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As the year of 1930 went on, and the Depression deepened, the dual effects of the economic collapse and the rise of radio proved too much for most of the surviving independent record labels. A number of them were merged into the American Record Corporation, which eventually would acquire first Brunswick and then Columbia; others, such as Grey Gull and Emerson, disappeared without a trace. Even the massive RCA Victor company gave serious consideration to leaving the record side of their business.

 

In Richmond, the Gennett firm noted that full-price records weren't selling; as a result, they quit producing Gennett records at the end of 1930, with the last issued record being #7323. However, the label continued the production of the Champion and Superior labels. Champion continued until the end of 1934, with its last issued record being #16832.

 

At that time Gennett left the popular record business. The Champion name and trademarks, along with some pressing facilities and the rights to some Gennett-recorded material, were sold to the Decca Record Company, who continued the label into 1936. Gennett continued to press and market sound-effect records for radio use until about 1941. In 1943, the use of the Gennett name (and, more importantly during wartime shortages, its shellac allocation!) was sold to Joe Davis and his partner, Oberstein, who pressed records under that name into 1945.

The Starr Piano Company continued to manufacture pianos until 1949 and diversified its product offerings in the 1930s to include refrigerators and refrigeration supplies, which were sold around the U.S. In 1952, the J. Solotken Company of Indianapolis bought the Starr Piano Company and the company's assets in an auction later that year. The once-thriving Starr Piano Company was now silent. The Pacific Division of the Starr Piano Company continued in the refrigeration business, and is known today as Refrigeration Supplies Distributor-Total Control.

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