Word: kappel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Keeping the Reins On. Fred Kappel contends that A.T.&T. needs still higher profits to grow on, but he runs into opposition in Washington, where Government officials insist that his company is already too profitable and too powerful. In terms of return on net cost of plant, the usual gauge of profitability in utilities, A.T.&T. earns somewhat more than the average: 7.2%. The General Services Administration, representing the Government as a user in regulatory hearings, has recommended that Bell's return should be limited to 6.6%, and the staff of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the Bell...
...Fred Kappel himself gives about a dozen public speeches a year, and in one of them, delivered four years ago at Columbia University, he said that "low tolerance for criticism" is a sign of loss of business vitality. A.T.&T. certainly has plenty of business vitality-and plenty of sensitivity to criticism. Kappel calls A.T.&T.'s Washington
Hotter Meetings. When it comes to the customers, Kappel is often more puzzled than angered by complaints. He admits that A.T.&T. made a tactical error in pushing all-numeral dialing without a public educational campaign. By abandoning the familiar exchange prefixes (Klondike, Pennypacker, Gypsy) and forcing users to dial seven numbers, A.T.&T. raised the possible total of phone numbers in any area by 50%. But it also raised an uproar, was soon accused on all sides of an Orwellian scheme to dehumanize everyday life-even though it would really have had to dehumanize life by ultimately limiting service...
...York City and Philadelphia; Cinemactor Tony Randall, who can well afford it, has dodged the charge by listing his number under a phony name, Irvine W. Tishman. As in many another company, A.T.&T.'s officers also are getting more and more harassment at annual meetings. Kappel has special controls behind the rostrum at which he stands to cut off any speaker who becomes too windy or unruly. But he delivered his most effective cut with out benefit of switch at the April 15 annual meeting, where a professional meeting-goer asked a seemingly endless round of questions, including...
Hooray! For all the complaints, big and small, A.T.&T. has given the U.S. the world's least frustrating telephone service with the world's most trouble-free gadget. Kappel points out that the average U.S. phone needs a repair only once every five years; except in times of flood or other natural disasters, no A.T.&T. switching office in the past 40 years has been out of order for as long as ten minutes. No place is too inaccessible, no service request too small for A.T.&T.'s telephone men. They have put up phone booths...