Facts & Figures

Records. The phonograph record industry's war blew hotter. RCA Victor put on sale its new record players and seven-inch unbreakable 45 r.p.m. record (at 69-c- for "pops" and $1 for classics). Columbia Records, Inc. met the new competition. It cut the prices of conventional shellac records. Columbia, already doing nicely with its "long-playing" record and attachment, reduced twelve-inch classics from $1.25 to $1, twelve-inch popular songs from $1 to 85-c-, ten-inch pops from 75-c- to 60-c-.

Watches. The Waltham Watch Co., which closed three months ago when it ran out of cash (TIME, Jan. 17), plans to re-employ its 2,300 workers and resume production April 13. Under a reorganization plan scheduled for approval this week, RFC will put up $6,000,000 for working capital. Waltham will use $3,300 of this toward paying off a $4,360 debt to four banks. For the balance, the banks accepted 1,200,000 shares of Waltham stock.

Radio. The Federal Communications Commission announced that it would start issuing licenses in June for operation of shortrange, two-way portable radio sets (e.g., walkie-talkies) by the public. The first set to get FCC approval was developed by Cincinnati's Citizens Radio Service. It is a camera-size "transceiver" priced at about $50. The short-range sets will come in handy for directing scattered farmhands and construction workers, and might someday replace baby-sitters (if the parents are just visiting down the block).

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