1954
Innovative Products: 5-tube personal radio
The company's first 5-tube personal radio receivers for export, the PS-54, were manufactured in 1954.
The company was trying to explore business opportunities in exporting but radios at that time were generally not as reliable as today. Nonetheless, the export of radios, which were classified as high-priced products, presented a big opportunity for greater profits and were expected to have promise in overseas markets.
To start the radio export business, it was necessary that the company have a complete range of products including one-band, two-band, and three-band sets, and therefore, all the people concerned discussed through the night about what kind of models should be developed, produced and marketed.
Innovative Products: 4-tube 1-band portable radio
The company's first export model, a 4-tube 1-band portable radio for the U.S., the PL-420, was manufactured in 1954.
The demand for radios in the U.S. market was already great at that time and there was a wide variety of radio models in electric stores. The company therefore did research in the U.S. market with the aim of exporting products there and decided to test-export 1,000 units of the PL-420 radio, believing that a product would get attention as long as it was equipped with unique features. The decision made at that time was the first step in opening up and expanding the U.S. market.