IFA History - The years 1960-1969

100 years of IFA: From the "Große Deutsche Funkausstellung" to the world's largest and most important trade fair for consumer electronics and home appliances

IFA, the world's largest and most important trade fair for consumer electronics and home appliances, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. IFA was first held in December 1924 as the "Great German Radio Exhibition" in Berlin. Since then, IFA has stood for innovation, technology and entertainment.

To mark this anniversary, the industry organisation gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH, owner of the IFA trademark rights, is reviewing 100 years of technical development in the consumer electronics and household appliance industry. Episode four covers the years 1960 to 1969.

The first part of the following sections deals with the actual IFA in the respective year, the second part reports on the industry in general.

1960

There was no radio exhibition in this year.

Televisions with UHF tuners came onto the market in Germany and "printed wiring" led to new design possibilities. The first "IC" = integrated circuits were invented. The forerunner of the radio telephone, the "public mobile land radio", or "öbL" for short, served around 800 vehicles with 28 radio stations for a monthly fee of DM 45 and DM 0.16 for three minutes of conversation.

1961

The 22nd "Deutsche Rundfunk-Fernseh- und Phono-Ausstellung" took place in Berlin from 25 August to 3 September, for the first time since 1939. The number of exhibitors totalled 174 and 387,500 visitors were counted. Federal President Heinrich Lübke welcomed the return to its original location. After the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August, German industry decided to hold the Funkausstellung anyway. With a "now-first-right attitude", 100,000 visitors "stormed" the exhibition halls just 48 hours after the opening on 25 August. The range of home radio equipment had reached a "certain conclusion". One innovation was cordless home radios, which had a battery life of between 150 and 500 hours, depending on the type of battery used. The so-called portable devices could also be used in the car with the appropriate holder. Other car radios were based on fully transistorised technology. The design of the radios had also changed; curved shapes and gold-plated mouldings were "out". Nevertheless, there were numerous music cabinets on display, ranging from inexpensive models to luxury versions in period furniture design. The home tape recorder enjoyed increasing popularity, with four-track technology, a built-in mixer and battery operation. The 59 cm (23 inch) cathode ray tube had prevailed among televisions. All the TVs on display had UHF parts for receiving the second programme.

The Federal Constitutional Court rejected the idea of federal television. On 16 December, the Minister Presidents spoke out in favour of the introduction of Second German Television. Broadcasting of stereo programmes began in the USA.

1962

No radio exhibition took place this year.

Deutschlandfunk began broadcasting on long and medium wave on 1 January. The "Telstar" satellite made it possible to exchange programmes directly across the Atlantic from 1 July. The "dhfi", the German High Fidelity Institute, was founded and developed the HiFi quality standards. The red light-emitting diode (LED) was developed. The first computer game was programmed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with the space battle "Space War".

1963

From 30 August to 8 September, the 23rd "Große Deutsche Funkausstellung" took place in Berlin with 177 exhibitors and 417,500 visitors. On 30 August, stereophonic broadcasting was officially introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany. Accordingly, the 450 radio receivers on display focussed on stereo radio. The predominant cabinet style was the "functional Nordic line" in teak. In the field of hi-fi systems, new control units with and without built-in record players were again presented. The range of portable and pocket receivers was described as extraordinarily extensive. For the first time, listeners interested in worldwide long-distance reception were addressed with subdivided short-wave reception areas. The compact cassette was introduced at the radio exhibition. The televisions on display no longer had a protective screen in front of the picture tube (to protect against injury if the picture tubes exploded). In a TV set, the electronics were housed in a flat casing and the picture tube was mounted above it so that it could be rotated. Television portables were available with 36, 41 and 48 cm screens, as well as a 25 cm model with battery operation. over 100 television events, the first to be organised in cooperation between ARD and ZDF, in which around 1,000 editors, technicians, artists and others took part, are recorded. Deutsche Bundespost exhibited the "Bridge to Berlin" with long-distance calls, telegrams, radio and television programmes in a special show. ARD presented an anniversary exhibition entitled "40 Years of Broadcasting".

At the beginning of the year, 16.7 million fee-paying radio and 7.2 million television subscribers were reported. On 3 January, the PAL colour television process was patented. The Second German Television (ZDF) began broadcasting on 1 April. A method of noise suppression for audio tapes was developed. On 23 and 24 June, US President John F. Kennedy visited West Germany and West Berlin. 17 hours of television were produced by 400 employees using 40 television cameras, twelve OB vans and a helicopter. Cameras with autofocus were used for the first time.

1964

No radio exhibition took place this year.

The ten millionth television set was registered in the Federal Republic of Germany. The American lunar probe "Ranger VII" transmitted 4,316 television images from very close to the moon for 16 minutes before its impact with the lunar surface. The preliminary stage for HDTV development was launched in Japan as the "Television of the Future" project. Eleven countries founded the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (INTEL-SAT). From 1 October, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (West German Radio) began broadcasting police announcements about traffic jams, the precursor to traffic radio.

1965

The 24th "German Radio Exhibition" took place in Stuttgart from 27 August to 5 September. 116 exhibitors presented their products to 566,000 visitors. The radio receivers focussed on wide and flat stereo control units with one loudspeaker connected to the left and one to the right. Music chests were available in the styles "modern, baroque and old German". In the tape recorder sector, cassette players were among the most promising innovations. There was also a cassette player for car radios. High-end tape recorders reached the hi-fi standard for sound quality. The novelties of the phono industry were so-called phono cases, which had removable housing tops with loudspeakers. Around 25 per cent of the televisions on display had a 65 cm (26 inch) picture tube. One-button programme selectors were a novelty. "The housings are all modern in design, with the asymmetrical type dominating," it said. Matching tubular steel frames and small tables were available for many table-top receivers, transforming the appliance into a floor-standing receiver. One device had a key switch to prevent unauthorised use. In addition, the PAL colour television system was already on everyone's lips. The introduction of colour television had been delayed in West Germany due to the political system dispute between PAL and SECAM. Süddeutscher Rundfunk's new stereo transmission van, the first and only one of its kind at the time, was used for the first time during the Funkausstellung. In a special exhibition, the German Federal Post Office provided information about its activities in the radio field - from car telephones to radio relay and satellite radio.

The first commercially used geostationary INTELSAT communications satellite was launched on 6 April and began transmitting long-distance calls, telexes and television broadcasts on 28 June. The space probe "Mariner IV" transmitted television images from the surface of Mars on 14 July.

1966

There was no radio exhibition this year.

At the CCIR General Assembly (Comité Consultatif International des Radiocommunications), the decision was made for the colour television standards in the respective countries. 59 per cent of the countries opted for the PAL system, 36 per cent for SECAM and 5 per cent had not yet decided. The hi-fi standard DIN 45 500 was adopted. The first home video game was developed. The first patent for fibre optic technology was registered on 21 December. Dictaphones were given a mini-cassette that was considerably smaller than those used previously. The first electronically controlled tumble dryer in Europe was launched on the market.

1967

The number of exhibitors at the 25th "Great German Radio Exhibition" was 184. It took place again in Berlin from 25 August to 3 September and had 502,500 visitors. This radio exhibition was clearly marked by the introduction of colour television based on the PAL system developed in West Germany. The then Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Willy Brandt pressed the symbolic red button at the Funkausstellung on 25 August. The Federal Republic of Germany was the first European country to have colour television. 18 companies exhibited over 50 colour TVs, mostly with 63 cm picture tubes. The prices were around DM 2,400. There was also a portable colour TV with a 28 cm picture size. A curiosity was a so-called multi-programme TV, which offered three black and white pictures in 15 cm size in addition to a 63 cm colour picture. Otherwise, the asymmetrical format dominated, with the controls and loudspeaker located to the right of the picture. The so-called single-board chassis, which could be swivelled out to make servicing the appliance easier, was used for the interior. In televisions and radios, capacitive diodes were introduced in the receiver sections and improved the technology. Special bedside receivers with a clock and alarm function were offered, and one model even had an integrated bedside lamp. Another innovation was the radio recorder, a combination of radio and cassette recorder, and the 120-minute compact cassette was introduced.

By the end of the year, 5,744 minutes of the TV programme had been broadcast in colour, an average of five hours and eleven minutes a day. At the start of colour television, there were over 13 million black-and-white TVs in West Germany, a household saturation rate of around 64 percent. A portable black-and-white video recorder was introduced and the first television telephones were demonstrated. The first pocket calculator was also produced.

Continue reading IFA history - the years 1960 to 1969 - GFU

The history of the IFA can be found at gfu.de/ifa-berlin/100-jahre-ifa/.

Sources

The history of consumer electronics, Jochen Wiesinger

70 years of the Funkausstellung, Heide Riedel

From steam radio to multimedia, Claus Reuber