Personal Music Corporation, a Delaware corporation with headquarters in New York, started in 1940. Few installations were made at that time, and the company was inactive thruout the
WWII war years. May 1 of 1945 the firm resumed activities, beginning the manufacture and operation of entirely new equipment called "Phonettes".
Personal Music was a subsidiary of Pyrene Fire Extinguisher Corporation and C-O-Two Fire Equipment Corporation of Newark, NJ and
equipment for the Phonette system was manufactured in the firm's factory at Newark.
Personal Music owned studios where music from dual automatic record changers was piped into locations over telephone wires.
Locations were provided with small speaker cabinets ("Phonettes") which are placed along counters or in booths.
Customers on depositing either a penny (1 cent) or a nickel (5 cent), depending upon the type of box installed, received either three or six minutes of uninterrupted, nonselectvie music which could be heard only in the immediate vicinity of the speaker.
It took until March 1946 for the plant in Newark to reach full production. After that date, the company was able to manufacture phonette units and set up studio equipment in quantities.
(left to right) H. F. Dennison, president; M. A. Laswell, vice-president, and R. F. Batch, secretary, of Personal Music Corporation
Personal Music owned studios where music from dual automatic record changers was piped into locations over telephone wires.
Locations were provided with small speaker cabinets ("Phonettes") which are placed along counters or in booths.
Customers on depositing either a penny (1 cent) or a nickel (5 cent), depending upon the type of box installed, received either three or six minutes of uninterrupted, nonselectvie music which could be heard only in the immediate vicinity of the speaker.
It took until March 1946 for the plant in Newark to reach full production. After that date, the company was able to manufacture phonette units and set up studio equipment in quantities.
