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David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian-born American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970. Known as "The General", he ruled over an ever-growing telecommunications and consumer electronics empire to include both RCA and NBC, which became one of the largest companies in the world. Sarnoff Corporation, with headquarters on the southeast side (northbound lane) of U.S. Route 1 in Princeton, New Jersey, is the former RCA Laboratories. ...
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is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ...
The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...
RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson Consumer Electronics, which manufactures RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related accessories; and...
Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...
Consumer electronics is a term used to describe the category of electronic equipment intended for everyday use by people, the consumers. ...
Early years
David Sarnoff was born in Uzlian, a small Jewish village near the city of Minsk, Russian Empire (now in Belarus), to a poor Jewish family, the eldest son of Abraham and Leah Sarnoff. Given the limited opportunities for Jews in Russia at that time, Sarnoff's future as a bright young boy seemed assured as a rabbi. Until his father emigrated to the United States and raised funds to bring the family, Sarnoff spent much of his early childhood in a cheder studying and memorizing the Torah. He emigrated with his mother and nine brothers and sisters to New York City in 1900, where he helped support his family by selling newspapers for a penny before and after his classes at the Educational Alliance. In 1906 his father became incapacitated by tuberculosis and David assumed the role as head of the household at the age of 15. He had planned to pursue a full-time career in the newspaper business but a chance encounter led to a position as an office boy at the Commercial Cable Company. When his superior refused him unpaid leave for Rosh Hashanah, he joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America on September 30, 1906, and thus started a career of over sixty years in electronic communications. Location of Minsk, shown within the Minsk Voblast Coordinates: Country Subdivision Belarus Minsk Founded 1067 Government - Mayor Mikhail Pavlov Area - City 305. ...
The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ...
For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ...
The Torah () is the most important document in Judaism, revered as the inspired word of G-d (the vocal is never spelled), traditionally said to have been revealed to Moses. ...
New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
The Commercial Cable Company The Commercial Cable Company was founded in 1884 by J W MacKay and J Gordon Bennett. ...
Look up Rosh Hashanah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The Marconi Company Ltd. ...
Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...
Over the next thirteen years Sarnoff rose from office boy to commercial manager of the company, learning about the technology and the business of electronic communications on the job and in various libraries. He also served at Marconi stations on ships and posts on Siasconset, Nantucket and the New York Wanamaker Department Store. In 1911 he installed and operated the wireless equipment on a ship hunting seals off Newfoundland and Labrador, and used the technology to relay the first remote medical diagnosis from the ship's doctor to a radio operator at Belle Isle with an infected tooth. The following year he led two other operators at the Wanamaker station in an effort to confirm the fate of Titanic and gather the survivors' names. Over the next two years Sarnoff earned promotions to chief inspector and contracts manager for a company whose revenues swelled after Congress passed legislation mandating 24-7 staffing of commercial shipboard radio stations. That same year Marconi won a patent a suit that gave it the coastal stations of the United Wireless Telegraph Company. Sarnoff also demonstrated the first use of radio on a railroad line, the Lackawanna Railroad Company's link between Binghamton, New York, and Scranton, Pennsylvania; and permitted and observed Edwin Armstrong's demonstration of his regenerative receiver at the Marconi station at Belmar, New Jersey. Sarnoff used H. J. Round's hydrogen arc transmitter to demonstrate the broadcast of music from the New York Wanamaker station. Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, formed of glacial moraine. ...
Wanamakers department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one of the first department stores in the United States. ...
This article is about the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ...
For other uses, see Titanic (disambiguation). ...
Binghamton is a city located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. ...
Scranton redirects here. ...
Belmar is a borough located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. ...
Captain Henry Joseph Round (2 June 1881, Kingswinford, Staffordshire, England–17 August 1966, Bognor Regis) was one of the early pioneers of radio and received 117 patents. ...
This demonstration and the AT&T demonstrations in 1915 of long-distance wireless telephony inspired the first several of many memos to his superiors on applications of current and future radio technologies. Sometime late in 1915 or in 1916 he proposed to the company's president, Edward J. Nally, that the company develop a "Radio Music Box" for the "amateur" market of radio enthusiasts. Nally deferred on the proposal because of the expanded volume of business during World War I, and Sarnoff devoted his time to managing the company's factory in Roselle Park, New Jersey. This article is about the current AT&T. For the 1885-2005 company, see American Telephone & Telegraph. ...
Edward Julian Nally (1859 - 1953) was a U.S. radio industrialist. ...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
Map of Roselle Park in Union County Roselle Park is a Borough located in Union County, New Jersey. ...
When Owen D. Young of the General Electric Company arranged the purchase of American Marconi and turned it into the Radio Corporation of America, a radio patent monopoly, Sarnoff realized his dream and revived his proposal in a lengthy memo on the company's business and prospects. His superiors again ignored him but he contributed to the rising postwar radio boom by helping arrange for the broadcast of a heavyweight boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier in July 1921. Up to 300,000 people heard the fight, and demand for home radio equipment bloomed that winter. By the spring of 1922 Sarnoff's prediction of popular demand for broadcasting had come true, and over the next eighteen months, he gained in stature and influence. RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ...
The name General Electric Company refers to two companies: An American multinational, General Electric A defunct British company, The General Electric Company plc, now a part of Telent plc Category: ...
RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson Consumer Electronics, which manufactures RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related accessories; and...
This article is about the economics of markets dominated by a single seller. ...
William Harrison Jack Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983) was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title between 1919 and 1926. ...
Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (January 12, 1894 – October 28, 1975) was a French boxer. ...
Sarnoff was instrumental in building and established the AM broadcasting radio business which became the preeminent public radio standard for the majority of the 20th century. This was until FM broadcasting radio re-emerged in the 1960s (following FM's initial appearance and disappearance during the 1930s and 1940's - see Yankee Network for more details on early FM broadcasting and a tragic legacy to the Sarnoff story). AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using Amplitude Modulation. ...
FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. ...
The Yankee Network was an American radio network. ...
FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. ...
Marshall McLuhan, which discovered the media laws in the 1960s, quoted Sarnoff acceptance speech for an honorary degree by University of Notre Dame, while he was RCA head. Sarnoff said: "We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value." McLuhan called this "the voice of the current somnambulism", an example of conventional so-called media experts, which are blinded by media content/use, and are not aware of their real meaning, their social and psychic impact, the way the intrinsic characteristics of a particular media amplifies existing processes in human association. "There is simply nothing in the Sarnoff statement that will bear scrutiny, for it ignores the nature of the medium, of any and all media, in the true Narcissus style of one hypnotized by the amputation and extension of his own being in a new technical form."[1] “McLuhan†redirects here. ...
The University of Notre Dame IPA: is a Catholic[4] institution located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated section of St. ...
NBC When Sarnoff was put in charge of radio broadcasting at RCA, he soon recognized the potential for television. He was determined for his company to pioneer the medium and so he organized to meet with Westinghouse engineer Vladimir Zworykin in 1928, who at the time was developing an all-electronic television system in his spare time on the company premises. Zworykin told Sarnoff he could build a viable television system in two years with a mere $100,000 grant. Sarnoff decided to fund his research, but the estimate was off by several orders of magnitude and several years. RCA demonstrated a working iconoscope camera tube and kinescope receiver tube to the press on April 24, 1936. This article is about the defunct Westinghouse Electric Corporation founded in 1886, renamed CBS Corporation in 1997, and purchased by Viacom in 1999. ...
Vladimir Zworykin, 1929, holding his kinescope Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin (Russian: ) (July 30, 1889 - July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. ...
The iconoscope was invented by Vladimir Zworykin in 1923, essencially a tube for television transmission used in the first cameras. ...
Kinescope (IPA: ) originally referred to the cathode ray tube used in television monitors. ...
The final cost of the enterprise was closer to $50 million. On the road to success they also encountered a battle with the young inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, who had been granted patents in 1930 for his solution to broadcasting moving pictures. Eventually Sarnoff was ordered to pay him $1,000,000 in royalties. In 1929, Sarnoff engineered the purchase of the Victor Talking Machine Company, the nation's largest manufacturer of records and phonographs, merging radio-phonograph production at Victor's large manufacturing facility in Camden, New Jersey. This article needs cleanup. ...
For other uses, see Patent (disambiguation). ...
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. ...
Victor logo with the famous Nipper dog. ...
A 12-inch record (left), a 7-inch record (right), and a CD (above) Two 7 singles (left), two colored 7 singles (middle), and two 7 singles with large spindle holes (right). ...
Tonearm redirects here. ...
The City of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey in the United States. ...
Sarnoff became president of RCA on January 3, 1930, succeeding General James Harbord. On May 30 the company was involved in an antitrust case concerning the original radio patent pool. Sarnoff's tenacity and intelligence was able to negotiate an outcome where RCA was no longer partly owned by Westinghouse and General Electric, giving him final say in the company's affairs. James Harbord was a U.S. Army officer and a business executive. ...
This article is about anti-competitive business behavior. ...
“GE†redirects here. ...
Initially, the Great Depression caused RCA to cut costs, but Zworykin's project was protected. After nine years of Zworykin's hard work, Sarnoff's determination, and legal battles with Farnsworth (in which Farnsworth was proved in the right), they had a commercial system ready to launch. Finally, in 1939 Television in America was born under the name of the National Broadcast Corporation. The first television show aired at the New York World's Fair and was introduced by the General himself. For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...
The standard approved by the NTSC in 1941 differed from RCA's, but RCA quickly became the market leader of manufactured sets and NBC became the first Television network in the United States. NTSC is the analog television system in use in Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and some other countries, mostly in the Americas (see map). ...
There are those who say that Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to be shown on TV (at the 1939 New York World's Fair). Meanwhile, a system developed by EMI based on Zworykin's work was adopted in Britain and used by the BBC in 1936. However, World War II put a halt to a dynamic growth of the early television development stages. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ...
Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ...
Trylon, Perisphere and Helicline photo by Sam Gottscho The 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair, located on the current site of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair), was one of the largest worlds fairs of all time. ...
For other uses, see EMI (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...
Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
At the onset of World War II, Sarnoff served on Eisenhower's communications staff, arranging expanded radio circuits for NBC to transmit news from the invasion of France in June 1944. In France, Sarnoff arranged for the restoration of the Radio France station in Paris that the Germans destroyed and oversaw the construction of a radio transmitter powerful enough to reach all of the allied forces in Europe, called Radio Free Europe. Thanks to his communications skills and support he received the Brigadier General's star in December of 1945, and thereafter was known as "General Sarnoff." The star, which he proudly and frequently wore, was buried with him. Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ...
Radio France is the French public service radio broadcaster. ...
This article is about the capital of France. ...
A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ...
After the war, monochrome television production began in earnest. Color television was the next major development and NBC once again won the battle. CBS also had their electro-mechanical color television system approved by the FCC on October 10, 1950 however, Sarnoff filed an unsuccessful suit in the United States district court to suspend that ruling. Subsequently he made an appeal to the Supreme court which eventually upheld the FCC decision. Sarnoff's tenacity and determination to win the "Color War" pushed his engineers to perfect an all-electronic color television system that used a signal that could be received on existing monochrome sets that finally won the day. CBS was now unable to take advantage of the color market, due to lack of manufacturing capability and sets that were triple the cost of monochrome sets. A few days after CBS had its color premiere on 14 June 1951, RCA demonstrated a fully functional all-electronic color television system and became the leading manufacturer of color Television sets in the United States. This article is about the broadcast network. ...
FCC redirects here. ...
Map of the boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...
Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the...
Color television production was suspended in October 1951 for the duration of the Korean War. As more people bought monochrome sets, it was increasingly unlikely that CBS could achieve any success with its incompatible system. The NTSC was reformed and recommended a system virtually identical to RCA's in August 1952. On December 17, 1953 the FCC approved RCA's system as the new standard. Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States Medical staff: Denmark, Australia, Italy, Norway, Sweden Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Peoples Republic of China, Soviet Union Commanders...
Family Life David married Lizette Herman, a conservative Jewish girl from Paris, France and their 54-year marriage proved the bedrock of his life. They had three sons: Robert, Edward, and Thomas. Robert succeeded his father as RCA's Chairman in 1971 while the youngest of their three sons, Thomas, became NBC West Coast President. Each son had three children, expanding the Sarnoff clan to include nine grandchildren: Rosita, Serena, and Claudia (Robert's daughters); James, Russell and John (Edward's sons); and Daniel J., Timothy and Cynthia (Thomas' children). Today, the family brood continues to grow and the third-generation's great-grandchildren include: David and Alexander (James'children), Sabrina and Andrew (Russell's children); Cristina and Nicholas (Daniel's children with his first wife): Aaron, Anna and Aria (Timothy's children); Isabella and Lily (Daniel's daughter's by his second marriage); Abigail (Cynthia's daughter); and Adam, Toby and Felicia (Serena's children).
Later years In 1955, General Sarnoff received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ...
The logo of The Hundred Year Association of New York The Hundred Year Association of New York was founded in 1927 to recognize and reward dedication and service to the City of New York by businesses and organizations that have been in operation in the City for a century or...
In 1959 Sarnoff was a member of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund panel to report on U.S. foreign policy. As a member of that panel and in a subsequent essay published in Life as part of its "The National Purpose" series, he was critical of the tentative stand being taken by the United States in fighting the political and psychological warfare being waged by Soviet-led international Communism against the West. He strongly advocated an aggressive, multi-faceted fight in the ideological and political realms with a determination to decisively win the Cold War.[2] Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), (Philanthropy for an Interdependent World), is the principal philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. ...
Philippe Halsmans famous portrait of Marilyn Monroe Life generally refers to two American magazines: A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936; A publication created by Time founder Henry Luce in 1936, with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. ...
State motto (Russian): Пролетарии вÑех Ñтран, ÑоединÑйтеÑÑŒ! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Soviet republics Area - Total - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ...
Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ...
The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. ...
For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...
Sarnoff retired in 1970, at the age of 79, and died the following year, aged 80. He is interred in a mausoleum featuring a stained-glass vacuum tube in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester Co. ...
Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, USA. The population was 5,379 at the 2000 census. ...
Noted Publications No scholarly biography of Sarnoff--one that documents its sources and draws on multiple archives--yet exists. - Kenneth Bilby, The General: David Sarnoff and the Rise of the Communications Industry (NY: Harper & Row, 1986). The best biography available, by the retired RCA vice president of public affairs
- Carl Dreher, Sarnoff: An American Success (NY: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Company, 1977). A thoughtful biography by an early associate of Sarnoff's.
- Tom Lewis, Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (NY: Edward Burlingame, an imprint of HarperCollins, 1991). Profiles Sarnoff's life along with those of Edwin Armstrong and Lee De Forest, drawing on archival sources.
- Eugene Lyons, David Sarnoff: A Biography (NY: Harper & Row, 1966). A cousin's sympathetic but insightful biography approved by Sarnoff.
- David Sarnoff, Looking Ahead: The Papers of David Sarnoff (NY: McGraw Hill, 1968). A useful one-volume compendium of Sarnoff's writings, covering his views on innovation, broadcasting, monopoly rights and responsibilities, freedom, and future electronic innovations.
- Robert Sobel, RCA (NY: Stein and Day, 1984). The most authoritative history on the company by a prolific business historian, with a thorough bibliography but no footnotes.
Robert Sobel in a promotional photo for his publisher. ...
Museum - A museum and Libray containing many historical items from David Sarnoff's life is open to the public at the Sarnoff Corporation location in Princeton Junction, NJ. The David Sarnoff Radio club composed of local Amateur Radio operators also meets there.
Sarnoff Corporation, with headquarters on the southeast side (northbound lane) of U.S. Route 1 in Princeton, New Jersey, is the former RCA Laboratories. ...
Princeton Junction could refer to: Princeton Junction, New Jersey, a census-designated place located in West Windsor in Mercer County, New Jersey. ...
Amateur radio station with modern solid-state transceiver featuring LCD display and DSP capabilities Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is a hobby that uses various types of radio broadcasting equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for public service, recreation and self-training. ...
Notes and references “McLuhan†redirects here. ...
Understanding Media is a book by Marshall McLuhan. ...
See also Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – January 31, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. ...
This article is about the research engineer and inventor. ...
This article is about the film production company. ...
Sarnoff Corporation, with headquarters on the southeast side (northbound lane) of U.S. Route 1 in Princeton, New Jersey, is the former RCA Laboratories. ...
RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ...
Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian musician. ...
Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall]] The NBC Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company as a vehicle for conductor Arturo Toscanini. ...
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor. ...
External links - "Pushing Technology: David Sarnoff and Wireless Communications,," paper presented at 2001 IEEE Conference on the History of Telecommunications
- Biography in IEEE Virtual Museum
- David Sarnoff Library
- Sarnoff Corporation
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