CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 38

CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 38 • 9/21/2002
20 Years Ago In CED History:

September 22, 1982:
* President Reagan signs legislation ending a four-day strike by 26,000
locomotive engineers which had shut down much of the nation's railroad system.
* Bolivian Finance Minister Alfonso Revollo reveals that his country is not
able to pay $50 million in foreign debts that came due earlier in the month.
The International Monetary Fund refused to comply with Bolivia's request for
help.

September 23, 1982:
* Jimmy Wakely, singing star of numerous Westerns, dies at age 68. His hit
songs include "Tennessee Waltz" and "Beautiful Brown Eyes."

September 24, 1982:
* Ending a lengthy takeover battle, Allied Corp. announces that it has acquired
Bendix Corp. for some $1.9 billion.
* British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agrees with leaders in Peking to
hold formal talks on the future of Hong Kong.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Amityville II.

September 25, 1982:
* Twelve leftist guerrillas end their nine-day takeover of the Chamber of
Commerce building in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. They had take 107 hostages and
demanded the release of captured Salvadoran guerrilla leader Alejandro
Montenegro and others.
* State prison guard George Banks kills 13 persons in a rampage at two houses in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
* The Las Vegas Grand Prix, the final race of the 1982 season, is won by
Michele Alboreto. The overall season winner is Keke Rosberg of Finland, who won
only one race, but finished high enough in other events for the top overall
spot.
* "Abracadabra" (CED) by the Steve Miller Band regains the No. 1 U.S. single
spot for one week.

September 26, 1982:
* Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki arrives in Beijing for a six-day series
of meetings with top Chinese officials. Development of China's oil and coal
reserves and continued aid to revitalize China's factories are among the topics
discussed at length.

September 27, 1982:
* John Palmer replaces Chris Wallace as host of the Today Show. Wallace (son of
veteran newsman Mike Wallace) had replaced Tom Brokaw when he left the show in
1981. It was Brokaw who was host of the show for the introduction of both the
SelectaVision VHS and SelectaVision CED systems.

September 28, 1982:
* Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin reverses his earlier stand and agrees
to have an independent three-man board of inquiry investigate the massacre of
Palestinian civilians in Beirut on September 16.

* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
H. J. Mendelsohn Named Division Vice President, Marketing for RCA VideoDiscs

Appointment of Herbert J. Mendelsohn as Division Vice President, Marketing, RCA
VideoDiscs, effective October 4, 1982, was announced today by Thomas G. Kuhn,
Division Vice President, RCA VideoDiscs.

In his new capacity, Mr. Mendelsohn will be responsible for formulating and
executing marketing strategies for the video disc software business.

"We are fortunate to have a man with Herb Mendelsohn's experience and skill in
home video to direct our marketing efforts now that the video disc business has
turned the corner and entered a period of dynamic growth," Mr. Kuhn said. "Herb
Mendelsohn has a close rapport with RCA's distributor organization, so his
transition into our top marketing post should be a smooth one," Mr. Kuhn said.

Mr. Mendelsohn previously was Senior Vice President, Marketing at Warner Home
Video, a division of Warner Communications, Inc. Prior to joining Warner, he
was Vice President of Marketing at CBS Video Enterprises.

He was with American Broadcasting Company, Inc. from 1974 to 1980, most
recently as Vice President, Marketing Services for ABC Video Enterprises.

Mr. Mendelsohn's experience in prerecorded entertainment and broadcasting
includes three years as President of ABC Record and Tape Sales Corporation;
General Sales Manager, WABC Radio, New York; Vice President and General
Manager, Capital Cities' WKBW Radio, Buffalo; and Vice President and General
Manager, WMCA Radio, New York. He is a former President of Bartell
Broadcasters, Inc., owners of radio and television stations and cable systems.
From 1969 to 1972, he was President of Herb Mendelsohn Associates, which
produced commercials and audiovisual sales presentations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 19:22:34 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: SelectaVision Jukebox

Hello All:

About 4 years ago there was an auction for a brochure dating from 1955
describing a SelectaVision jukebox. I've regretted not buying that just to
learn about this pre-RCA use of the term as the name for a product, but now one
of the actual jukebox units manufactured by Sentinel Radio Corporation has
appeared on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=714327188

It appears from the pictures that this unit in its basic form was a pay TV. By
depositing coins you were granted a certain length of time to watch TV. The
record jukebox was an option and could be installed in the bottom of the
cabinet. Needless to say, the concept of paying for TV by the minute did not
catch on, as bars and diners back in the 50's commonly had TV's installed and
operating all the time.

One of the more interesting thing about the jukebox is the SelectaVision logo,
with the capitalization of the "V" making it look a lot like the one later used
by RCA.

--Tom
Previous Digest | Next Digest | Volume 7 Index | CED Magic Home