a kid. Gus was one the few TV guys who always helped me whenever I was looking for tubes and was always a kind man. I'd call him on the phone and I'd rattle off some of the tube numbers I'd be looking for and he'd guess what chassis the set had that I was working on. He'd typically give me the tubes for a deal since I was only about 12 years old or so at the time, or he'd just give them to me for free if they were good used pulls. I haven't heard from him in probably 10 or so years now after he shut down the business.