My new Tandberg related avatar and it's history!

[Kent T]

Hi TandbergRay and all,

My new avatar is a Viking drawing used in Tandberg instruction manuals. My wife, Ingjerd Bengtssen drew this figure at 7 years of age in Norway. Her parents then worked for Tandberg Radiofabrikk, AS in Oslo, Norway. Her parents took the drawing to work and Vebjorn Tandberg saw it and enjoyed her work. He paid her for the rights to use it in Tandberg instruction manuals and commissioned more of these paintings. The original of this avatar presently hangs in my office at work. (I am a broadcast engineer and my wife and her twin brother own 15 AM and FM stations). *reelspin*

[Naknut]

Very nice story and history lesson. The drawing looks exceptional for a seven year old, could you post an attachment of it in a reply? I would love to see a larger image of it as it is very small in your avatar.

[El Monte Slim]

Very nice, Kent!

You're a big Otari fan too, aren't you?

[Njord Noatun]

I never tire of of Tandberg's history - it is an amazing story, full of success and tragedy at the same time. Unfortinately, very little of its history is translated into English. And a lot of historical documents from Tandberg's tumultuous phase in the 70's and 80's are locked up in a chairman's filing cabinet and he refuses to talk. Other senior executives have either passed away, or are unable or unwilling to talk for a variety of reasons.

Kent's post represents a small piece of this history which happens to be personal and therefore something we can relate to: I know Kent has more stories like this one that he might share with us in due course - I hope he does.

I have seen Ingjerd's drawings in dozens of Tandberg's equipment documents from scanning countless pages, notably in service manuals: I think there were several varieties of that Viking Troll - weren't there, Kent? It would be fun to compile them all in one place!

[Scorpion8]

That's cool to actually be a part of some (albeit obscure) piece of history. A tale you can always tell the kids and grandkids and ....

[Kent T]

Yes, there's several varieties of the Tandberg Troll in their manuals. My avatar is the "Viking Recording Engineer". Also, very sad about Tandberg's late history. Our Oslo residence was built on Vebjorn Tandberg's discovery of my wife's parents finding out that their twin children were born with spina bifida and their own diagnosis of spina bifida. Their house was built and fully furnished by Tandberg and deeded over to the family. Vebjorn Tandberg was a generous gentleman and very paternal towards his staff. We are pleased to be associated with his legacy. Tandberg was also very generous with vacation time when this family needed surgeries or other medical needs.

[Nakdoc]

Not mentioned in this thread is what I consider the "golden age" of service manuals. We see it in old Bang and Olufsen and Sony manuals, for example. Tandberg considered the SM a book! They printed 2 or 3 color on heavy, acid free paper. The english text was perfect, so they must have hired good translators and proofreaders. Technical descriptions were provided for the "new" technologies like TTL logic circuits. And the little viking added a character and charm not found in any service manual. Back in the 70's the better manufacturers recognized that their dealers represented product as a team. Glossy sales literature was standard, but the well-produced service manuals conveyed the quality message to the service departments as well. When Advent or ADS produced service manuals, they followed the Tandberg examples.

[Njord Noatun]

Vebjorn Tandberg was a generous gentleman and very paternal towards his staff. After he had been asked to step down as chairman and CEO (he was in his 70's) he kept coming back every day to the factories he had built to talk with employees: Tandberg was truly more than his "baby", it was his life. The bankruptcy court assigned management got wind that VT was still coming in to the factory despite no longer being an employee, confronted him and and asked him to immediately leave the premises and to never return. Can you imagine the bitterness he must have felt being refused access to the company he had founded 40 years earlier and singlehandely built? The new management also forced VT out of the home he had built while at Tandberg in order to sell it.

Despite this, in accordance with his death notice (that I have a scan of in my database, BTW, and below), he gave all his earthly belongings to the Tandberg Foundation, which was designed exclusively to benefit Tandberg's employees!

The Tandberg Foundation was, of course, always the owner of Tandberg Radiofabrikk: VT never owned shares, and it was never stock exchange listed: VT builds this highly successful and profitable company, and gives it all away to the foundation (i.e., the employees)!

VT was indeed a pioneer in designing a corporation where the role of the employees was considered equal, if not exceeding, to that of the owners. This principle quickly became a goal of many other socially responsive Norwegian companies, and the impacts of VT's work in this respect can still be seen to this day: Job security and corporate welfare are still second to none across Norwegian corporations.

http://sportsbil.com/tandberg/DoNotPublish/lastwish.jpg

[TandbergRay]

Hi Kent,
Being a Tandberg Fanatic......I find your story very interesting. I also am glad to hear the Tandberg's were very generous, and understanding to the Family Health situations, I wish more people in this world, especially here in America would be so caring and supportive of one another. Thank You, Ray




Hi TandbergRay and all,

My new avatar is a Viking drawing used in Tandberg instruction manuals. My wife, Ingjerd Bengtssen drew this figure at 7 years of age in Norway. Her parents then worked for Tandberg Radiofabrikk, AS in Oslo, Norway. Her parents took the drawing to work and Vebjorn Tandberg saw it and enjoyed her work. He paid her for the rights to use it in Tandberg instruction manuals and commissioned more of these paintings. The original of this avatar presently hangs in my office at work. (I am a broadcast engineer and my wife and her twin brother own 15 AM and FM stations). *reelspin*

[okiehick]

As a retail sales person for Tandberg products in the 70's I had the opportunity to go to Armonk, NY for training, it was like a family back then. I also visited the factory in Norway in 1977. That trip was one of the highlights of my up to then short life. It was a real shame what happened with Tandberg, and VT. He was a great man, and Tandberg was a great company.
35 years later, I still collect Tandberg gear from that era. Now the whole thing has gone full circle and Cisco buys what esentially has no relation to the orignal Tandberg company that VT founded. Such is "progress" in the current era.


After he had been asked to step down as chairman and CEO (he was in his 70's) he kept coming back every day to the factories he had built to talk with employees: Tandberg was truly more than his "baby", it was his life. The bankruptcy court assigned management got wind that VT was still coming in to the factory despite no longer being an employee, confronted him and and asked him to immediately leave the premises and to never return. Can you imagine the bitterness he must have felt being refused access to the company he had founded 40 years earlier and singlehandely built? The new management also forced VT out of the home he had built while at Tandberg in order to sell it.

Despite this, in accordance with his death notice (that I have a scan of in my database, BTW, and below), he gave all his earthly belongings to the Tandberg Foundation, which was designed exclusively to benefit Tandberg's employees!

The Tandberg Foundation was, of course, always the owner of Tandberg Radiofabrikk: VT never owned shares, and it was never stock exchange listed: VT builds this highly successful and profitable company, and gives it all away to the foundation (i.e., the employees)!

VT was indeed a pioneer in designing a corporation where the role of the employees was considered equal, if not exceeding, to that of the owners. This principle quickly became a goal of many other socially responsive Norwegian companies, and the impacts of VT's work in this respect can still be seen to this day: Job security and corporate welfare are still second to none across Norwegian corporations.

http://sportsbil.com/tandberg/DoNotPublish/lastwish.jpg

[shadowlord]

while owning a nice tandberg receiver i don't know much about tandberg's past.
anyone knows a good link for some information?
german or english preferred.

[jdurbin1]

Check out TH member Njord Noatun's data archives for Tandberg... in addition to all the manuals, I believe there is some material on the company's past. Some of it may be in Norwegian however.

John

[TandbergRay]

Hi Kent,

Im sorry I haven't responded sooner. I appreciate you sharing all of this information, which I had no idea of, but am very interested in. I appreciate you adressing me by name, I didn't realize till I just read the Post now. That is amazing about Mr. Tandberg, being such a great person, and being totally trodden on by the corporation later. I hate to hear bad things happening to Good People. I am also fascinated that you have the original Viking Drawing in your office. Its kinda weird, seeing your name say Otari Fanatic....and you know so much, and have such a relationship with Tandberg. But I realize we can be fans of several product lines.

I find it amazing that your wife and her brother own 15 AM and 15 FM Radio Stations. Are they local to CA. or around the USA? How did they manage that? That is super sucessful. You also sound like an extreme sucess. I wish I had accomplished more with my life. I was in construction, right out of High School, for years, then got seriously hurt to my back and knees. So, I went to a School for Electronic Engineering, specifically, and wanted to enter the Audio End of the business, but it had already come to the point of throwaway mass fi gear primarily. No living or opportunities in High End for me. So, I went into car radio repair, for a large company, 3rd largest facility in the USA, and they had no appreciation of workers, like Tandberg did. I started at $8.00 per hour in 1995, and left there 5 years later, at $10.00 per hour, and that took threatening to quit, otherwise it was .25 cent raises per year. They also had a reputation of giving very negative references to employees that sought jobs elsewhere, once they were notified. So, we had to tell future job opportunities, to call the company, and ask for a specific individual, who was a fellow worker, maybe a manager though, and he would give a Positive Reference to those of us seeking work elsewhere. Im now on Social Security Disability, which is horrible, have a family, and am having horrible financial times. Im glad I got most of my High End gear, like Tandberg stuff, while I was single, or years ago, and have kept it serviced. I would have loved to have worked for someone like Mr. Tandberg, because I have always had a strong work ethic, and for a Good Boss, its naturalo to try all the harder, at least thats how I look at it. Thanks so much, for this, and any future stories you share with us. I really appreciate the info. I am a huge Tandberg Fan, love the equipment. Especially the Reel to Reels. The TPT-3001A is no slouch either, one of the best Tuners ever made, if not the best. I wonder if I get any of your wife's stations in here, in New Jersey....near Atlantic City area.

Thank You, Ray







Hi TandbergRay and all,

My new avatar is a Viking drawing used in Tandberg instruction manuals. My wife, Ingjerd Bengtssen drew this figure at 7 years of age in Norway. Her parents then worked for Tandberg Radiofabrikk, AS in Oslo, Norway. Her parents took the drawing to work and Vebjorn Tandberg saw it and enjoyed her work. He paid her for the rights to use it in Tandberg instruction manuals and commissioned more of these paintings. The original of this avatar presently hangs in my office at work. (I am a broadcast engineer and my wife and her twin brother own 15 AM and FM stations). *reelspin*

[Kent T]

Our stations are in Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia. Our reach extends from Sweetwater, TN to Snellville, GA. We may be extending into Knoxville with a little luck and a LMA (Leasing and Management agreement). We're a small regional company (our growth is slowing due to practicality)