The first-to-market advantage is built into the name National Broadcasting Company.
NBC was founded a century ago during the gold rush of the mid-1920s, which emerged around cutting-edge technology in radio broadcasting.
At the time, the pages of Variety magazine were filled with articles about new radio stations being signed up or quickly going out of business. It wasn’t long before we were reporting extensively on copyright issues, music royalties, and monopoly legal battles against radio industry giants Radio Corp., AT&T, and Westinghouse Electric.
These three pioneering telecommunications companies partnered in 1926 to solve the problem of the limited geographic reach of a single station. RCA acquired the New York flagship WEAF from AT&T, which had decided to withdraw from broadcasting, and used it as the flagship for the NBC Red Network. (NBC Blue, which started at WJZ New York, was later sold and became ABC.) NBC debuted as America’s first national broadcast network on November 15, 1926, when the acquisition of WEAF was officially announced.
The debut show was a four-hour live broadcast from the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. AT&T’s telephone lines helped transmit the program to 18 other stations in the network, extending its reach as far west as Kansas City. To emphasize NBC’s multi-station network, the telecast included a performance by Chicago singer Mary Gordon, and humorist Will Rogers delivered a monologue from Independence, Mississippi.
From its beginnings, NBC was rooted in a partnership between local affiliates and national networks that continues in broadcast television to this day. NBC recruited independent radio stations in major cities to become affiliates, a win-win scenario that would expand NBC’s signal across the country while providing high-quality programming to local stations. This model has given advertisers unprecedented leverage.
NBC directed more firsts as advertising revenue and reach soared. Just six weeks after the Waldorf-Astoria telecast, NBC gave listeners nationwide coverage of a sporting event for the first time. On January 1, 1927, the Rose Bowl football game between Stanford and Alabama was broadcast from Pasadena. (The game ended in a draw because there was no provision for overtime.)
The vision that allowed NBC to take off came primarily from one man, David Sarnoff, the leader of RCA and the Steve Jobs of his day. When radio became popular among consumers in the early 1920s, Sarnoff saw the potential to combine hardware (RCA radio receivers) and software (NBC programming) to create a world-leading company.
Here are some of the historic innovations brought to you by NBC.
David Sarnoff, president of RCA, was the driving force behind the launch of the NBC radio and television network.
Bettman Archive
commercial television
On April 30, 1939, Sarnoff turned on the first commercial television broadcast at the New York World’s Fair, initiating the first regular schedule of television programming on NBC. RCA had been experimenting with television for ten years, and Sarnoff decided that the World’s Fair was the perfect starting point (although the outbreak of World War II in Europe would put television on hiatus by the end of the year). NBC’s programming was transmitted from an antenna on the Empire State Building, with an initial range of about 55 miles in all directions.
morning news
“We are connected to the world, and we will tell you what is happening today.” That was the promise NBC announcer Jacques Lescourie made when he introduced the first broadcast of “Today” on January 14, 1952. Original host Dave Galloway was an erudite guide who shaped the combination of news, lifestyle and human stories that still defines the morning news show.
Comedian Steve Allen hosted the debut late-night talk show “Tonight” in 1954.
NBCUniversal (via Getty Images)
late night
Shortly after NBC’s success with “Today,” television program executive Pat Weaver invented a late-night show. “Tonight,” originally known as “The Tonight Show,” was broadcast live from Broadway’s Hudson Theater on September 27, 1954, with comedian Steve Allen at the helm. At the beginning of the 105-minute telecast starting at 11:15 p.m., Mr. Allen told how plans for a show called “Smart Openings” were derailed by “a flat tire in the Cadillac remote control unit.” Allen’s gabfest in the second half of the episode, featuring guests singers Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorm and baseball player Willie Mays, set the tone for a conversational, anecdotal interview that created a late-night atmosphere that remains to this day.
NBC promoted its color technology in its groundbreaking telecast of the Rose Parade on January 1, 1954.
Paul W. Bailey/NBC
color tv
RCA had every incentive to develop technology that would allow NBC to broadcast its programs “in living color.” This is because fees were often charged. CBS also pursued its own technical system for delivering color television, but NBC won the competition. The win provided a boost to RCA, since consumers had to buy new sets to receive color television broadcasts. A major milestone came on January 1, 1954, when NBC broadcast the Rose Parade in all its colorful splendor. However, it took about another 15 years for color to become the norm on television. It was the advent of color that led NBC to adopt the peacock as its mascot (and eventually logo).
(Top photo: Original Today anchor Dave Galloway)
This story is part of a retrospective series celebrating NBC’s 100th anniversary, published by Variety in partnership with NBCUniversal.
