Radio brands manufactured by Telerad Manufacturing Co
Opening Notice: Manawatu Standard 4 Jan 1937
Television?! Grand plans indeed... Manawatu Standard 20 Jan 1937
You accept what?! Manawatu Standard 7 Oct 1937
Arthur Douglas Wylie had been working for himself building radios for people, and opened the doors of Telerad Manufacturing Co at the beginning of 1937, having borrowed £50 from a customer to do so (see below). He began selling his own Telerad brand and servicing radios. He also gained the local agency for American Bosch (through the NZ agents, International Traders Ltd in Auckland), Beach refrigerators through LD Nathan, and HMV home appliances.
Mr Wylie, already an undischarged bankrupt dating back to 1920 (when he was just 22), had previously been in business in Hawera in 1927/28 trading as the Radio Service Company - which he mismanaged badly and had subsequently spent time in jail for his debts (for not the first time).
One might generously say that Mr Wylie appears to have had no mind for business, but it might be more correct to state he was a thoroughly disreputable character who repeatedly took goods and money from people when there was no clear way he would ever be able to pay them back. Not once, but multiple times over many years and despite having been to jail at least twice for this. He appears to have been technically competent, but otherwise flawed. Telerad Manufacturing Co was just the latest in a long string of poorly managed businesses which ended the way they all had. A search of this mans name in Papers Past makes for some very interesting reading.
MANAWATU STANDARD 26 AUGUST 1938
Little more exists in advertising for the company after this time, but it seems things went from bad to worse for Mr Wylie
After this there was no more advertising related to Telerad, but Arthur Douglas Wylie pops up regularly in the court news sections of various papers.
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