Radio Broadcast - 1923, August - 86 Pages, 8.5 ... - VacuumTubeEra

Powel Crosley, Jr.ofTHE"The Henry FordRadio"By ALVIN RICHARD PLOUGHother day I visited two largeradio plants where several hundredpeople are daily engaged in turningout radio apparatus to meet thetremendous demand for such products.When I was ushered into the office ofthe president of this enterprise,found that heIwas a much youngerman than I had expected;in fact he confessedto being thirty-six. Hisyouth impressed meand I marveled at hisability to grasp bigproblems and makequick decisions. Whatability he has along thisline, he says, has beendeveloped through themany and varied thingshe has done during hisbusiness career.Those who knewPowel Crosle'y, Jr.,President of the CrosleyMfg. Co., as a veryyoung man, refer to himas a "rolling stone"type of boy; but nowthey are glad to " handit to him" as a soundbusiness man. Such hasbeen the change in sen-comparatively inexpensive radio apparatus.Mr. Crosley told me that it was in 1921 thathe first became interested in the radio business.He considers that he owes a great deal to histhat his companyyoung son for the positionholds in the radio industry. It was on Washington'sBirthday, just two years ago, that hisboy, who was then nine years old, wanted aradio set. He took the boy to the factory ofthe Precision Equipment Company, which wasmanufacturing receiving sets and is one of theoriginal licensees under the Armstrong patent.It was Mr. Crosley's intention to buy an inexpensiveset as a toy for Powel, 3rd, but hefound that the least expensiveone cost about$130, which appearedto him to be too much ofan investment for asmall boy's toy. Theinsistence of the boywas followed by thepurchase of parts toassemble a set andnotwithstanding thelimited amount ofbroadcasting two yearsago, Mr. Crosley andhis son became ardentradio enthusiasts.Less than two yearsafter his first visit toThe Precision EquipmentCompany's factory,he purchased acontrolling interest inthat corporation, whichis now being operated asa separate organization,so that he is now at thehead of two radio man-HE FIRST BECAME INTERESTED IN RADIO TWOAND A HALF YEARS AGOufacturing companies!timent about the man NowThehe is head of two radio manufacturing companiesearly career ofwho operates the radioPowel Crosley is veryplants I visited in Cincinnati, and who has been interesting. Before going to work, his academicreferred to as "the Henry Ford of radio," becausehe builds such large quantities of good andeducation consisted of public school and militarypreparatory school, one year of engineeringwork in college and two years at law school.His first job was rebuilding some old telephonesduring a summer vacation while in thepublic schools. This was followed by work invarious phases of the automobile business duringsummer vacations from college. Duringhis last year in law school he was employed bya large bill-posting company to acquire leases