(Redirected from National Broadcasting Company)
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.
Formed in 1926 by
RCA, control of NBC passed to GE in 1986 following GE's
$6.4 billion purchase of RCA. Since this acquisition, the chief executive of NBC (now NBC Universal) was
Bob Wright, until he retired, giving his job to
Jeff Zucker.
It was estimated in 2003 that NBC is viewable by just over 97 percent of all households, reaching 103,624,370 viewers in the United States. NBC has 10 owned-and-operated stations and nearly 200 affiliates in the United States and its possessions.
[ NBC Company Overview ]
[ Television Network Statistics ]
The network is currently a part of the media company
NBC Universal, a unit of
General Electric (GE), and supplies programming to more than 200 affiliated U.S. stations.
History
Radio
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
radio network went on the air with twenty-four affiliated stations on
November 15,
1926. It was owned by
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), itself set up in 1919 to control
Guglielmo Marconi's American patents; RCA in turn was owned by
General Electric Company (GE), the
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the
United Fruit Company and
American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T).
[1]
Earliest Stations: WEAF & WJZ
During a period of early consolidation in the broadcasting business, RCA had acquired New York radio station
WEAF from AT&T. RCA shareholder Westinghouse had a competing facility in Newark, pioneer station
WJZ, which also served as the originating station for a loosely-structured network. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, and moved to New York.
[1]
WEAF had been a laboratory for AT&T's
Western Electric, which manufactured transmitters and antennas. 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. Therefore, AT&T's creation of station WEAF in 1922 offered a research-and-development center for these activities. WEAF put together a regular schedule of programs of all types, and created some of the first broadcasts to incorporate commercial endorsements or sponsorships. It was an immediate success, and created links with other stations to offer coverage of sports or political events. WEAF's first efforts in what would become known first as "chain broadcasting" and later as "networking" tied together Outlet Company's
WJAR in
Providence, Rhode Island with AT&T's WCAP in Washington, D.C. (named for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company division of AT&T). RCA also 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 (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 was not compatible with AT&T's goal of providing a phone service, and offered to sell the station to RCA, whose business was set manufacturing. When RCA bought WEAF, it gained rights to rent AT&T's phone lines for network transmission.
Red & Blue Networks
For $1 million, RCA acquired radio station WEAF and a Washington sister-station, WCAP, which it shut down. This transaction accompanied the announcement, in the late summer of 1926, of a new wholly owned division of RCA called ''The National Broadcasting Company.''
[2] It was actually owned 50% by RCA, 30% by General Electric, and 20% by Westinghouse. The network officially was launched on
November 15,
1926. WEAF and RCA's WJZ already were the flagship stations of two radio networks, and they 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 NBC Red Network offered entertainment and music programming; the NBC
Blue Network carried many of the "sustaining" or non-sponsored broadcasts, especially news and cultural programs. Legend has it that the color designations originated from the color of the push-pins early engineers used to designate affiliates of WEAF (red pins) and WJZ (blue pins), 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.
Orange, Gold & White Networks
On
April 5,
1927 NBC reached the West Coast with the launching of the NBC ''Orange'' Network, also known as ''The Pacific Coast Network''. This was followed by the debut
October 18,
1931 of the NBC ''Gold'' Network, also known as ''The Pacific Gold Network''. The ''Orange'' Network carried ''Red'' programming and the ''Gold'' Network carried programming from the ''Blue'' Network. Initially the ''Orange'' Network recreated Eastern ''Red'' programming for West Coast stations at KPO
San Francisco,
California. In
1936 the ''Orange'' Network name was dropped and
affiliate stations became part of the ''Red'' Network. At this same time the ''Gold'' became part of the ''Blue'' Network. NBC also developed a network for
shortwave radio stations in the 1930's called the NBC ''White'' Network.
In a major move in 1931, RCA signed crucial leases with the new
Rockefeller Center management that resulted in it becoming the lead tenant of what was to become in 1933 its corporate headquarters, the
RCA Building, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Under the terms of the lease arrangement, this included studios for NBC and theaters for the RCA-owned
RKO Pictures. The deal was arranged through the Center's founder and financier,
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., with the chairman of GE,
Owen D. Young, and the president of RCA,
David Sarnoff.
[3]
The Chimes
The famous three-note
NBC chimes came about after
several years of development. The three note sequence G-E-C may have been first heard over
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 three notes in 1931, and it was the first ever 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
Pearl Harbor bombing), 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 General Electric's radio station in
Schenectady, New York,
WGY, was an early NBC affiliate. General Electric did not have ownership of NBC until 1986. G-E-C is still used on NBC-TV and a variant with two notes preceding them is used on the
MSNBC cable television network. NBC's radio branch no longer exists.
New Beginnings: The Blue Network Becomes ABC
From its creation in 1934, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had studied the monopolistic effects of network broadcasting on the industry, and found that NBC's two networks and their owned-and-operated stations dominated audiences, affiliates and advertising dollars in American radio. In 1939 the FCC ordered RCA to divest itself of one of the two networks; RCA fought the divestiture order, but divided NBC into two companies in 1940 in case an appeal was lost. The Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." (now as
ABC) and the NBC Red became "NBC Red Network, Inc." In January, 1942, the two networks had their operations formally divorced, and the Blue Network was referred to on the air as either "Blue" or "Blue Network," with its official corporate name being Blue Network Company, Inc. NBC Red, on the air, became known as simply NBC.
With the loss of the final appeal before the United States Supreme Court in May, 1943, RCA sold Blue Network Company, Inc. for $8 million to
Lifesavers magnate Edward J. Noble, completing the sale in October, 1943. For his money, 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 more memorable name for the network; in 1944 he acquired rights to the name "
American Broadcasting Company" from
George Storer and the Blue Network became ABC, with the official name change announced on June 15, 1945, after the sale was completed.
(For a detailed description of the events leading up to the 1943 sale of the NBC Blue Network, and its 1943-5 history, see
Blue Network.)
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 the pinnacle of American radio. Home to many of the most popular stars and programs, NBC stations were often the most powerful, or occupied clear-channel frequencies so that they were heard nation-wide. Such well-known stars as
Al Jolson,
Bob Hope,
Jack Benny,
Edgar Bergen,
Johnny Carson and
Fred Allen called NBC home, as did
Arturo Toscanini's
NBC Symphony. NBC also broadcast radio's earliest hit, ''
Amos 'n' Andy'', in its original fifteen-minute serial format that set the standard for just about all serialised programming in the first radio era, whether for comedies or
soap operas.
As television became more popular in the 1950s, many NBC radio stars gravitated there. Toscanini made his ten television appearances on NBC between 1948 and 1952. In 1950, the network sanctioned ''
The Big Show'', a 90-minute radio variety show that harked back to radio's earliest musical variety style but with sophisticated comedy and dramatic presentations and featuring stage legend
Tallulah Bankhead as its host. It aimed to keep classic radio alive as television matured and to challenge
CBS's Sunday night lineup —much of which had jumped there from NBC in the late 1940s, including (and especially) Jack Benny. But ''The Big Show's initial success didn't last despite critics' praises; the show endured only two years, with NBC said to lose a million dollars on the project.
NBC Radio's last major programming push, in 1955, was ''
Monitor'', a continuous, all-weekend mixture of music, news, interviews and features with a variety of hosts including such well-known television personalities as
Dave Garroway,
Hugh Downs,
Ed McMahon,
Joe Garagiola and
Gene Rayburn. The potpourri also tried to keep vintage radio alive in featuring segments from Jim and Marian Jordan (in character as
Fibber McGee and Molly), ''Ethel & Albert'', and iconoclastic satirist
Henry Morgan, among others. ''Monitor'' was a success for a number of years, but after the mid-1960s, local stations, especially in larger markets, became increasingly reluctant to break from their established formats to run non-conforming network programming. After ''Monitor'' went off the air in early 1975, there was little left of NBC Radio beyond hourly newscasts and news-related features.
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 to allow NBC to project that it would ever become profitable, and it was discontinued after two years. Near the end of the 1970s, NBC started "The Source," a modestly successful secondary network that provided news and short features to FM rock stations.
After their 1986 acquisition of NBC, GE decided that the radio business did not fit their strategic objectives. In summer 1987, NBC Radio's network operations were sold to
Westwood One, and the NBC-owned stations were sold to various 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 same case occurred with the
Mutual Broadcasting System, which Westwood One acquired two years earlier and essentially merged with NBC Radio.)
By the late 1990s "NBC"-branded newscasts were being produced only on weekday mornings; around 2003 even these were discontinued, and the remaining NBC Radio Network affiliates began to receive
CNN Radio-branded newscasts at all hours. At about the same time Westwood One began to distribute a new service called
NBC News Radio, consisting of brief news updates read by
NBC News and
MSNBC anchors and reporters.
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. An actual, off-the-monitor photograph of the FDR telecast can be viewed
here. 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 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 (photographs and specifics of the 1940 convention telecast at http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/40gop.html). 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.
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 VE-Day, 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
(http://www.tvhistory.tv/1945-Apr-20-VE-DAY-NBC-WNBT.JPG) sent to television set owners in the New York area. 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. It was, by all reports, a thrilling prelude of things to come as television began its rapid ascent into the American household. After the war ended, development of television soared ahead and the NBC television network grew from its initial post-war lineup of four stations. The World Series of 1947 featured two New York teams (Yankees and Dodgers) and local TV sales boomed, since the games were telecast in New York. Stations along the East coast and Midwest were gradually connected by coaxial cable in the 1940s until September 1951, when the first transcontinental telecasts took place.
The early 1950s brought massive success for NBC in the new medium, as it launched television's first superstar in
Milton Berle, whose antics on the ''The Texaco Star Theater'' drew massive audiences. Also, the network launched ''
Today'' and ''
The Tonight Show'', which would bookend the broadcast day for over fifty years, continuing to this day to draw more eyes than the comparable offerings of other networks.
While rivals
CBS and
DuMont also offered color broadcasting plans, RCA convinced a waffling FCC that its color system should prevail, and in December 1953 the FCC agreed; the NBC network was to begin offering color programming within days of the FCC's decision. NBC began broadcasting certain shows in color in 1954, and the first NBC show to air all episodes in color, ''
The Marriage'', was shown that summer. In 1956 during a National Association meeting in Chicago, NBC announced that their 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). By 1963, most of NBC's
prime time schedule was in color; without television sets to sell, rival networks followed more slowly,
ABC in 1965-66 and
CBS adopting the color standard effective
September 11,
1967. ''
Days of Our Lives'' was the first soap opera to premiere in color
television.
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 was invited back for a second season; they all failed because of established competition.
Starting 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 not only did not attract the desirable 18-34 demographic but managed to alienate older viewers.
[4] They did, however, launch the phenomenally 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
[5], and a desperate NBC lured
Fred Silverman away from then-number one ABC to see if he could 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 greenlighted at CBS and ABC.
Also during this time, NBC suffered through the defections of several longtime affiliates in markets such as:
Atlanta,
Baltimore,
Charlotte,
Indianapolis,
Jacksonville,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, and
San Diego. Most of the defecting stations 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.
When US President
Jimmy Carter pulled the American team out of the
1980 Summer Olympics, NBC cancelled their planned 150 hours of coverage (which had cost them $87,000,000), and the network's future was in doubt. They had been counting on the expected $170,000,000 in advertising revenues to help them throughout the year and on the broadcasts to help promote fall shows.
[6]
The press and the public were merciless towards Silverman, but two of the most savage attacks on his leadership came from within. The company who composed their on-air promo music created a scathing spoof of the
Proud as a Peacock ad campaign.
Al Franken's attempt at satirizing Silverman in a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch entitled "Limo for a Lame-O" did not endear the comedian to Silverman, who admitted he "never liked Al Franken to begin with."
[7] It may have hurt Franken's chance at succeeding
Lorne Michaels as executive producer of the show.
[7]
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 programs that showed promise. One such show was the critically acclaimed ''
Hill Street Blues'', which rated poorly in its first season. Instead of cancelling it, he moved the Emmy-winning police drama to Thursday night where its ratings improved dramatically. He followed 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 high numbers in the right demographics, mainly upscale, 18-34 year old viewers
[9]. While the network could claim mid-sized successes with ''
Gimme a Break!'', ''
Silver Spoons'', ''
Knight Rider'' and ''
Remington Steele'', the network's biggest hit by far in this period was ''
The A-Team'', which, at 10th place, was the network's only Top 20 rated show of the 1982-1983 season. Shows like these helped them through the disastrous 1983-1984 season in which none of its new shows saw a second year. These nine series were: ''Bay City Blues'', ''Boone'', ''For Love and Honor'', ''
Jennifer Slept Here'', ''
Manimal'', ''The Rousters'', ''Mr. Smith'', ''We Got it Made'', and ''The Yellow Rose''. This is the only time in history that a network's entire line of new series has failed to be renewed for a second season since the network's fall 1978 lineup.
In 1982, the network cancelled
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.
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 levels increase exponentially from having ''Cosby'' as a lead-in. The network moved from third place to second place that year, and claimed first place in the Nielsen rankings in the 1985-1986 season thanks to smash hits like ''
The Golden Girls'', ''
Miami Vice'', ''
227'', ''
Night Court'', ''
Highway to Heaven'', and ''
Hunter''. The network's upswing continued throughout the decade thanks to such shows as ''
ALF'', ''
Amen'', ''
Matlock'', ''
L.A. Law'', ''
The Hogan Family'', ''
A Different World'', ''
Empty Nest'', and ''
In the Heat of the Night''. In the 1988-1989 season, NBC won every week in the ratings for over a full year, an achievement not since duplicated.
"Must See TV" and beyond
In
1991, Tartikoff left NBC to take a position at
Paramount Pictures. In one decade he had taken control of a network with no shows in the Nielsen Top 10 and left it with five.
Warren Littlefield took his place; his start was shaky due to the end of most of the Tartikoff-era hits; additionally, some blamed him for losing
David Letterman to CBS after giving ''
The Tonight Show'' to
Jay Leno when
Johnny Carson retired in
1992. Things soon turned around with such hit series ''
Mad About You'', ''
Friends'', ''
Frasier'', ''
ER'', and ''
Will & Grace''. It was during this period that ''
Seinfeld'', one of Tartikoff's later acquisitions, became TV's number-one rated show. The famous ''
Must-See TV'' tag line was applied to Thursday night's seemingly unbeatable lineup. Unfortunately, this was not to last.
When CBS chose ''
Survivor'' to anchor its Thursday night line-up, its success was taken as a suggestion that NBC's nearly two decades of Thursday night dominance could be broken. With the loss of ''Friends'' and ''Frasier'' in 2004, NBC was faced with several moderately-rated shows and few true ratings hits. This, combined with CBS's popular
''CSI'' franchise, FOX's ''
American Idol'', and ABC hits such as ''
Lost'', ''
Desperate Housewives'' and ''
Grey's Anatomy'', has led to NBC being currently ranked as the fourth most watched television network in the United States, after CBS, a resurgent ABC, and Fox. Still, much of NBC's woes can be attributed to the overall loss of network viewership to increased competition from cable, home video, and the internet.
During the
2004-05 season, NBC became the first major television network to start producing its programming in
widescreen, with the hopes of attracting new viewers. Though NBC did see a slight boost in viewers, NBC didn't get any real ratings rise, since widescreen television has yet to catch on in popular culture.
In December 2005, NBC began its first-ever week-long primetime game show event, ''
Deal or No Deal'', to big ratings by the end of its first week-long run and returned multi-weekly in March 2006. Having enjoyed sustained success, ''Deal or No Deal'' returned in the fall of 2006. But otherwise the
2005-06 season would be one of the worst for NBC in three decades, with only one series (''
My Name Is Earl'') that debuted that fall surviving into a second season. The
2006-07 season was a mixed bag, with ''
Heroes'' becoming a surprise hit on Monday nights, while the highly-anticipated ''
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' lost a third of its premiere-night viewers by week six and was eventually canned by the end of the season. The return of
NFL football (eight years after NBC originally lost their rights), the still-strong ''Deal or No Deal'', and the third season of ''
The Office'' (fresh off its
Emmy Award win for Outstanding Comedy Series) have so far not helped NBC out of fourth place.
It was reported in March 2007 that NBC will let viewers buy full-length prime-time television shows like ''The Office'' and ''Heroes'' on-demand to play on mobile phones. This will be a first for the United States. It is the latest effort by media and wireless companies to entice consumers to watch video on their phones.
[10]
NBC News
NBC News currently has the highest rated morning show program (''
Today'').
Programming
NBC presently operates on an 87-hour regular network programming schedule. It provides 22 hours of
prime time programming to affiliated stations: 8:00-11:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday (all times ET/PT) and 7:00-11:00 p.m. on Sundays. Programming is also provided 7:00-10:00 a.m. weekdays in the form of ''
Today'', which also has a two-hour Saturday and one-hour Sunday edition; anytime between 12:00-3:00 p.m. weekdays (currently the soaps ''
Days of Our Lives'' and ''
Passions''); nightly editions of ''
NBC Nightly News''; the Sunday political talk show ''
Meet the Press''; weekday early-morning news program ''
Early Today''; late night talk shows ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and ''
Last Call with Carson Daly''; sketch comedy show ''
Saturday Night Live''; recently-added ''
Poker After Dark'', which airs following ''Last Call'' on weeknights and ''SNL'' on Saturday nights (or after re-broadcasts of local affiliate news); weeknight rebroadcasts of ''
The Tonight Show'' under the banner ''NBC Up All Night''; and a three-hour Saturday morning animation block under the name
qubo. In addition, sports programming is also provided weekend afternoons any time from 12:00-6:00 p.m. ET, or
tape-delayed PT.
Prime time
Returning comedies are in '
red'; new comedies are in '
pink'; returning dramas are in '
green'; new dramas are in '
blue'; returning reality shows are in '
yellow'; new reality shows are in '
gold'; returning game shows are in '
orange'; new game shows are in '
beige'; news programming is in '
brown'; sports programming is in '
purple'.
All times are
Eastern and
Pacific (subtract one hour for
Central and
Mountain time), with the exception of Sunday (see below).
Fall 2007
NBC's Fall upfront presentation &
schedule changes
★ Returning midseason shows are dramas ''
Medium'' and ''
Law & Order'' and game show ''
1 vs. 100''. '' moved to
USA''.
Daytime programs
NBC currently airs two daytime dramas, ''
Days of our Lives'' and ''
Passions''. In 2007, ''Passions'' will make way for a fourth hour of ''
Today''. Long-running NBC daytime dramas of the past include ''
Another World'', ''
The Doctors'' and ''
Santa Barbara''. NBC also aired the final four and a half years of ''
Search for Tomorrow'' after the series was ended by
CBS.
Notable long-running daytime game shows seen on NBC include ''
Concentration'', ''
Let's Make a Deal'', ''
The Match Game'', ''
Jeopardy!'', ''
The Hollywood Squares'', ''
Wheel of Fortune'', ''
Password Plus/Super Password'', ''
Sale of the Century'' and ''
Scrabble''. Game shows left NBC's daytime schedule, presumably for good, in 1994.
Children's programming
Children's programming has always played a part in NBC's programming since its initial roots in television. In 1947, NBC's first major children's series was ''
Howdy Doody'', one of the era's first breakthrough television shows. The series, which ran for 13 years, featured a frecklefaced
marionette and a myriad of other characters and hosted by
"Buffalo" Bob Smith. Howdy Doody spent most of its run on weekday afternoons.
In 1956, NBC abandoned the children's programming lineup on weekday afternoons, relegating the lineup to Saturdays only with Howdy Doody as their marquee franchise for the series' remaining four years. Throughout the 1960s until 1992, the bulk of NBC's children's programming were derived from theatrical shorts like ''
The Pink Panther Show'' and ''
Looney Tunes'', reruns of popular television series like ''
The Flintstones'' and ''
The Jetsons'', foreign acquisitions like ''
Astro Boy'' and ''
Kimba the White Lion'', original animated series (most notably
The Smurfs and
Alvin and the Chipmunks in the 1980s), cartoon adaptations of
Mr. T,
ALF and
Star Trek, and original live-action series including
The Banana Splits,
The Bugaloos, and
H.R. Pufnstuf.
From 1984 to 1989,
One to Grow On PSAs were shown after the end credits of every show or every other children's show.
In 1989, NBC premiered ''
Saved by the Bell'', which originated at
The Disney Channel as ''Good Morning, Miss Bliss''. ''Saved by the Bell'' would become one of the most popular teen series in television history as well as the number one series on Saturday mornings, dethroning ''
The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show'' in its first season.
NBC abandoned the animated series in August 1992 in favor of a Saturday edition of ''Today'' and more live-action series under the name
TNBC ('Teen NBC'). Most of the series on the TNBC lineup were series produced by
Peter Engel such as ''
City Guys'', ''
Hang Time'', ''
California Dreams'' and ''
One World''. Though there were exceptions, the short-lived ''
Just Deal'', one of only two series without a studio audience and/or laugh track and the only "filmed" series was co-created and executive produced by
Thomas W. Lynch. ''NBA Inside Stuff'' was also a part of the TNBC lineup during the duration of the NBA season. After eleven years NBC discontinued the TNBC Saturday morning block.
In 2002, NBC began a deal with
Discovery Communications' Discovery Kids channel to air their original FCC-mandated educational programming under the banner ''Discovery Kids on NBC''. The schedule originally consisted of only live-action series, including a kid-themed version of ''
Trading Spaces'' and
J.D. Roth's Emmy-nominated reality game show ''
Endurace'', but has expanded to include some animated series such as ''
Kenny the Shark'', ''
Tutenstein'', and ''
Time Warp Trio''. In 2006, Discovery Kids on NBC was discontinued.
[11]
In May 2006, in order to replace the Discovery Kids Saturday Morning block, NBC announced plans to launch a new children's block on Saturday mornings starting in September 2006 as part of the '''
qubo''' endeavor teaming parent company NBC Universal with
ION Media Networks,
Scholastic Press,
Corus Entertainment and
Classic Media/
Mike Young. qubo will include blocks to air on NBC,
Telemundo (the Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal), and ION Media Networks's
ION Television, as well as a 24/7 digital broadcast kids channel, video on demand services and a branded website.
The "Discovery Kids on NBC" block aired for the final time on
September 2,
2006. On Saturday,
September 9,
2006, NBC started airing the following qubo programs: ''
VeggieTales'', ''
Dragon'', ''VeggieTales Presents:
3-2-1 Penguins!'', ''
Babar'', ''
Jane and the Dragon'', and ''
Jacob Two-Two''.
NBCi
In April, 2000, 'NBCi' purchased a company that specialized with search engines that learnt from the users searches for $32 million, called
GlobalBrain.
From 2001-2002, NBC briefly changed their web address to
NBCi.com, in a heavily-advertised attempt to launch an
Internet portal and
start page. This move saw NBC teaming up with
XOOM.com, e-mail.com,
AllBusiness.com[2] and Snap.com (eventually acquiring all four of them), launching a multi-faceted internet portal with e-mail, webhosting, community, chat, personalization and news capabilities. This experiment lasted roughly one season, and failed
[3], and NBCi was liquidated. The NBC-TV portion of the website was then reverted to NBC.com. However, the NBCi Web site continued as a portal for NBC-branded content (the URL redirected to NBCi.MSNBC.com), using a co-branded version of
InfoSpace to deliver minimal portal content. The website ceased to exist altogether after April 2, 2007, as most major corporations see no need for internet portals anymore, considering the widespread ubiquity of the internet.
Evolution of the NBC logo
Main articles: NBC logos
NBC has used a number of logos throughout its history; early logos were similar to the logo of its then parent company,
RCA, but later logos included stylized
peacock images.
International broadcasts
Canada
Many cities in Canada including
Toronto,
Vancouver and
Montreal receive many United States NBC affiliates either over the air and on
cable television and
satellite television providers. In places far from the border, cable and satellite are the only ways to pick up NBC signals clearly. Aside from
Simultaneous substitution, the programming and broadcasting is the same as in the United States.
Australia
The
Seven Network has close ties with NBC and has used many of its slogans (including
Let's All Be There). ''
Seven News'' has featured "The Mission" as its news theme since the mid 1980s. Local newscasts were named ''Seven Nightly News'' from the mid 80s until around 2000.
Europe and Latin America
NBC Nightly News is shown on
CNBC Europe. NBC is not shown outside the Americas on a channel in its own right. However, both NBC News and MSNBC are shown for a few hours a day on
Orbit News in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. MSNBC is also shown occasionally on sister network
CNBC Europe during breaking news.
In 1993, NBC began production of
Canal de Noticias NBC. This service was beamed to Latin America from the NBC Newschannel headquarters located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Over 50 journalists were brought to produce, write, anchor and technically produce a 24 hour news service based on the popular "wheel" conceived at CNN. The service folded in 1997 as sales departments were not able to generate any revenue. After
Mexican Noticias ECO, Canal de Noticias NBC holds the distinction of being the first 24 hour news service to be seen in Latin America.
Telenoticias, at one point owned by CBS, came later followed by
CNN en Español.
NBC Super Channel becomes NBC Europe
In 1993, the Pan-European cable network
Super Channel was taken over by
General Electric, the parent of NBC, and became
NBC Super Channel. In 1996, the channel was renamed
NBC Europe, but was, from then on, almost always referred to as simply "NBC" on the air.
Most of NBC Europe's prime time programming was produced in Europe, but after 11PM
Central European Time on weekday evenings, the channel aired ''
The Tonight Show'', ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and ''
Saturday Night Live'', hence its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night." Most
NBC News programs were broadcast on NBC Europe, including ''
Dateline NBC'' and ''
NBC Nightly News'', which was aired live. ''
The Today Show'' was also initially shown live in the afternoons, but was later broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it was more than half a day old.
In 1999, NBC Europe stopped broadcasting to most of Europe. At the same time the network was relaunched as a German language computer channel, targeting a young demographic. The main show on the new NBC Europe was called NBC GIGA. In 2005, the channel was relaunched once again, this time as a free-to-air channel under the name "Das Vierte". GIGA started an own digital channel then, which can be received via satellite and many cable networks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
''
The Tonight Show'', ''
Late Night'' and ''
NBC Nightly News'' continue to be broadcast on
CNBC Europe.
NBC Asia
In the mid-1990s, NBC launched a channel in Asia called NBC Asia. Like NBC Europe, NBC Asia featured most of NBC's news programs as well as the Tonight Show and Late Night. It also had NBC Super Sports for the latest action in selected sporting events. During weekday evenings, NBC Asia had a regional evening news program. It occasionally simulcasted some programs from
CNBC Asia and
MSNBC. On 1 July 1998, NBC Asia was replaced by the
National Geographic Channel. Like in the case of NBC Europe however, selected Tonight Show and Late Night episodes can still be seen on
CNBC Asia during weekends.
Through regional partners, NBC-produced programs are seen in some countries in the region. In the Philippines, Solar Entertainment's
ETC airs ''
The Tonight Show'', ''
Late Night'' and ''
Saturday Night Live'' while
2nd Avenue airs NBC News programs.
See also
★
NBC News
★
NBC Sports
★
TNBC
★
Must See TV
★
MSNBC
★
NBC Studios
★
NBC Productions
★
List of programs broadcast by NBC
★
List of shows previously aired by NBC
★
List of NBC affiliates, arranged by market
★
List of NBC affiliates, arranged by state
★
List of NBC slogans
★
List of NBC personalities
★
NBC chimes
★
NBC pages
References
1. Why Did WABC Have Such a Great Signal?
2. Announcing the National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
3. RCA Lead Tenant of Rockefeller Center - see John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson, ''The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. (p.326)
4. Struggling to Leave the Cellar
5. Memories of Videodisc - Who's Who in RCA VideoDisc: Herb Schlosser.
6. NBC's Retreat From Moscow
7. Live From New York: An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live, , Tom, Shales, Back Bay Books, 2003,
8. Live From New York: An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live, , Tom, Shales, Back Bay Books, 2003,
9. Coming Up From Nowhere Richard Corliss
10. NBC to Offer On-Demand Mobile TV Service. March 15, 2007.
11. Discovery, NBC to End Sat. Kids Block Anthony
External links
★
NBC Television official site
★
NBC press releases and photos on NBC Universal Media Village
★
Museum of Broadcast Communications - NBC History
★
NBC corporate archive at the Wisconsin Historical Society - The original NBC office files from 1921-1955 (1.2 million documents, 3100 audio recordings)
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