- For other uses, see NBC
(disambiguation).
The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American
television broadcasting company based in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is
now part of the media conglomerate NBC Universal.
NBC supplies programming to more than 200 affiliated U.S. stations. It owns and operates stations serving the Chicago; Philadelphia; Los
Angeles; Miami; New York City; Washington, D.C.;
San Jose; Dallas/Fort Worth; San Diego; Hartford, Connecticut; Raleigh; Columbus, Ohio; Birmingham, Alabama; and Providence, Rhode Island markets.
The network was acquired by the General Electric
Company in 1986 with the purchase of NBC's parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
History
NBC was founded in 1926 as a radio
network, by RCA, GE, and
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation. The network started with 24 stations on November 15.
The National Broadcasting Company was created when RCA purchased radio stations WEAF-New York, WCAP-Washington, D.C., and the radio programming network
from American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) in 1926 and merged those assets with
its own WJZ New York, WRC Washington and radio programming network. The WEAF stations and network would become known as the
NBC Red network; the WJZ stations and network would be dubbed the NBC Blue network, which later became the American Broadcasting Company.
The WEAF network was created by AT&T to serve as a research and development for technologies involved with transmitting
audio over wire and radio. AT&T's Western Electric division manufactured radio transmitters and antennas and needed a
real-world environment to test their design and ability to transmit audio. AT&T's long distance and local Bell operating
divisions were developing technologies for transmitting voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, via both
wireless and wired methods. These effort came together to create radio station WEAF in New York City.
With a radio station broadcasting to the public, programming was needed. WEAF put together a regular schedule of programs of
all types, and created some of the first broadcasts to encorporate commercial endorsements or sponsorships by commercial
entities. The station met with great success, and with the opening of radio stations across the United States many stations
wished to share programming. WEAF's first efforts in what would become known first as "chain broadcasting" and later as
"networking" tied together The Outlet Company's WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island with AT&T's WEAF and WCAP in Washington,
D.C. (named for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company division of AT&T). With the success of this effort and the good
audio quality of AT&T's phone line circuits, the WEAF network became a success.
At the same time, RCA was beginning to realize that sharing programming on stations in different cities also made sense. RCA
licensed WRC in Washington, D.C. in 1923 and attempted to transmit audio between cities via low-quality telegraph lines, since
AT&T refused outside companies access to their high-quality phone lines. The effort was poor at best, with the uninsulated
telegraph lines incapable of good audio transmission quality and very susceptible to both atmospheric and man-made electrical
interference.
In 1925 the management of AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were not compatible with AT&T's goal of providing
phone service and began looking to sell the station and its network. AT&T found a ready buyer in RCA, whose primary business
was radio broadcasting and manufacturing, the a deal was struck where RCA would buy WEAF and gain the rights to rent AT&T's
phone lines to transmit radio programs between cities.
In 1926, RCA bought WEAF, closed WCAP, created the wholly-owned division called the National Broadcasting Company and operated
the New York stations and the two network efforts side by side for about a year. In 1927 NBC formally created two radio networks,
the NBC Red Network with WEAF as its originating station distributing mostly entertainment and music programming; and the NBC
Blue Network with WJZ as its originating station and concentrating on news and cultural programming.
Legend has it that the color designations originated from the color of the push pins the engineers at AT&T used to
designate the affiliates of WEAF (red push pins) and RCA's WJZ (blue push pins). At various times in the 1930s there were several
other color designations, with the NBC White, Gold and Orange networks operating in various configuration of the west coast.
The famous 3-note chimes of NBC came about after several years of trying different musical note combinations. The three note
combination (G-E-C; not related at all to RCA's original stockholder General Electric) came from WSB in Atlanta which used it for its own purposes until one day someone at NBC
in New York heard the WSB version of the notes during a networked broadcast of a Georgia Tech football
game and asked permission to use it on the national network. NBC started to use the 3 notes in 1931, and it was the first ever
audio trademark to be accepted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. An alternate jingle was also used that went E-G-C-C, known as "the fourth chime" and used during wartime (especially in the wake
of the Pearl Harbor bombing) and other disasters. The NBC chimes were
mechanized in 1932; 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. Because of fears of offending commercial sponsors by cutting their programs off in mid-sentence,
the mechanized chimes were always rung by an announcer pushing a button; they were never set to an automatic timer, although
heavy discussions on the subject were held between the Engineering and Programming departments throughout the 1930s and
1940s.
NBC became the primary tenant in the brand new Rockefeller Center project in 1936. It would serve to consolidate radio
operations, some RCA corporate operations, and the home of the flagship theatres of RCA-owned RKO Radio Pictures in Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy theatre (since torn
down).
From its creation in 1934, the Federal Communications Commission had been studying the monopolistic effects of chain
broadcasting (now called "networking") on the radio industry, and found that the NBC Red and Blue networks and their
owned-and-operated radio stations owned by NBC controlled the majority of radio audiences, radio affiliates and advertising
dollars in the American radio industry. In 1939 the FCC ordered RCA to divest itself of one of the two NBC networks and
accompanying owned-and-operated stations. RCA fought the divestiture order, but divided NBC into two companies in 1940 in case the appeals were lost. The NBC Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." and
the NBC Red Network becoming the "NBC Red Network, Inc."
With the loss of the final appeal before the United States Supreme Court, RCA sold the NBC Blue Network, Inc. to Lifesavers magnate Edward J. Noble in 1943. He renamed the company "The Blue Network,
Inc." but quickly realized that the name was not appropriate for a major radio network. After acquiring the rights to the name
"the American Broadcasting Company" from
broadcaster George Storer in 1946, the Blue Network, Inc. become the American Broadcasting Company. The NBC Red Network was
renamed the NBC Radio Network after the Blue network was sold.
Since GE's acquisition of RCA, NBC has been owned by General
Electric. The NBC Radio Network was sold by General Electric in 1988 to Westwood One. While the chimes and an hourly newscast still appear on radio at certain times on weekdays, the
NBC Radio Network as a programming service ceased to exist in 1989 and simply became a marketing brand name for programming
produced by Westwood One.
For many years NBC was closely identified with founder David Sarnoff,
who viewed it as a means for selling entertainment and consumer electronics.
The network transitioned from black-and-white programming to color before any other network in the United States. Periodic
color transmissions began in the 1950s and the first show to air all episodes in color,
Bonanza, began in the fall of 1959. By
1963, most of the schedule was in color, a feat that would not be accomplished until
1965 for CBS and 1966 for ABC.
It was estimated in 2003 that NBC is viewable by 97.17% of all households, reaching
103,624,370 houses in the United States. NBC has 207 VHF and UHF owned-and-operated or affiliate stations in the U.S. and U.S.
possessions.
Evolution of the NBC logo
Early NBC logos
In 1943, four years after inaugurating television service, NBC got its first official
logo, a microphone surrounded by lightning bolts, a modification of an existing logo used by the NBC radio network. Lightning
bolts were also part of corporate parent RCA's logo. At the beginning of telecasts, another
card was used, depicting an NBC cameraman with his camera.
In 1954, on New Year's Day, to coincide with the start of broadcasting in color, a
stylized xylophone and mallet was introduced, accompanied by the three-tone "bing-bong-bing" chimes, first heard on NBC radio in
1927. The tones are the notes "G," "E," and "C." A MIDI of this tune can be heard here (http://winslowslair.supremepixels.net/remotemidi/nbc.mid). There is some indication that the
xylophone logo was used at 5:32 PM on December 17, 1953 to announce the FCC's approval of the new color standard, which would go into effect 30 days later. Special
permission was apparently used on New Year's Day when the Tournament of Roses Parade was aired.
NBC peacock logos
1956 Peacock logo
In 1956 an abstraction of an eleven-feathered peacock to indicate richness in color was adopted, due to the increase in color programming. NBC's first color
broadcasts showed only a still frame of the colorful peacock. On September 7,
1957 on Your Hit Parade
the peacock was animated, and thereafter appeared at the beginning of every NBC color broadcast until a revamped animation
appeared in the 1960s.
1962 peacock logo
On April 16, 1962, on the Laramie series, a second version of the Peacock opening was
introduced in which the bird fanned its bright plumage against a kaleidoscopic color background. The Peacock logo was retired on
December 31, 1975.
1979 peacock logo
The Peacock, still with eleven feathers, returned in the fall of 1979, married with the
N, to create a design called "the Proud N". The Peacock was simplified in keeping with the letter's pared-down design. Although
all eleven feathers were intact, the teardrop tips were gone, the feet were gone and the Peacock's body became a simple
triangular shape. On several occasions, the new Peacock was used independently of the N(starting with the 1979 "Proud as a Peacock" advertising campaign that reintroduced the
Peacock). However, the N and the Peacock were usually used together between 1979 and 1986.
1986 Peacock logo
On May 8, 1986, NBC broadcasted its 60th
Anniversary Special. At the very end, every NBC star (past and present) stood on stage to introduce a new logo to America. The arranged marriage of "N" and Peacock ended, and "The Bird" returned to its place as NBC's
symbol. The peacock was now flipped to the right to suggest it was forward looking, not back. With its six feathers then
representing the network's divisions (at the time: News, Sports, Entertainment, Stations, Network and Productions), this Peacock,
designed by Chermayeff & Geismar (http://www.cgnyc.com), remains one of the world's most recognized logos.
Other NBC logos
Beginning in 1959, an animated logo joined the Peacock, appearing at the end of
broadcasts. Beginning with N, each letter would grow from the other, forming a stacked typographic logo ending with C, forming
the base. This would be known as the "NBC Snake". A recent announcement that this logo would be used again suggests an "NBC
Snake" redesign may be used when the network would enter fully at the HDTV era.
On New Year's Day, 1976, the
time had come to update NBC's visual identity, and a stylized N was introduced, consisting of two trapezoids. The design was
bold, bright and contemporary. In February 1976, NBC was sued by the Nebraska ETV network for trademark infringement since the new NBC logo was virtually
identical to the ETV logo. An out-of-court settlement was reached in which NBC gave ETV new equipment and a mobile color unit
(valued at over $800,000) in exchange for allowing NBC to retain their logo. In addition, NBC paid $55,000 to ETV to cover the
cost of designing and implementing a new logo. One of the technological innovations of this logo was the first electronically
animated ident for an American television network. ([1] (http://nbc_supertrain.tripod.com/))
NBC News
While CBS has received more attention from historians discussing broadcast journalism
history, NBC's news operation was no slouch. From 1956 through 1970, the television broadcast team of Chet Huntley and David
Brinkley consistently exceeded the viewership levels attained by CBS News and its main anchor Walter Cronkite. The dominance ended when Huntley retired, to die a year later from cancer. The loss
of Huntley, along with a reluctance of RCA to fund NBC News at the level CBS was funding CBS News, left NBC News in the doldrums.
NBC News did not recover viewership levels until after GE acquired RCA.
NBC News got the first interview from two Russian presidents (Putin, Gorbachev)
and was the only American eye-witness of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
In the 2nd Iraq war, NBC News and main anchor Tom Brokaw covered the war
like no other television company, in part owing to the willingness of GE to fund it. NBC News correspondent David Bloom pushed through the GE and US Department of Defense bureaucracies
permission to construct a mobile news vehicle that could transmit live video broadcasts from the battlefield. The "Bloommobile"
brought satellite images and videos (clear, detailed) into homes of America and Europe, live and one-on-one. Bloom did not live
to accept the accolades after the armed conflict; he died of natural causes unrelated to combat during the final phase of the
fighting.
NBC News also benefits from the GE corporate structure by having the ability to take reports from its cable counterpart
MSNBC.
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