National Broadcasting Company

Type	Broadcast television network
Country	United States
Availability	United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean
Founded	by David Sarnoff
Owner	NBC Universal
Key people	Jeff Zucker, CEO Steve Capus, President, NBC News Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports
Launch date	November 15, 1926 (radio) July 1, 1941 (television)
Former names	NBC Red Network
Website NBC.com

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is sometimes referred to as the Peacock Network due to its stylized peacock logo. NBC can mean: NBC, a television network in North America, or its parent company NBC Universal. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Terrestrial television (also known as over-the-air, OTA or broadcast television) was the traditional method of television broadcast signal delivery prior to the advent of cable and satellite television. ... A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... West Indies redirects here. ... Sarnoff redirects here. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ... Jeffrey Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American television executive who is president of the NBC Universal Television Group. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... Steve Capus President of NBC News Steve Capus is the current president of NBC News. ... For other uses, see President (disambiguation). ... NBC News endcap, used from 2002 to present. ... Duncan Dick Ebersol (born July 28, 1947 in Torrington, Connecticut) is an American radio and TV manager. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... The NBC Sports logo used since 1989. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... This article is about the television network. ... A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... GE Building at Rockefeller Center The GE Building at night Close-up against the night sky At night, from the ground View from Top of the Rock at dusk The GE Building is a slim gothic skyscraper and the focal point at the Rockefeller Center. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. ... Peacock re-directs here; for alternate uses see Peacock (disambiguation). ...

Formed in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in 1986 control of NBC passed to General Electric (GE), with GE's $6.4 billion purchase of RCA. After the acquisition, the chief executive of NBC was Bob Wright, until he retired, giving his job to Jeff Zucker. This article is about the former RCA Corporation. ... GE redirects here. ... Robert (Bob) Charles Wright (born 1943) is a U.S. television businessman. ... Jeffrey Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American television executive who is president of the NBC Universal Television Group. ...

NBC is available in an estimated 112 million households, or 98.6% of the country. NBC has 10 owned-and-operated stations and nearly 200 affiliates in the United States and its territories.^[1][2]

The network is part of the media company NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric and Vivendi. NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ... GE redirects here. ... For a definition of the word vivendi, see the Wiktionary entry vivendi. ...

History

NBC Headquarters in New York City

The GE Building at Rockefeller Center File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The GE Building at Rockefeller Center File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Radio

Earliest stations: WEAF & WJZ

During a period of early broadcast business consolidation, the radio-making Radio Corporation of America (RCA) had acquired New York radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T). An RCA shareholder, Westinghouse, had a competing facility in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ (no relation to the current WJZ-TV), which also served as the flagship for a loosely-structured network. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, and moved to New York.^[3] 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... For other uses, see WFAN (disambiguation). ... AT&T (formerly an abbreviation for American Telephone and Telegraph) Corporation (NYSE: T) is an American telecommunications company. ... This article is about the defunct Westinghouse Electric Corporation founded in 1886, renamed CBS Corporation in 1997, and purchased by Viacom in 1999. ... Nickname: Map of Newark in Essex County Coordinates: , Country State County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Government  - Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area [1]  - Total 26. ... WABC (770 kHz), known as NewsTalkRadio 77, is a radio station in New York City. ... This article is about the television station in Baltimore, Maryland. ... Look up flagship in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&T's manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&T's telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, using both wireless and wired methods. The 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF had a regular schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs, and was an immediate success. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with the Outlet Company's WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island; and with AT&T's station in Washington, D.C., WCAP. Company Masthead Logo Logo until circa 1969, also current logo on company web site Logo 1969–1983 Hi Dan! Western Electric (sometimes abbreviated WE and WECo) was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. ... The Bell System was a trademark and service mark used by the United States telecommunications company American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) and its affiliated companies to co-brand their extensive circuit-switched telephone network and their affiliations with each other. ... The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. ... WJAR is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. ... Providence redirects here. ... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ...

New parent RCA saw an advantage in sharing programming, and after getting a license for station WRC in Washington, D.C., in 1923, attempted to transmit audio between cities via low-quality telegraph lines. AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the uninsulated telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric and other electrical interference. WTEM (AM 980 kHz) is a radio station that serves the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. ...

In 1925, AT&T decided WEAF and its embryonic network were incompatible with AT&T's primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&T's phone lines for network transmission.

Red & Blue Networks

RCA spent $1 million to buy WEAF and Washington sister station WCAP, shut down the latter station, and announced in late 1926 the creation of a new division known as The National Broadcasting Company.^[4] The new division was divided in ownership between RCA (fifty percent), General Electric (thirty percent), and Westinghouse (twenty percent). NBC launched officially on November 15, 1926. is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On January 1, 1927 NBC formally divided their respective marketing strategies: the Red Network offered commercially sponsored entertainment and music programming; the Blue Network carried sustaining or non-sponsored broadcasts, especially news and cultural programs. Various histories of NBC suggest the color designations for the two networks came from the color of the push pins NBC engineers used to designate affiliates of WEAF (red) and WJZ (blue), or from the use of double-ended red and blue colored pencils. A similar two-part/two-color strategy appeared in the recording industry, dividing the market between classical and popular offerings. is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American radio and television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

Orange, Gold & White Networks

On April 5, 1927, NBC reached the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network, also known as The Pacific Coast Network. This was followed by the debut on October 18, 1931, of the NBC Gold Network, also known as The Pacific Gold Network. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network. Initially the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco, California. In 1936 the Orange Network name was dropped and affiliate stations became part of the Red Network. At the same time the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations in the 1930s called the NBC White Network. is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... KNBR, The Sports Leader, are the call letters associated with 680 AM in San Francisco and KTCT 1050 AM in San Mateo, California. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity. ... A solid-state, analog shortwave receiver Shortwave radio operates between the frequencies of 3 MHz (3,000 kHz) and 30 MHz (30,000 kHz) [1] and came to be referred to as such in the early days of radio because the wavelengths associated with this frequency range were shorter than...

GE Building entrance

RCA moved its corporate headquarters into the new Rockefeller Center in 1933, signing the leases in 1931. RCA was the lead tenant at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the RCA Building (now the GE Building). The building housed NBC studios, as well as theaters for RCA-owned RKO Pictures. Rockefeller Center's founder and financier John D. Rockefeller, Jr., arranged the deal with the chairman of GE, Owen D. Young, and the president of RCA, David Sarnoff.^[5] Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. ... GE Building at Rockefeller Center The GE Building at night Close-up against the night sky At night, from the ground View from Top of the Rock at dusk The GE Building is a slim gothic skyscraper and the focal point at the Rockefeller Center. ... RKO redirects here. ... John D. Rockefeller Jr. ... Sarnoff redirects here. ...

The chimes

Main article: NBC chimes

The famous three-note NBC chimes came about after several years of development. The three note sequence G-E-C may have been heard first over Atlanta's WSB. Someone at NBC in New York heard the WSB version of the notes during the networked broadcast of a Georgia Tech football game and asked permission to use it on the national network. NBC started to use the three notes in 1931, and it was the first audio trademark to be accepted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A variant sequence was also used that went G-E-C-G, known as "the fourth chime" and used during wartime (especially in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor), on D-Day, and disasters. The NBC chimes were mechanized in 1932 by Richard H. Ranger of the Rangertone company; their purpose was to send a low level signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by the various switching stations manned by NBC and AT&T engineers, and thus used as a system cue for switching different stations between the Red and Blue network feeds. Contrary to popular legend, the three musical notes, G-E-C, did not originally stand for NBC's current parent corporation, the General Electric Company; although GE's radio station in Schenectady, New York, WGY, was an early NBC affiliate, and GE was an early shareholder in NBC's founding parent RCA. General Electric did not own NBC outright until 1986. G-E-C is still used on NBC-TV. A variant with two preceding notes is used on the MSNBC cable television network. NBC's radio branch no longer exists. The NBC chimes of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio network in the United States was/were the first ever audio trademark (and the first service mark of any kind, in as much as it denotes a non-tangible form of commerce) to be accepted by the U.S. Patent... The NBC chimes of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio network in the United States was/were the first ever audio trademark (and the first service mark of any kind, in as much as it denotes a non-tangible form of commerce) to be accepted by the U.S. Patent... WSB is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: The callsign of three broadcast stations in Atlanta: WSB AM, 750kHz WSB-TV, 2, DTV 39 WSB-FM, 98. ... Head coach Chan Gailey 6th year, 37–27–0 Home stadium Bobby Dodd Stadium Capacity 55,000 - Grass Conference ACC - Coastal First year 1892 Athletic director Dan Radakovich Website ramblinwreck. ... A sound trademark is a non-conventional trademark where sound is used to perform the trademark function of uniquely identifying the commercial origin of products or services. ... PTO headquarters in Alexandria The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. ... This article is about the actual attack. ... Belligerents Australia Canada Free France Netherlands Norway Poland United Kingdom United States Nazi Germany The Normandy Landings were the first operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord. ... Richard Howland Ranger (1899-1961) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. ... Schenectady (pronounced ; Θkahnéhtati[1] in Tuscarora) is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. ... WGY is a 50,000 watt radio station licensed to Schenectady, New York. ... For the news website, see msnbc. ...

New beginnings: The Blue Network becomes ABC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had since its creation in 1934 studied the monopolistic effects of network broadcasting. The FCC found that NBC's two networks and its owned-and-operated stations dominated audiences, affiliates and advertising in American radio. In 1939 the FCC ordered RCA to divest itself of one of the two networks. RCA fought the divestiture order, but in 1940 divided NBC into two companies in case an appeal was lost. The Blue Network became NBC Blue Network, Inc. (now ABC), and NBC Red became NBC Red Network, Inc. In January 1942, the two networks formally divorced operations, and the Blue Network was referred to on the air as either Blue or Blue Network, with official corporate name Blue Network Company, Inc. NBC Red, on the air, became known simply as NBC. FCC redirects here. ... This article is about the economic term. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network. ...

After losing its final appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1943, RCA sold Blue Network Company, Inc., for $8 million to Life Savers magnate Edward J. Noble, completing the sale in October 1943. Noble got the network name, leases on land-lines and the New York studios; two-and-a half stations (WJZ in Newark/New York; KGO in San Francisco, and WENR in Chicago, which shared a frequency with Prairie Farmer station WLS); and about 60 affiliates. Noble wanted a better name for the network and in 1944 acquired the rights to the name American Broadcasting Company from George Storer. The Blue Network became ABC officially on June 15, 1945, after the sale was completed. The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym SCOTUS[1]) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. ... This article is about the candy. ... Edward John Noble (1882 – 1958) was an American broadcasting and candy industrialist originally from Gouverneur, New York. ... KGO may mean: KGO (AM), a radio station broadcasting in the San Francisco Bay Area KGO-TV, an ABC owned and operated television station broadcasting in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area KKSF, a smooth jazz radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area formerly known as KGO-FM... WLS is a pioneer Chicago radio station. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network. ... Storer Broadcasting, Inc. ... is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Further information: Blue Network

NBC Tower in Chicago

The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American radio and television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Download high resolution version (600x800, 101 KB)NBC Chicago, Illinois Source:Image taken by Dori License:Dual GFDL CC File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (600x800, 101 KB)NBC Chicago, Illinois Source:Image taken by Dori License:Dual GFDL CC File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation). ...

Defining radio’s golden age

The Front Entrance of The NBC Tower at 454 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL.

In the golden days of network broadcasting, 1930 to 1950, NBC was at the pinnacle of American radio. NBC broadcast radio's earliest mass hit, Amos 'n' Andy, beginning in 1926-27 in its original fifteen-minute serial format. The show set a standard for nearly all serialized programming in the original radio era, both comedies and soap operas. The appeal of the two struggling title characters landed a broad audience, especially during the Great Depression. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1288x1488, 296 KB) NBC in New York Photographer: Sean Curran Source: http://www. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1288x1488, 296 KB) NBC in New York Photographer: Sean Curran Source: http://www. ... Illustrator J.J. Goulds 1930 drawing of Amos and Andy for New Movie Magazine Amos n Andy was a situation comedy popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. ... The first TIME magazine cover devoted to soap operas, dated January 12, 1976. ... For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...

NBC became home to many of the most popular performers and programs on the air. Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, and Burns and Allen called NBC home, as did Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra, which the network helped him create. Other programs were Vic and Sade, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve (arguably broadcasting's first spin-off program, from Fibber McGee), One Man's Family, Ma Perkins, and Death Valley Days. NBC stations were often the most powerful, and some occupied unique clear-channel national frequencies, reaching many hundreds or thousands of miles at night. Al Jolson (May 26, 1886–October 23, 1950) was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. ... Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois – December 26, 1974 in Beverly Hills, California), born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor. ... Charlie McCarthy redirects here. ... Bob Hope, KBE (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003), born Leslie Townes Hope, was an English-Born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel, well known for his good natured humor and career longevity. ... He has eyes like Venetian blinds and a tongue like an adder — radio/television critic John Crosby about humourist Fred Allen, portrayed here by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. ... George Burns & Gracie Allen Burns and Allen were an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. ... Toscanini conducting. ... 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. ... Vic and Sade rehearsal; from left: Art Van Harvey, Bernadine Flynn, Paul Rhymer and Bill Idelson Vic and Sade was an American radio program created and written by Paul Rhymer. ... Fibber McGee and Molly was a radio show that played a major role in determining the full form of what became classic, old-time radio. ... Youre a brii-ii-iight boy, Leroy!—Harold Peary at the height of his popularity as classic radios Great Gildersleeve. ... One Mans Family was an American dramatic series which ran on radio from 1932 to 1959, and on NBC-TV off and on from 1949 to 1955. ... Ma Perkins was a radio serial which was heard on NBC from 1933 to 1949 and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. ... Death Valley Days was a long-running American radio and television anthology about true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. ... A clear channel, in the general sense, is a communications channel (such as a radio frequency) on which only one transmitter operates at a time. ...

In the late 1940s, rival Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) gained ground by allowing radio stars to use their own production companies, which was a tax break. In early radio years, stars and programs commonly hopped between networks when their short-term contracts expired. In 1948-49, beginning with the nation's top radio star, Jack Benny, many NBC performers jumped to CBS. This article is about the broadcast network. ...

In addition, NBC stars began moving toward television, including comedian Milton Berle, whose Texaco Star Theater on NBC became television's first major hit. Conductor Arturo Toscanini made ten television appearances on NBC between 1948 and 1952. Milton Berle (July 12, 1908 - March 27, 2002) was an Emmy-winning American comedian who was born Milton Berlinger. ... Texaco Star Theater, a comedy-variety show (radio, 1940-49; television, 1949-56), was one of the first hugely successful examples of U.S. television broadcasting. ...

Aiming to keep classic radio alive as television matured, and to challenge CBS's Sunday night radio lineup, much of which had jumped from NBC with Jack Benny, NBC launched The Big Show in November 1950. This 90-minute variety show updated radio's earliest musical variety style with sophisticated comedy and dramatic presentations. Featuring stage legend Tallulah Bankhead as hostess, it lured prestigious entertainers, including Fred Allen, Groucho Marx, Lauritz Melchior, Ethel Barrymore, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Merman, Bob Hope, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Ella Fitzgerald. But The Big Show's initial success didn't last despite critical praise. The show endured two years, with NBC losing perhaps a million dollars on the project. When The Big Show premiered November 5, 1950, this ad, showing NBCs full evening schedule, ran in Sunday newspapers across the country. ... Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress, talk-show host and bon vivant. ... Groucho redirects here. ... Lauritz Melchior (often misspelled Melchoir) (born March 20, 1890 – died March 18, 1973) was a Danish and later American opera singer. ... Ethel Barrymore (August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and a member of the famous Barrymore family. ... Louis[1] Armstrong[2] (4 August 1901[3] – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo[4] and Pops, was an American jazz musician. ... Ethel Merman (January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was a American star of stage and film musicals, well known for her powerful voice, often hailed by critics as The Grande Dame of the Broadway stage. // Merman was born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann in her maternal grandmothers house at 359 4th... Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. ... Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella and the First Lady of Song, is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. ...

NBC's last major radio programming push, in 1955, was Monitor, a continuous all-weekend mixture of music, news, interviews and features, with a variety of hosts including well-known television personalities Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs, Ed McMahon, Joe Garagiola and Gene Rayburn. The potpourri show tried to keep vintage radio alive by featuring segments from Jim and Marian Jordan (in character as Fibber McGee and Molly); Peg Lynch's dialog comedy Ethel and Albert (with Alan Bunce); and iconoclastic satirist Henry Morgan. Monitor was a success for a number of years, but after the mid-1960s, local stations, especially in larger markets, were reluctant to break from their established formats to run non-conforming network programming. After Monitor went off the air in early 1975, little remained of NBC network radio beyond hourly newscasts and news features. Monitor host Dave Garroway NBC Monitor was a weekend radio program broadcast from June 12, 1955 to January 26, 1975. ... David Cunningham Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982, suicide) was the founding host of NBCs Today from 1952 to 1961, whose easygoing, relaxed and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a television bigtimer and, in due... Hugh Malcolm Downs (born February 14, 1921) is a retired American broadcaster, television host, producer, and author. ... Edward Ed Peter Leo McMahon, Jr. ... Joseph Henry Garagiola, Sr. ... Gene Rayburn (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an Emmy-nominated American radio and television personality. ... Ethel and Albert (aka The Private Lives of Ethel and Albert) was a comedy radio/TV series about a married couple, Ethel and Albert Arbuckle, living in the small town of Sandy Harbor. ... Henry Morgan (March 31, 1915 - May 19, 1994), born in New York City, was a comedian best remembered for having been a regular panelist on the CBS game show Ive Got a Secret. ...

The last years of NBC Radio

Later in 1975, NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service, which provided up to 55 minutes of news per hour around the clock to local stations that wanted to adopt an all-news format. The service attracted several dozen subscribers, but not enough for NBC to expect profitability, and NBC discontinued it after two years. Near the end of the 1970s, NBC started The Source, a modestly successful secondary network providing news and short features to FM rock stations. FM broadcasting in the U.S. began in the 1930s. ...

GE acquired NBC in 1986, and it decided that radio did not fit its strategy. In the summer of 1987, GE sold NBC Radio's network operations to Westwood One, and sold off the NBC-owned stations to different buyers. In 1989 the NBC Radio Network as an independent programming service ceased to exist, becoming a brand name for content produced by Westwood One, and ultimately by CBS Radio. The Mutual Broadcasting System, which Westwood One had acquired two years earlier, met the same fate, and essentially merged with NBC Radio. Westwood One, Inc. ... CBS Radio Inc. ... The Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. ...

By the late 1990s, Westwood One was producing NBC-branded newscasts on weekday mornings only. About 2003 these were discontinued, and the remaining NBC Radio Network affiliates began to receive CNN Radio-branded newscasts around the clock. Westwood One also distributed a new service called NBC News Radio, brief news updates read by television anchors and reporters from NBC News and MSNBC. The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... NBC News endcap, used from 2002 to present. ... For the news website, see msnbc. ...

Television

30 Rockefeller Center, also known as the GE Building, is the world headquarters of NBC.

For many years NBC was closely identified with David Sarnoff, who used it as a vehicle to sell consumer electronics. It was Sarnoff who ruthlessly stole innovative ideas from competitors, using RCA's muscle to prevail in the courts. RCA and Sarnoff had dictated the broadcasting standards put in place by the FCC in 1938, and stole the spotlight by introducing all-electronic television to the public at the 1939–40 New York World's Fair, simultaneously initiating a regular schedule of programs on the NBC-RCA television station in New York City. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeared at the fair, before the NBC cameras, becoming the first U.S. president to appear on television on April 30, 1939. The David Sarnoff Library has available an actual, off-the-monitor photograph of the FDR telecast. The broadcast was transmitted by NBC's New York television station W2XBS Channel 1 (now WNBC-TV channel 4) and was seen by about 1,000 viewers within the station's roughly 40-mile (64 km) coverage area from their Empire State Building transmitter location. The next day, May 1, four models of RCA television sets went on sale to the general public in various New York City department stores, promoted in a series of splashy newspaper ads. It is to be noted that DuMont (and others) actually offered the first home sets in 1938 in anticipation of NBC's announced April 1939 start-up. Later in 1939, NBC took its cameras to professional football and baseball games in the New York City area, establishing many "firsts" in the history of television. Actual NBC "network" broadcasts (more than one station) began about this time with occasional special events — such as the British King and Queen's visit to the New York World's Fair — being seen in Philadelphia (over the station which would become WPTZ, now KYW) and in Schenectady (over the station which would become WRGB), two pioneer stations in their own right. The most ambitious NBC television "network" program of this pre-war era was the telecasting of the Republican National Convention in 1940 from Philadelphia, which was fed live to New York and Schenectady.^[6] However, despite major promotion by RCA, television set sales in New York in the 1939-1940 period were disappointing, primarily due to the high cost of the sets, and the lack of compelling regular programming. Most sets were sold to bars, hotels and other public places, where the general public viewed special sporting and news events. Image File history File linksMetadata 30rock. ... Image File history File linksMetadata 30rock. ... Sarnoff redirects here. ... 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. ... 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. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... WNBC may mean the following broadcast stations in the city of New York: WNBC-TV 4 WNBC AM 660, now WFAN WNBC-FM 97. ... In North America, channel 1 is a former broadcast (over-the-air) television channel (44-50 MHz, with visual at 45. ... For broadcast stations that previously used the WNBC call sign, see WNBC (disambiguation). ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... KYW-TV, channel 3, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by the CBS Corporation and affiliated with the CBS Television Network. ...

NBC's experimental New York City station was licensed for commercial telecasts beginning on July 1, 1941, adopting the call letters WNBT (it is now WNBC-TV). The first official commercial on that day was for Bulova Watches, seen just before the start of a Brooklyn Dodgers telecast. Limited programming continued until the U.S. entered World War II. Telecasts were curtailed in the early years of the war, then expanded as NBC began to prepare for full service upon the war's end. On V-E Day, May 8, 1945, WNBT broadcast hours of news coverage, and remotes from around New York City. This event was pre-promoted by NBC with a direct-mail card sent to television set owners in the New York area.^[7] At one point, a WNBT camera placed atop the marquee of the Hotel Astor panned the crowd below celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The vivid coverage was a prelude to television's rapid growth after the war ended. The NBC television network grew from its initial post-war lineup of four stations. The 1947 World Series featured two New York teams (Yankees and Dodgers), and local TV sales boomed, since the games were telecast in New York. More stations along the East Coast and in the Midwest were connected by coaxial cable through the late 1940s, and in September 1951 the first transcontinental telecasts took place. is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... For broadcast stations that previously used the WNBC call sign, see WNBC (disambiguation). ... Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945. ... is the 128th day of the year (129th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Astor on the Lake The Astor on the Lake (also Astor Hotel) is a low-rise building located in the Yankee Hill neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ... The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning the Series in 7 games for their first title since 1943, and the 11th championship in team history. ...

The early 1950s brought success for NBC in the new medium. Television's first big star, Milton Berle, drew large audiences to NBC with his antics on the The Texaco Star Theater. The network launched Today and The Tonight Show, which would bookend the broadcast day for over fifty years, and which still lead their competitors. Milton Berle (July 12, 1908 - March 27, 2002) was an Emmy-winning American comedian who was born Milton Berlinger. ... The Today Show, officially known as Today, is an American morning news and talk show airing weekday mornings on NBC. Debuting on January 14, 1952, it was the first of its genre, spawning similar morning news and entertainment television programs across the United States and around the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Color television

See also: History of television#Color television

While rivals CBS and DuMont also offered color broadcasting plans, RCA convinced a waffling FCC to approve its color system in December 1953. NBC was ready with color programming within days of the FCC's decision. NBC began with some shows in 1954, and that summer broadcast its first program to air all episodes in color, The Marriage. In 1956 during a National Association meeting in Chicago, NBC announced that its Chicago TV station WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) was the first color TV station in the nation (at least six hours of color broadcasts a day). The 1962 Rose Bowl was the first color television broadcast of a college football game. By 1963, most of NBC's prime time schedule was in color. Without television sets to sell, rival networks followed more slowly, finally committing to color in the 1965-66 season. Days of our Lives was the first soap opera to premiere in color. The History of television technology can be divided along two lines: those developments that depended upon both mechanical and electronic principles, and those which are purely electronic. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... The DuMont Television Network was the worlds first commercial television network, beginning operation in the United States in 1946. ... The Marriage was the first prime-time network television series to be broadcast in color. ... WMAQ redirects here. ... Prime time is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening. ... Days of our Lives is an American soap opera, which has aired nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965[5] on the NBC network in the United States, and has since been syndicated to many countries around the world. ...

1970s doldrums

The 1970s started strongly for the network thanks to hits like Laugh-In, Emergency!, Adam-12, The Dean Martin Show, and The Flip Wilson Show, but this did not last. In spite of the success of such new shows as The NBC Mystery Movie, Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Little House on the Prairie, The Rockford Files, and Quincy, M.E., as well as continued success from veterans like The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Wonderful World of Disney, the network entered a slump in the middle of the decade. Disney, in particular, saw its ratings nosedive once CBS put 60 Minutes up against it in the 1975-1976 season. None of the new shows NBC introduced in the fall of 1975 earned a second season, all failing in the face of established competition. Rowan & Martins Laugh-In was a United States comedy television show broadcast from January 22, 1968 through 1973 over the NBC Network. ... Emergency! was a popular crime drama/medical television series that was produced by Mark VII Limited (Jack Webbs company) and distributed by Universal Studios. ... This article is about the guitarist. ... The Dean Martin Show was a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974, for 245 episodes. ... Flip Wilson in character as Geraldine Jones, on a recently released best of DVD set. ... The NBC Mystery Movie was an American television cycle of movies that aired on NBC from 1971 to 1977. ... Sanford and Son is an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972 and was broadcast for six seasons. ... Chico and the Man was an American sitcom which ran on NBC from September 13, 1974 to July 21, 1978, starring Jack Albertson as Ed Brown (The Man), the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and introducing Freddie Prinze as Chico Rodriguez, an... Little House on the Prairie is a childrens book by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published in 1935. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Quincy, M.E. (or simply Quincy) is the name of a United States television series that aired from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983, on NBC (and can be seen in the UK on ITV3 and intermittently on the ITV Network, as well as in syndication on MeTV in... The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was a late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. ... The first incarnation of the Walt Disney anthology series, commonly called The Wonderful World of Disney, premiered on ABC on October 27, 1954 under the name Disneyland. ... This article is about the CBS news magazine. ...

In 1974 under new president Herb Schlosser, the network tried to go after younger viewers with a series of costly movies, miniseries and specials. This failed to attract the desirable 18-34 demographic, and alienated older viewers.^[8] NBC did launch the successful and influential Saturday Night Live, in a time slot previously held by reruns of The Tonight Show. In 1978 Schlosser was promoted to executive vice presidency at RCA,^[9] and a desperate NBC lured Fred Silverman away from number-one ABC to turn the network's fortunes around. With the notable exceptions of Diff'rent Strokes, Real People, The Facts of Life, and the mini-series Shogun, he couldn't find a hit. Failures accumulated rapidly under his watch (such as Hello, Larry, Supertrain, Pink Lady and Jeff, and The Waverly Wonders). Ironically many of them were beaten in the ratings by shows Silverman had greenlighted at CBS and ABC. SNL redirects here. ... Silverman, Time, 1977 Fred Silverman (born September 13, 1937 in New York City) is an American television executive and producer. ... Diffrent Strokes is an American sitcom that aired on the NBC television network from 1978 to 1985, and on ABC from 1985 to 1986. ... Real People was an NBC reality television series that aired from 1979 to 1984, generally on Sunday nights. ... The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC network from August 24, 1979 to September 13, 1988. ... This page is about the TV miniseries. ... Hello, Larry was a 1970s sitcom starring McLean Stevenson. ... Supertrain was a television drama/adventure series that ran on NBC from February 7, 1979, to May 5, 1979. ... Pink Lady, known unofficially as Pink Lady and Jeff [1], was a television show that aired for six weeks on NBC in 1980. ...

Also during this time, NBC suffered the defections of several longtime affiliates in markets such as: Atlanta (WSB), Baltimore (WBAL), Charlotte (WSOC), Dayton (WDTN), Indianapolis (WRTV), Jacksonville (WTLV), Minneapolis-St. Paul (KSTP-TV), and San Diego (KGTV). Most were wooed away by ABC, which was the number-one network during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In markets such as San Diego and Jacksonville, NBC was forced to replace the lost stations with new affiliates broadcasting on the UHF band. WSB-TV is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. ... WBAL-TV (channel 11, DTV 59), WBAL-TV 11 is the NBC affiliate for Baltimore, Maryland. ... WSOC-TV, channel 9 is the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United States 28th largest television market. ... WDTN is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Miami Valley area of Ohio. ... WRTV, RTV6, is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana. ... WTLV (NBC12) is the NBC affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida. ... KSTP-TV Channel 5 (50 digital) is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. ... KGTV is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. ... This article is about the radio frequency. ...

When U.S. President Jimmy Carter pulled the American team out of the 1980 Summer Olympics, NBC canceled a planned 150 hours of coverage (which had cost $87,000,000), and the network's future was in doubt. It had been counting on $170,000,000 in advertising revenues and on the broadcasts to help promote fall shows.^[10] For other persons named Jimmy Carter, see Jimmy Carter (disambiguation). ... Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. ...

The press was merciless towards Silverman, but two of the most savage attacks on his leadership came from within. The company that composed NBC's on-air promo music created a spoof of the Proud as a Peacock ad campaign. Comedian Al Franken satirized Silverman in a Saturday Night Live sketch titled "Limo for a Lame-O". Silverman admitted he "never liked Al Franken to begin with", and the sketch may have hurt Franken's chance of succeeding Lorne Michaels as executive producer of SNL.^[11] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Alan Stuart Al Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an Emmy Award–winning American comedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, radio host and, recently, politician. ... Lorne Michaels (born November 17, 1944) is a Canadian Emmy-winning television producer, writer and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it. ...

Tartikoff's turnaround

In the summer of 1981, Fred Silverman resigned. Grant Tinker became president of the network and Brandon Tartikoff became chief of programming. Tartikoff inherited a schedule full of aging dramas and very few sitcoms, but showed patience with promising programs. One such show was the critically acclaimed Hill Street Blues, which rated poorly in its first season. Instead of canceling it, he moved the Emmy-winning police drama to Thursday night where its ratings improved dramatically. He used the same tactic with St. Elsewhere. Shows like these were able to get the same ad revenue as their higher-rated, mass-audience competition because of their desirable demographics, upscale, 18-34 year-old viewers.^[12] While the network claimed moderate successes with Gimme a Break!, Silver Spoons, Knight Rider and Remington Steele, its biggest hit in this period was The A-Team, which, at tenth place, was the network's only top-20 rated show of the 1982-1983 season. These shows helped NBC through the disastrous 1983-84 season, in which none of its new shows gained a second year.^[13] It was the only time that a network's entire line of new series had failed to be renewed since the network's 1975 lineup. Grant Tinker (born January 11, 1925) is the former chairman and CEO of NBC from 1981 to 1986, co-founder of MTM Enterprises, and television producer. ... Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 — August 27, 1997) was a popular NBC executive who was credited with turning around NBCs low prime time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider... Hill Street Blues was a serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. ... An Emmy Award. ... St. ... Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981 until May 12, 1987. ... Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987. ... For the American media company, see Knight Ridder. ... Remington Steele was an American television series first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. ... For the United States Army military unit, see The A-Team (military). ...

In 1982 NBC canceled Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show and gave the time slot to 34-year-old comedian David Letterman. Though Letterman had had an unsuccessful daytime series in 1980, Late Night with David Letterman proved much more successful. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Tomorrow (also known as The Tomorrow Show and, after 1980, Tomorrow Coast to Coast) was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder. ... David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.) is an Emmy Award-winning American television host and comedian. ... The Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... Late Night with David Letterman was a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. ...

In 1984 the huge success of The Cosby Show led to a renewed interest in sitcoms, while Family Ties and Cheers, both of which premiered in 1982 to mediocre ratings, saw their viewership increase from having Cosby as a lead-in. The network moved from third place to second place that year. It reached first place in the Nielsen rankings in the 1985-86 season, with hits The Golden Girls, Miami Vice, 227, Night Court, Highway to Heaven, and Hunter. The network's upswing continued through the decade with ALF, Amen, Matlock, L.A. Law, The Hogan Family, A Different World, Empty Nest, and In the Heat of the Night. In the 1988-89 season, NBC won every week in the ratings for over a full year, an achievement not since duplicated. The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom starring Bill Cosby, first broadcast on September 20, 1984 and ran for eight seasons on the NBC television network, until April 30, 1992. ... For other uses, see Family Ties (disambiguation). ...