Rock-Ola

The Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation was, along with Wurlitzer, a top maker of jukeboxes. The company, which originally made scales and pinball machines, was founded in 1927 by Coin-Op pioneer David Cullen Rockola. Starting in 1935, Rock-Ola sold more than 400,000 jukeboxes under the Rock-Ola brand name, which predated the rock and roll era by two decades, and is thought to have inspired the term. In 1977, The Antique Apparatus Company engineered, refined, and manufactured the first and finest “Nostalgic” Jukeboxes. The Antique Apparatus Company acquired the Rock-Ola Corporation and name in 1992.

The currently company manufactures a variety of jukeboxes for both commercial and home entertainment. Commerical jukeboxes feature touch screens, Peavey power amps and digital downloading music and ad content delivered by the AMI Network. Rock-Ola continues to manufacture Nostalgic style CD-jukeboxes and has also added state-of-the-art digital touch screen technology for the home market. The Rock-Ola line of Nostalgic Music Centers was introduced in 2006. Two new music center models, the "Mystic" and the "Q" were introduced in 2008.

Rockola was also the maker of shuffleboard tables from 1948-50. Considered by collectors the Cadillac of shuffleboards due to their Art Deco styling with curving woodwork and lots of chrome, they are highly sought after by players.

Rock-Ola also produced and published arcade video game machines in the early 1980s. The most successful game that was developed in-house was Nibbler.

Rock-Ola was also one of the producers the M1 carbine for the US Military during WWII, making 3.7% of the 6,221,220 made.

References

• Jukebox History 1934-1951
• Jukebox History 1952-1998

External links

• Official website
• Rock-Ola Jukeboxes UK UK Website
• Jukebox-World Forum, Serial Numbers, classified ads and more
• Rockola and other jukeboxes and parts
• Original 1929 Rock-Ola World Series Pinball Machine, First Rock-Ola Pinball Machine Manufactured