If you are nerdy enough like me to have an interest in the history and development of the humble television remote controller, then (like me) you’ll know that the information out there on the internet is currently pretty one-sided. While every country of course created their own range of television products, the remote-control market was created by and then somewhat dominated in the history books by the American firm of Zenith. In this respect names like the Zenith ‘Lazy Bones’, ‘Flash-matic’ and ‘Space Commander’ series are well known milestone controllers and certainly deserve their place in the controller Hall of Fame. But it is also fair to recognise that Zenith’s love for publicity and very strong branding has meant they have also overshadowed many other competitors.
The early 1950s saw an unprecedented explosion of interest and growth around the world in the young Television market. New companies emerged daily to compete for their chance to sell us a goggle box for the corner of our living rooms, and novelty products such as remote controllers often gave firms the edge in this overcrowded marketplace.
In America it was mostly the big producers such as Zenith and RCA who pioneered the new TV controllers selling them as an expensive optional extra with the purchase of their sets. As such, they were designed to work with their own products only. Across the Atlantic in the UK at least it looks to have been a very different picture. While the Television producers like HMV, Murphy, Cossor, PYE and others were happy to pump out new designs of TV set almost every week, they left it at first to the smaller marginal companies to deal with insignificant gadgets such as remote controllers.
In Dec 1952 a small UK company called Masteradio advertised a remote device aimed specifically at the hearing impaired. Priced at 6 Guineas (with no tax added probably because it was exempt as a medical device) this as far as I can tell was Britain’s first bespoke Television controller. Via a wired control box the user could adjust both the volume and picture quality of the television from the comfort of their own chair, and had a built in set of headphones for the viewer. As the advert shows this box was strapped securely onto the arm of the chair which reminds me of early radio set controllers. The documents show that Masteradio had spent many years focussing on medical devices and signal technology and held several associated patents.
So far I’ve yet to uncover any older UK specific devices (although Philips looks to have had a wired device out in 1951 which would have possibly been retailed in the UK). Therefore while the Masteradio device possibly takes the record as Britain’s 1st TV controller, as a very niche product it would never have been widely available for sale to the general public. However, the market opportunity was clearly recognised by others around them including another small company called Reproducers (Electronic) Ltd.
In June 1953 Reproducers Ltd released a wired television controller onto the UK general public which they called the ‘Trucord’ and was clearly a revamp of the Masteradio concept. It was nearly 3 years since the Lazy Bones had come out in America, but obviously the news over here travelled much more slower and the idea of an armchair controller was still new and exciting to the British public. As suggested, Reproducers Ltd basically just tweaked and rebranded the Masteradio box, keeping the tuning dial while removing the volume control. Since a simple signal tuner was not a new concept so could not be patented, they obviously didn’t have to worry about any patent infringements. Also as they were not a manufacturer of TV sets, all their products had to work independently on any manufacturer’s set. Therefore, the 5 yard long lead was fed to and adjusted the Aerial signal rather than from within the TV itself. Similarly, while the Masteradio device had a volume control that would have fed straight from the TV audio socket, it didn’t adjust the volume on the TV’s speaker but merely the associated headphones. Since few regular consumers would want the hassle of headphones, this option was naturally omitted on the controller by Reproducer’s Ltd.
It is hard to gauge how well this new ‘Trucord’ device really did in the marketplace, but since I’d never come across or heard of one myself till I stumbled across an example a short while ago, we can assume not so good. By looking through old British TV magazines of the period the Trucord also didn’t suddenly herald a slew of competitors so the remote controller market in the UK must have been a much slower rise than the US. Of course around this time other companies from other countries such as Grundig in Germany began creating their own fascinating controllers, but that is another story for another day. For now, at least it is good to showcase a few long-forgotten small UK companies in the hope they too can sneak in via the back of the long overdue Television Controller Hall of Fame.