| History: |
Zenith was founded as “Chicago Radio Laboratory” (CRL) in 1919 by Ralph H.G. Mathews and Karl Hassel to build small quantities of receivers primarily for radio amateurs. Their factory included station 9ZN, whose call letters inspired the Zenith brand name (initially as Z-Nith) used by CRL. Although the company was small, it had a valuable asset in the form of an Armstrong regenerative receiver patent license negotiated by Mathews in 1920. The company’s meteoric rise began when businessman Eugene F. McDonald, Jr. , who had earned considerable money in his prewar automotive financing business, purchased one of its radios at the end of 1920. McDonald instantly recognized the commercial potential of radio, and having learned that an Armstrong license was necessary for success, and that no more were being offered, entered into partnership with Mathews and Hassel, bringing money, management expertise, and sales talent to the company. During his reign at Zenith, McDonald’s autocratic and ruthless style earned him the title of “Commander.”
During 1922-23, CRL relied on QRS Music Co., a piano roll manufacturer, to scale up its manufacturing, and by 1924, the newly formed Zenith Radio Corp. took control of manufacturing and sales under McDonald’s leadership, moving manufacturing out of QRS to Zenith’s own Chicago factory. Zenith began making TRF receivers called “Super Zenith” in 1924 and positioned itself as a high-end manufacturer throughout the 1920s. 1924 also marked Zenith’s first portable radio, the “Companion,” which is sometimes viewed as the first modern portable radio. Zenith introduced it first AC-powered radio (model 27) in late 1926, and was the first company in the industry to acquire an RCA patent pool license in 1927, setting a trend for other major manufacturers and ushering in a period of relative stability in patent licensing (a situation often viewed as unfair monopoly power by RCA that lasted about two decades).
MacDonald, an adventurer at heart, accompanied arctic explorer Donald B. MacMillan on two expeditions during 1923-35. Zenith radios accompanied these arctic expeditions, allowing explorers to keep in touch with civilization, and bringing a lot of free advertising and press attention to both Zenith and McDonald.
The stock market crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression caught Zenith ill-prepared with its line of expensive radios. Zenith rapidly developed a low cost “Zenette” product line, and returned to profitability in 1933. Zenith again moved into high-end designs, and the period 1935-1943 is viewed as the “high point” of Zenith design, beginning with the 1935 Z-1000 “Stratosphere,” whose big black dial and “Split Second” pointer would define Zenith radios for years to come. The 1936 line used the black dial extensively, and the 1937 line introduced another innovation – the “Robot Dial” or “shutter dial” system, in which mechanical shutters changed the appearance of the dial face when the bandswitch was operated. With the Robot Dial, only one set of dial markings appeared at a time, simplifying reading of the dial.
Zenith introduced the detachable “Wavemagnet” loop antenna in portable radios in 1941, and in early 1942, the first of Zenith’s famous “Transoceanic” multiband portables became available to the public until April 1942 when production was converted to war needs.
Zenith was an early proponent of FM, operating an experimental FM station in Chicago starting in 1940, and offered FM radios starting in 1942. Zenith invented the FM stereo multiplex system adopted by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in 1961 and still in worldwide use today.
Zenith discouraged early commercialization of TV, fearing that fluid standards and expensive receivers would sour the market. Zenith offered its first TVs in 1948, and stayed with round picture tubes and “porthole” masking longer than other manufacturers for stylistic reasons – always a major issue for Zenith. In the 1950s, Zenith pioneered the use of TV wireless remote control, with its “Flash Command” and “Space Command” remote controls. Zenith was a pioneer in digital high definition TV, inventing the vestigial sideband (VSB) transmission standard that was adopted in 1996 by the FCC as part of the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) standard. From the 1950s onward, Zenith was America’s number two TV company (behind RCA), remaining independent longer than any other major U.S. TV manufacturer until acquired by LG Electronics of Korea in 1999.
Other notable Zenith achievements and products include the “Cobra” phonograph pickup (which used a moving vane to modulate an RF signal), the Radio Nurse (a forerunner of today’s wireless baby monitors), the Ravox hearing aid, and the “Wincharger” wind-driven generator for farms (and radios specifically designed to operate with them). In 1979, Zenith purchased Heath Co., maker of electronic kits, and capitalized on Heath’s line of computers, building it into the billion dollar Heath Data Systems, which the company sold in 1989.
Sources:
(1) Alan Douglas, “Radio Manufacturers of the 1920s.” Vol. 3, Vestal Press Ltd., New York, 1991.
(2) Harold N. Cones, John H. Bryant, Martin Blankinship, and William Wade, “Zenith Radio, the Early Years 1919-1935,” Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA, 1997.
(3) Harold Cones, John H. Bryant, and Martin Blankinship, “Zenith, the Glory Years, 1936-1945,” Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA, 2003.
(4) Zenith Corp. history, on www.zenith.com
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