When NBC Radio Began 100 Years Ago

We look back on the network’s formation and celebrated history The post When NBC Radio Began 100 Years Ago appeared first on Radio World.

NBC LOGO, 1940s The first broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company was heard on Nov. 15, 1926. Author John Schneider tells how it came about. In the early years of the 20th century, the infant technology of radio was envisioned as a method of point-to-point communications. The transmission of one-to-many (i.e., broadcasting) was not yet envisioned. Worldwide, the British Marconi Company dominated the technology through its control of key patents. Its subsidiary, American Marconi, operated key relay stations in the U.S. and controlled most land and sea radio communications. After World War I, the U.S. Navy and federal government worried that wireless communication was in the hands of a foreign-owned company. As a solution, the government essentially forced American Marconi to sell its U.S. assets and patents to General Electric. G.E. in turn formed a separate “All-American” communications firm. It brought in other partners — Westinghouse, AT&T and the United Fruit Company — to create a patent cross-licensing pool giving it exclusive and unbridled access to the latest radio technologies. This was christened The Radio Corporation of America. RCA’s sole focus was on international and marine communication. The explosive emergence of radio broadcasting in 1922 created instant conflict between the partners over issues never contemplated in the original contract. AT&T, not principally a manufacturer, was an outlier in this new environment. The RCA contract already gave it the exclusive right to manufacture radio transmitters through its Western Union subsidiary, but when broadcasting raised its head AT&T demanded new rights that were not recognized by the other partners. It claimed that its monopoly on sending audio messages by wire also gave it the exclusive right to transmit messages by radio, and to charge for these messages (i.e., advertising). It also declared that the patent cross-licensing agreement did not include the transmission of audio over telephone lines (i.e., network broadcasting). As broadcasting emerged in 1921 and 1922, each RCA partner blazed its own trail. General Electric opened WGY in Schenectady, N.Y.; Westinghouse started three stations: KDKA in Pittsburgh, WBZ in Springfield, Mass., and WJZ in Newark, N.J. AT&T opened WEAF in New York and designated it as a “Toll Station,” conceived to sell its broadcasting time for profit. For its part, RCA first experimented with a one-day broadcast event — describing the Dempsey-Carpentier boxing match over temporary station WJY in Hoboken on July 2, 1921. Then, in September, it opened WDY in Roselle, N.J. A few months later, fully convinced of broadcasting’s importance, it shut down WDY, acquired WJZ from Westinghouse, and moved it into a major new radio facility at Aeolian Hall in Manhattan. Now, the friction between AT&T and the RCA partners escalated into intense competition as WEAF and WJZ became fierce airwave competitors. In 1923, AT&T abruptly withdrew from the radio group, selling all of its RCA shares. It now claimed exclusive rights to broadcasting through the patents controlled by its Western Union subsidiary. Network broadcasting’s emergence In 1923, AT&T experimented with the use of equalized telephone lines for the intercity transmission of broadcast programs. At first, temporary hookups carried special event programs, and soon several permanent inter-city connections were installed. AT&T Engineers man the Master Control Panel for the Red Network’s broadcast of the Coolidge Inaugural, March, 1925. Engineering Manager O. B. Hanson observes; he will later become NBC’s Chief Engineer. (Author’s collection) A sister station, WCAP, was opened in Washington, D.C, to rebroadcast WEAF’s programs. In response, WJZ opened WRC in Washington, but AT&T refused to provide it with equalized lines. RCA had to use inferior Western Union and Postal Telegraph lines, which suffered from poor audio quality and annoying telegraph key clicks. In 1924, AT&T formally debuted the Red Network, offering WEAF’s programs to radio stations in other cities. Just six stations signed on initially, but within a year there were 26 affiliates. The AT&T Red Network, 1925. (From a 1925 publication) Some of the most successful shows at this time were “The Eveready Hour”, “The Atwater-Kent Hour,” “The Clicquot Club Eskimos,” “The A&P Gypsies” and the “Gold Dust Twins.” Sponsors paid only for the programs’ naming rights, as direct-advertising was prohibited. For its part, WJZ established a more modest network over telegraph lines, connecting WJZ with WBZ, WGY and WSYR (Syracuse). The WJZ Network, 1925 (from a 1925 publication) Just as the battle for broadcast supremacy between AT&T and RCA approached a breaking point, cooler heads prevailed. AT&T management realized that its most natural and lucrative opportunity was not in creating broadcast entertainment programs, but in leasing a coast-to-coast network of broadcast lines. It had been barking up the wrong tree. The creation of NBC On Sept. 13, 1926, the news fell like a bombshell: AT&T was throwing in the towel and selling its radio assets to RCA! This advertisement, announcing the creation of the National Broadcasting Company, appeared in dozens of newspapers around the country on Sept. 13, 1926. For the (then) astronomical price of $1 million, RCA acquired WEAF, its Red Network, unrestricted access to AT&T’s lines and a covenant from AT&T not to compete. RCA suddenly found itself in the driver’s seat of the burgeoning broadcast business, controlling the country’s only two networks, and it wasted no time in forming a new division: the National Broadcasting Company, owned 50% by RCA, 30% by General Electric and 20% by Westinghouse. The WEAF network became the “NBC Red Network,” and the WJZ group became the “NBC Blue Network.” (The names came from the color codes that distinguished the hookups on AT&T maps.) The debut broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company was heard on Nov. 15, 1926. It was a grand and pretentious event originating from the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The four-hour gala program was divided into two parts: The first was a presentation of symphony and operatic music hosted by Dr. Walter Damrosch. The second half offered lighter fare, featuring comedians Weber & Fields and music by the Goldman Band. Segments of the program came from other stations that hooked into to the network, demonstrating the future possibilities of networking. From KYW in Chicago, the Civic Opera Company’s soprano Mary Garden performed. Then Kansas City’s WDAF fed a talk by comedian Will Rogers titled “Fifteen Minutes With a Diplomat.” The evening concluded with dance band pickups from several New York Hotels. Comedian Will Rogers spoke from Kansas City on NBC’s opening night broadcast, Nov. 15, 1926. (Author’s collection) The event reportedly cost NBC over $50,000. (Sadly, no recordings or photographs have survived.) Twenty-two stations carried this NBC debut program, including the stations of the combined WEAF and WJZ networks and KDKA’s experimental shortwave station. Nonetheless, the program was only heard in the Northeast and Midwest, as network lines didn’t yet exist south of Washington or west of Kansas City. A regular schedule of Red Network broadcasts began the following week, feeding the 18 stations of the original WEAF network. On Jan. 1, 1927, the Blue Network initiated programs to the original WJZ group and some new subscribers. Both networks presented a few hours of programs during evening hours only — principally serious music and opera- with most originating from the WJZ studio at Aeolian Hall. (The new six-studio complex at 711 Fifth Avenue would not be ready until October of 1927). The combined staffs of WJZ and WEAF, previously cutthroat competitors, were now forced to work together in the cramped quarters at Aeolian Hall. Reaching the Pacific Coast The expansion of network lines to the Southeast was already underway, but it would be two more years until broadcast lines would reach California and the Pacific Northwest. (On New Year’s Day, 1927, NBC’s crack announcer, Graham McNamee, broadcast the Rose Bowl game from Pasadena, but it was sent over low-quality, ordinary phone lines.) NBC’s solution was to open another studio in San Francisco, feeding seven stations up and down the coast through Pacific Bell lines. This “NBC Orange Network” opened on April 5, 1927, with its own staff of artists, actors and musicians duplicating the New York programs for Western audiences. The NBC Orange Network conducts a broadcast outside of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, late 1920’s. (Author’s collection, colorized by the author) Finally, at the end of 1928, a line was completed from Denver to San Francisco, delivering New York programs westward for the first time. By 1932, the Orange Network was eliminated as the Red and Blue Networks were integrated nationwide. As broadcasting moved into the Depression-era 1930s, network radio became the primary source of entertainment for the American public, ushering in radio’s “Golden Age”, and NBC led the way. In 1931 the U.S. Army Air Corps staged a mock air bombardment of New York City as both a military exercise and publicity stunt. NBC sent four reporters and engineers into the sky aboard this Army Ford Tri-Motor. Their live broadcast was transmitted by shortwave to an NBC mobile vehicle, which relayed the reports on to the main studio in New York. (Author’s collection) It quickly outgrew its Fifth Avenue studios and in 1933 moved into the opulent 27-studio Radio City complex in Rockefeller Center. The three-note NBC chime signature became so significant that it was registered as the first-ever audio trademark. The Master Control Room at NBC’s Radio City studio complex, 1934. (Author’s collection, colorized by the author) Competition from the rival Columbia Network (CBS) gradually forced NBC to reduce its highbrow music content in favor of the drama, comedy, and popular music fare that is still revered today. NBC confronts changing times In 1943, an anti-trust ruling forced NBC to sell the Blue Network — it became the American Broadcasting Company, or ABC. The Red Network gradually took a back seat as NBC focused on rolling out its new television technology. CBS’s William Paley wooed away many of NBC’s biggest radio stars in 1949, and it became the top network. Morey Amsterdam and Mabel Todd share the microphone for an early NBC comedy broadcast. (The microphone is an RCA 4-A-1 condenser mic, widely used until the mid-1930’s. ) (Author’s collection) In the 1950s, as radio morphed into block programming and disc jockeys, NBC adapted by supplying feature programs that would integrate into its affiliates’ local programs. The most successful of these was “NBC Monitor,” a weekend long-form news and variety program heard on hundreds of stations from the mid-50s through the mid-60s. Back at RCA, CEO David Sarnoff had been the company’s guiding hand since its inception. His retirement in 1965 started the long and slow decline of RCA as succeeding CEO’s lost focus on the company’s core mission. The 1932 kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby son created a media frenzy, drawing reporters from all over the world to the Lindbergh home in East Amwell, NJ. NBC sent reporter Edward Thorgeson to broadcast coverage live from the scene. He broadcast from a temporary NBC studio set up in a general store three miles from the Lindbergh home. (Author’s collection) NBC Radio’s status further declined during this period. An all-news network, the “NBC News and Information Service,” was launched in 1975, but it was unsuccessful and discontinued after just two years. Finally, in 1985, General Electric acquired the diminished RCA corporation and proceeded to liquidate most of its assets. In 1987, it spun off NBC Radio to Westwood One, and they retired the brand in 1999. NBC Radio had sadly reached the end of the road, concluding a glorious 70+ year history. RESOURCES for this article include: “Connecting a Continent” by Mark Durenberger, 2014 “The National Broadcasting Company, a Technical Organization for Broadcasting”, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, November 1929 Wikipedia: Histories of RCA and NBC Commercial Broadcasting Pioneer – The WEAF Experiment 1922-1926 by William Peck Banning; Harvard University Press 1946 Big Business and Radio by Gleason L. Archer; The American Historical Company, New York, NY Associated Press article, November 15, 1926: Trenton Evening Times, Lansing State Journal, Madison Capital Times, and several other newspapers “New Company Will Broadcast Big Program”; Pittsburgh Post, November 15, 1926 “The Saga of NBC” by George Kent; “Radio Stars Magazine”, January 1931 “NBC Plans Gala Tenth Anniversary”; “Broadcasting Magazine”, November 1, 1936 “The NBC Pacific Coast Network, San Francisco”, www.theradiohistorian.com Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com . The post When NBC Radio Began 100 Years Ago appeared first on Radio World .