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But the biggest single boost to Sony transistor radio fame was a New York burglary. In September 1957, Agrod, the audio giant, had been signed on as the exclusive US agent for Sony radios and had established a sales network. Agrod had since made good use of the Delmonico International sales network, based in New York's Long Island, to distribute the radios across the country. The name Sony was becoming synonymous with top quality in transistor radios.
On January 13, 1958, Hiroshi Tada, who was in New York preparing for the opening of a Sony office, came home from work and turned on the radio just in time to hear a news report that 4,000 Sony radios had been stolen from Delmonico. Hardly able to believe his ears, he phoned Shido Yamada. "Yes," she said, "I heard it, too."
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The next morning's New York Times newspaper carried the bold headline: "4,000 Japanese Transistor Radios Stolen From Delmonico Warehouse." According to the article, Delmonico's offices and warehouse were situated on a busy thoroughfare called the "Shopping Yard." At the busiest hour of the day, 6 p.m., the thieves had broken in through an upstairs window. A team of four or five men had boldly driven a truck up to the doors and loaded it with stolen goods. Moreover, the warehouse had been stacked high with other manufacturers' radios which were left untouched. The thieves had taken only 400 cartons, each containing ten TR-63s. The loss amounted to $100,000.
For better or worse, Sony's name was in the headlines. A daring break-in, the biggest radio heist in history --- and the discriminating thieves had taken only Sony products. The brand name was on New Yorkers'lips that January.
For some time the burglary was the sole topic of conversation wherever Tada went. People teased him about the effective 100% free publicity he had received and begged for the secret of being robbed so successfully. Poor Tada could only protest that the company had not wanted it that way.
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Strange as it may seem, Sony was delighted by the burglary. On the other hand, their factory was hard-pressed to make up the replacement order for 4,000 units, and the Tokyo office was at wits end trying to make a supply shipment to replace the stolen units.
The TR-63 had attracted attention. But in June of that year, the still smaller and lighter TR-610 was introduced becoming the definitive export model. With its innovative design and superior performance, the TR-610 fared well overseas even before it hit the Japanese market. Between 1958 and 1960,it sold half a million sets worldwide (including Japan). It made such an impact that leading department stores and quality specialty stores overseas were vying to create TR-610 displays. At one time the radios were traded at a premium, and some Japanese manufacturers even reimported them from the US to produce imitations. The popular demand for this model was the decisive breakthrough for the Sony name overseas.
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Transistor radios were not the only Sony line catching on. Various products were doing well in the company's original field of audio equipment.One of these was Japan's first condenser microphone, the C-37, which would eventually stand out as a leading example of world-class Japanese technology.
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