founded in 1980 see zenith computers . zenith electronics llc type division of lg electronics industry consumer electronics founded 1918 in chicago illinois united states headquarters lincolnshire illinois united states key people michael ahn ceo products television sets revenue us 444.7 million 1999 number of employees 976 parent lg electronics slogan the quality goes in before the name goes on . website zenith electronics zenith electronics llc is an american brand of consumer electronics owned by south korean company lg electronics . it was previously an american company a manufacturer of radio and television receivers and other consumer electronics and was headquartered in glenview illinois . after a series of layoffs the consolidated headquarters moved to lincolnshire illinois . for many years their famous slogan was the quality goes in before the name goes on . lg electronics acquired a controlling share of zenith in 1995 ; zenith became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1999 . zenith was the inventor of subscription television and the modern remote control and the first to develop high definition television hdtv in north america . 1 zenith branded products are sold in north america germany thailand to 1983 cambodia laos vietnam india and myanmar . contents 1 history 2 famous products 2.1 shortwave radio 2.2 subscription television 2.3 remote controls 2.4 space phone 2.5 zoom 2.6 the porthole television 2.7 hand wired chassis 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit former zenith logo the company was co founded by ralph matthews and karl hassel 2 in chicago illinois as chicago radio labs 3 in 1918 as a small producer of amateur radio equipment . the name zenith came from zn th a contraction of its founders ham radio call sign 9zn . they were joined in 1921 by eugene f. mcdonald 3 and zenith radio company was formally incorporated in 1923 . zenith introduced the first portable radio in 1924 3 the first mass produced ac radio in 1926 3 and push button tuning in 1927 . 3 it added automobile radios in the 1930s with its model 460 promoting the fact that it needed no separate generator or battery selling at us 59.95 . 4 the first zenith television set appeared in 1939 with its first commercial sets sold to the public in 1948 . 3 the company is credited with having invented such things as the wireless remote control and fm multiplex stereo . in fact zenith established one of the very first fm stations in the country in 1940 chicago s wwzr later called wefm named for zenith executive eugene f. mcdonald which was among the earliest fm multiplex stereo stations first broadcasting in stereo in june 1961 . the station was sold in the early 1970s and is now wusn . zenith also pioneered in the development of high contrast and flat face picture tubes and the multichannel television sound mts stereo system used on analog television broadcasts in the united states and canada as opposed to the bbc developed nicam digital stereo sound system for analog television broadcasts used in many places around the world . zenith was also one of the first companies to introduce a digital hdtv system implementation parts of which were included in the atsc standard starting with the 1993 model grand alliance . they were also one of the first american manufacturers to market a home vcr selling a sony built betamax video recorder starting in 1977 . the 1962 illinois manufacturers directory 50th anniversary edition lists zenith radio corporation as having a total of 11 000 employees of which at least 6 460 were employed in seven chicago plants . the corporate office was in plant number 1 located at 6001 west dickens avenue where 2 500 workers made radio and television sets and hi fi stereophonic phonographs . plant number 2 was located at 1500 north kostner ave. where 2 100 employees made government electronics radio and television components transistors and hearing aids . plant number 3 was located at 5801 west dickens ave. where 300 employees made electronics and servicing . plant number 4 was located at 3501 west potomac ave. where 60 employees performed warehousing . plant number 5 located at 6501 west grand ave. employed 500 600 workers who made government hi fi equipment . a subsidiary of zenith the rauland corporation located at 4245 north knox ave. employed 850 workers who made television picture tubes . the other zenith subsidiary in chicago was central electronics incorporated located at 1247 west belmont ave. where 100 employees made amateur radio equipment and performed auditory training . the other central electronics plant was located at state route 133 and grandview in paris illinois where 500 employees made radio receivers with the total zenith work force in illinois being thus at least 6 960 . 5 the last logo used during the u.s. owned period outside zenith s corporate headquarters in glenview illinois in 1995 . in december 1970 national union electric nue sued most of the japanese television manufacturers for violation of the anti dumping act and a conspiracy which violated american antitrust laws . 6 during the pendency of that suit zenith radio corporation encountered increasing financial difficulty as their marketing share progressively went to japanese companies . concerned about losing market share to japanese companies zenith filed suit in federal court in philadelphia in 1974 against the major japanese television and electronic manufacturers charging violation of the united states antitrust laws and the anti dumping act of 1916 . 7 zenith joined two united states companies sears roebuck and co. and motorola inc. as co plaintiffs . 8 the nue suit was transferred to the eastern district of pennsylvania and the two suits were consolidated for pretrial proceedings and trial . 6 the suit styled in re japanese electric products antitrust litigation sought 900 000 000 .00 in damages . 9 by the end of 1983 zenith had spent millions of dollars in connection with the litigation . 10 in 1981 the trial court entered summary judgment on the antitrust and antidumping claims and dismissed the lawsuits . 11 plaintiffs appealed and the appellate court affirmed the summary judgment for sears roebuck and co. motorola inc. and sony . 12 the case was appealed and in march 1986 the supreme court of the united states ruled in favor of the defendants on zenith s antitrust claims . 13 zenith s hopes to salvage a victory on the claims that the defendants violated the antidumping act of 1916 ended in april 1987 when the supreme court refused to hear an appeal from the u.s. district court of appeals in philadelphia which upheld the ruling of the trial court in favor of the japanese . 14 in 1979 zenith entered the computer market with the purchase of heath company from schlumberger for 64.5 million and formed zenith data systems zds . 15 the company changed its name to zenith electronics corporation in 1984 to reflect its interests in computers and catv and since it had left the radio business two years earlier . by the late 1980s zds s profits sustained zenith while its television business had lost money for years . to raise money for hdtv research efforts and reduce debt zenith sold zds to groupe bull in october 1989 for 635 million . 16 by 1990 zenith was in trouble and looking more attractive to a hostile takeover . to avoid this zenith sold 5 % of itself to the korean company lg electronics as part of a technology sharing agreement . with their analog line aging the last major update to the line had been the system chassis in 1978 citation needed and the adoption of hdtv in the united states decades away zenith s prospects were not good . in 1995 lg increased its stake to 55 percent enough to assume controlling interest . zenith filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 and in exchange for its debts lg bought the remaining 45 percent of the company . during this era some of zenith s products were being rebadged as oem under the admiral name . their profitable network systems division that produced set top boxes for cable and satellite tv was sold to motorola in the summer of 2000 and became part of motorola bcs broadband communications sector . 17 presently lg produces the zenith dtt 900 18 and zenith dtt 901 19 atsc digital television converter box . lg also offers some zenith branded plasma lcd and direct view televisions through selected retail outlets . famous products edit shortwave radio edit a zenith model 5 s 220 cube radio circa 1937 . among zenith s early famous products were the royal series of transistor radios and the trans oceanic series of shortwave portable radios which were produced from 1942 to 1981 . subscription television edit zenith was the first company to experiment with subscription television launching their phonevision system with experimental chicago station ks2xbs originally broadcasting on channel 2 before the federal communications commission forced them to relinquish it to wbbm tv . their experiment involved a descrambler box mounted on the television set and plugged into the telephone lead . when a preannounced broadcast was ready to begin viewers would call an operator at zenith who would send a signal with the telephone leads to unscramble the video . 20 while the theatre owners of america claimed the concept was unsuccessful zenith itself claimed the experiment was a success . 21 as phonevision broadcast films it was seen as a potential competitor for traditional theatres . in spite of the fact that the three films initially available to the first 300 test households were more than two years old about 18 percent of phonevision viewers had seen them at the movies and 92 percent of phonevision households reported that they would prefer to see films at home . 21 remote controls edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message zenith is perhaps best known for the first practical wireless television remote control the space command developed in 1956 . a zenith space command 600 remote control . a box advertising a remote control system often referred to as space command tuning the original television remote control was a wired version released in 1950 that soon attracted complaints about an unsightly length of cable from the viewer s chair to the television receiver . cmdr. eugene f. mcdonald zenith president and founder ordered his engineers to develop a wireless version but the use of radio waves was soon discounted due to poor interference rejection inherent in 1950s radio receivers . the 1955 flash matic remote system invented by eugene polley used a highly directional photo flash tube in the hand held unit that was aimed at sensitive photoreceivers in the four front corners of the television cabinet . however bright sunlight falling on the television was found to activate the controls . it is worth noting that these remote controls would activate a motor causing the tuning dial on the television to switch by itself and this could be used for mischief if someone else was attempting to tune the television . lead engineer robert adler then suggested that ultrasonic sound be used as a trigger mechanism . this was produced in the hand held unit by mechanically struck aluminum rods of carefully constructed dimensions a receiver in the television responded to the different frequencies this action produced . enough audible noise was produced by pressing the buttons that consumers began calling remote controls clickers . the miniaturization of electronics meant that eventually the sounds were produced in the remote unit electronically ; however the operating principle remained in use until the 1980s when it was superseded by the infrared