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12 episodes with David Sarnoff
2 episodes with David Sarnoff
2 episodes with David Sarnoff
2 episodes with David Sarnoff
Hey everyone, James Scully here. I've got a new webinar on Monday June 16th at 7PM that I'm very excited about on the story behind the CBS Talent Raids of the late 1940s and how it altered the radio landscape just as the TV era began. Here's a link for tickets and more info and if you can't make it live, don't worry I'll be emailing everyone who registers a video of it once it's over — https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cbs-talent-raids-part-1-the-post-war-radio-era-webinar-tickets-1389789390479?aff=oddtdtcreator Here's an overview of the webinar below: In the fall of 1948, three of the four major radio networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — were funneling their soaring radio profits into the burgeoning television side of their businesses. And because all individual U.S. citizens were taxed 77% on all income over $70k (roughly $907k today), big stars of the day like Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, and Freeman Gosden had the idea to incorporate their popular shows as businesses in order to qualify for significant breaks under capital gains tax laws. What happened when the parent company of NBC, the nation's #1 network at the time, refused to make this deal? It's time to uncover how a smart bet by CBS helped it overtake its main rival during the golden age of radio and early television. Join James Scully — Radio historian and producer/host of Breaking Walls, the docu-podcast on the history of U.S. network radio broadcasting for a two-part series that explores the events surrounding the CBS Talent Raids of 1948, and the many men and women who benefited from this monumental period in entertainment. In Part One: Post-War Radio Era, we'll focus on how a tax code and the country's top comedian helped shift Network superiority from NBC to CBS right as the TV era began, including: • An overview of the radio and TV networks in the late 1940s, from how the radio industry grew from wireless telegraphy in the 1910s to one of the largest businesses in the United States • A look at the biggest stars of the day and their programs like Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Eve Arden, and Lucille Ball • Some of the big news stories of that era, including why the United States experienced so much labor turmoil as the baby boomer era began following the end of World War II • A play-by-play of the CBS Talent Raid, including why CBS head William S. Paley happily agreed to these capital gains deals when NBC's David Sarnoff was vehemently opposed; and which yet unknown stars benefited the most • How and why this deal changed the balance of power in the entertainment industry leading into the Television era Afterward, I'll do a Q&A — any and all questions are welcomed and encouraged! Can't attend live? Not to worry! I'll be recording the event and sending the video out to all guests who register so you can watch it later. See you (virtually) there! Part 2 on the early Television era will be presented at a later date.
This episode was originally released on 9/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio. ___________ In Breaking Walls Episode 83, we focus the radio industry of the 1930s and 40s—especially on the career of David Sarnoff, as RCA's network, NBC begins to lose its grip on the top spot in the broadcasting industry while they introduce Television. We'll also focus on the introduction of new talent to the industry, and the CBS talent raids of 1948-1949. Highlights: • David Sarnoff announces the birth of TV at The 1939 World's Fair • Edwin Howard Armstrong Invents FM • Television Experiments in the 1920s and 1930s • Sarnoff and Armstrong's Crumbling Friendship • How World War II Stopped Television's Commercial Expansion • William S. Paley's Plan to make CBS the #1 Network • The Rise of Arthur Godfrey • Sarnoff's Court Battles • The Death of Edwin Howard Armstrong • The CBS Talent Raids of 1948-49 • Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis • The Simple Art of Macabre The WallBreakers: http://thewallbreakers.com Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts. To support the show: http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers The reading material used in today's episode was: • The General: David Sarnoff & The Rise of the Communications Industry - by Kenneth Bilby • The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio - by John Dunning • Empire: William S. Paley & The Making of CBS - by Lewis J. • The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio - by Christopher H. Sterling • The Network - by Scott Wooley • As well as an article on Martin & Lewis from the August 2018 issue of SPERDVAC's Radiogram, by Michael Hayde Selected Music featured in today's Episode was: • Mr. Lucky, by Si Zentner • Begin the Beguine, by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra • Seance on a Wet Afternoon, arranged by John Barry
This episode was originally released on 2/15/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio. —————————— In Breaking Walls Episode 76, we pick up our story on the history of American dramatic radio after the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912. The time between 1912 and 1922 saw three competing interests battle for control of the wireless airwaves as wireless telegraphy transitioned into radio broadcasting. These three interests were big private business, individual HAM radio operators, and the US Government. Highlights: • How the Titanic's Sinking changed Guglielmo Marconi's business • The Radio Act of 1912 - What it portended • Charles Herrold and KCBS San Francisco • Lee Deforest sells out to AT&T • Edwin Howard Armstrong invents regeneration, and later the superheterodyne receiver • War comes to Europe • The Navy takes over wireless • How World War I caused radio technology to boom • AT&T, Westinghouse, General Electric, and the newly formed RCA make a deal • David Sarnoff's Rise to power • KDKA and the birth of regular broadcasting • Todays' introduction music of Metamorphosis No. 2 was arranged for harp and vibraphone by David DePeters and played by Elizabeth Hainen. You can pick up her album, Home: Works for Solo Harp on iTunes and Amazon, and listen on Spotify and Pandora. Her website is ElizabethHainen.com and she is on youtube @Elizabethhainenharp The WallBreakers: http://thewallbreakers.com Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts. To support the show: http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers The reading material for today's episode was: • Inventing American Broadcasting 1899-1922 by Susan J. Douglas • Empire of the Air by Tom Lewis • A Pictorial History of Radio's First 75 Years by B. Eric Rhoads • Hello Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio by Anthony Rudel • The Network by Scott Woolley
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies
Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg. This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more--including Ujifusa's great grandparents. That is their legacy. Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York's Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (HarperCollins, 2023) is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa's story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war--and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Allyship is an ongoing journey, not a destination. There are best practices that'll help you build your brand and reputation as an inclusive leader and true ally (and some not-so-best practices you'll want to avoid).My guest David Sarnoff has so many stories about experiences and lessons that have forged an awareness of the importance of inclusive connections. He's taken what he's learned--from his childhood to his current work as an executive coach and consultant--to build a brand of authenticity and consistency. Now, he's training, speaking, and facilitating workshops to help others become better leaders,allies, and advocates.In this episode of the Branding Room Only podcast, you'll learn about the importance of protecting and cultivating your reputation, get David's insights on allyship and inclusive leadership, and hear about the role of authenticity and consistency in building a strong brand. You'll also discover the value of emotional intelligence, in-person relationship building, and how to have an effective mentor-mentee relationship in the workplace.00:56 - David introduces and describes himself, defines personal brand, and shares his hype songs and favorite Winston Churchill and Maya Angelou quotes6:38 - How David's childhood gave him the most invaluable experience and education about how to interact with people14:36 - The importance of authenticity and consistency in building and protecting your personal brand and true allyship in situations of bias or discrimination20:23 - Why allyship is an ongoing journey for everyone and where people can go sideways with it and negatively affect their brand27:16 - Why emotional intelligence is a crucial skill for brand building, inclusive leadership, and effective mentorship33:56 - How leaders set the tone and build an inclusive feedback culture within their organization38:07 - One thing that doesn't get emphasized enough that'll help you build your brand and become an inclusive leader or ally41:10 - What David loves to do in his personal life, why he won't compromise on ethics, and how his Branding Room Only moment is all about audience connectionConnect With David SarnoffDavid B. Sarnoff on LinkedInSarnoff Group LLCLoeb LeadershipPracticing Law InstituteMentioned In How Inclusive Connections Help Build Your Brand As a Leader and Ally with David Sarnoff “Beyond 9/11: Life and Legacy of Joan Donna Griffith - A Conversation With My Father, Peter Griffith”The Leadership ChallengeSponsor for this episodeThis episode is brought to you by PGE Consulting Group LLC.PGE Consulting Group LLC is dedicated to providing a practical hybrid of professional development training and diversity solutions. From speaking to consulting to programming and more, all services and resources are carefully tailored for each partner. Paula Edgar's distinct expertise helps engage attendees and create lasting change for her clients.To learn more about Paula and her services, go to www.paulaedgar.com or contact her at info@paulaedgar.com, and follow Paula Edgar and the PGE Consulting Group LLC on LinkedIn.
New York City played a starring role in the story of American broadcast media, perhaps especially when it came to television. The city was both a major market for television, a proving ground for television techniques and technologies, and an on-screen character in televised news and entertainment. The very physicality of the city, with its canyon-like streets and towering steel and concrete edifices, played a material role in the development and popularization of American television. Historian and media scholar Richard Popp, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, is working on a book project exploring the close inter-relationship between New York City and broadcast media, with a focus on television and its associated industries and politics. Using numerous Hagley collections, including the RCA archive, the David Sarnoff papers, and the Margolies collection of travel ephemera, Dr. Popp uncovers a fascinating story of first adopters, regulators, and a society grappling with new, potent technologies. In support of his work, Popp received aid from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, & Society at the Hagley Museum & Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, please visit us online at hagley.org.
It's 4PM eastern time on November 25th, 1948. Elgin Watches annual Thanksgiving Day special is on the air from NBC's KFI in Hollywood. Don Ameche is the emcee. Ken Carpenter is announcing. This November Radio ratings are robust. Eleven shows have ratings higher than twenty points, and Lux Radio Theatre's 33.2 is the most listened-to show on the air. But a major shift is about to happen just as the TV era launches. In 1948 comedian Jack Benny organized his activities into a corporation. At that time American individuals were taxed seventy-seven percent on all income over seventy thousand dollars. Benny's hope was to secure a deal with NBC for his company, so that he could be taxed under capital gains laws at 25%. NBC's parent company was the Radio Corporation of America. Their head, David Saroff, refused. Amos N' Andy were the first to secure such a deal. They jumped to CBS in October of 1948. Then Lew Wasserman and Taft Shreiber—President and VP of The Music Corporation of America, called head of CBS William Paley to see if he was interested in a similar deal for Jack Benny. In November, David Sarnoff got word and sent NBC president Niles Trammel to California with orders to keep Benny at NBC, but Sarnoff refused to be there. William Paley flew to LA to meet in person, agreeing for CBS to buy Benny's corporation for $2.26 Million. NBC responded by doubling their offer. However, Lew Wasserman again intervened, obtained the NBC contract, changed every mention of NBC to CBS, and re-offered the deal to Benny, who then signed it. Although Benny was signed, Paley next had to convince Benny's sponsor American Tobacco to make the move. He did so by guaranteeing that CBS would pay the cigarette giant three thousand dollars per week for every ratings point lost after the migration. Floored that Paley would offer this, all parties agreed immediately. On Thanksgiving in 1948, William Paley had plenty to be thankful for. While Jack Benny was appearing on NBC for this Elgin Special, CBS announced on their evening news that The Jack Benny Program would be jumping to CBS. When asked that evening by the United Press, Benny declined to comment. It touched off a firestorm between the two networks. NBC claimed any such deal was unlawful. David Sarnoff said “leadership built on a foundation of solid service can't be snatched overnight by a few high-priced comedians. Leadership is no laughing matter.” It was the biggest mistake of Sarnoff's career. Jack Benny left NBC at the end of the year. Edgar Bergen too. There was suddenly a glaring hole in NBC's Sunday night lineup. Between Benny and Bergen, NBC would need to replace roughly forty-five million listeners come January. In 1949, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby followed to CBS. NBC's desperation created major opportunities. Among those to benefit were a comedic duo who'd been selling out nightclubs all over the country. Their names were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
How are paper straws related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) efforts? Find out in the second of two Annual Conference-themed episodes, featuring David Sarnoff, Esq., ACC, and Joy Stephens, MBA, of Loeb Leadership. They preview their presentation, “Performative vs. Authentic Allyship,” and we discuss what it means to be a DEIA ally, as well as how DEIA initiatives have faltered as we get further removed from the social justice movement of 2020. Don't miss Sarnoff's and Stephens' presentation at ALA's 2023 Annual Conference & Expo in Seattle, Washington, on Tuesday, May 9, at 11:15 a.m. Pacific. There's still time to register! Visit alanet.org/conf23 to learn more. Speaker Bios David B. Sarnoff, Esq., ACC, is an International Coaching Federation-certified Executive Coach and leadership trainer with Loeb Leadership. As a former attorney, experienced executive search consultant, business owner and former board of education president, Sarnoff understands the mindset, demands and challenges of attorneys, directors, corporate executives, managers and individual contributors. Joy Stephens, MBA, brings a unique and varied collection of work experiences to the table. She has dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, as well as a Masters of Business Administration. Stephens spent her more than 20 years in corporate America with companies like Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly Clark. She believes that empathy and compassion are the keys to better leadership, better communication and stronger working relationships. She imbues all her workshop facilitation with the goal of recognizing the humanity in each other.
Wind City Legal Ease with David Sarnoff of Loeb Leadership
The Network, by Scott Woolley, tells the history of wireless communications, and the stories of the characters that were a part of it. It's the first book strictly about media history that I'm summarizing and adding to my best media books list. Wireless communications start with wired communications Wireless communications today of course include cell phones, but The Network takes us from the wireless telegraph, to radio, to television, and finally to satellites. First, it gives a little background on the history of the electric telegraph, the invention which suddenly made it possible to move, in minutes, messages that used to take weeks to reach their destinations. The electric telegraph was able to change the world thanks to one simple action: The ability to move a piece of metal at the end of a wire. That was enough to develop codes that could transmit messages, based upon the simple movement of that piece of metal. This process started in 1822, when Christian Órsted attached a copper wire to a battery and saw a nearby compass needle move. There was a several-decade-long race to develop an electric telegraph. The first transatlantic cable was opened for business by 1866. A big customer of these telegraph services were stock traders, who could buy shares in London, sell them a few seconds later in New York, and always profit if their trades were executed in time. Morse code was the winning format for turning the movement of a piece of metal into messages that could travel around the world. A claim in The Network I couldn't find a source for, but that sounds pretty cool: The clouds in New York City at night used to have projected on them news, election results, and sports scores – in Morse code. From a worthless accidental discovery to worthwhile wireless The history of wireless communication started with a discovery as accidental as Christian Órsted's: Heinrich Hertz noticed that metal objects moved slightly when lightning struck nearby. He later conducted experiments where he successfully generated sparks through the air. It was pretty cool, but he concluded that the invisible waves he had discovered were “of no use whatsoever.” Electrical signals that traveled through the air were made very useful, indeed, by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi. For much of its early years, most people thought his Marconi Company was a scam. Like the dot-com and crypto booms, many companies at the dawn of wireless technology made off with investors' money. One article, with the headline, “Wireless and Worthless,” pointed out that more criminals were being prosecuted from wireless companies than from any other industry. Besides, what did we need wireless technology for, when there were companies such as The Commercial, which was probably the hottest tech company in New York in the early 1900s? It owned five of the sixteen cables crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and one of the two that crossed the Pacific – which was 10,000 miles long. 10,000 miles was pretty impressive, especially when you consider that in 1896, Guglielmo Marconi could only send a wireless message one mile. What was the point? The pseudo-events of Guglielmo Marconi Marconi was good at building buzz for his wireless technology through public demonstrations – you could call them pseudo-events, a la Daniel J. Boorstin's The Image, which I talked about on episode 257. In front of an audience, he'd ask a volunteer to carry around a “magic box.” He'd build tension from the stage, then push a lever, which would make the magic box buzz from afar. In 1898, when his wireless range was somewhere around ten miles, Marconi set up a telegraph receiver on the yacht of the prince of Wales. Queen Victoria sent the first mundane wireless text message, asking, “Can you come to tea?” The prince replied, “Very sorry, cannot come to tea.” After all, he was on the ocean. By 1899, Marconi could send a message over the English channel, and by 1901, he could send a message 225 miles. Marconi had competition in trying to send a wireless message across the Atlantic, which was 3,000 miles. Nikola Tesla, with the money of J.P. Morgan, was working on a fifty-five ton, 187-foot-tall steel super-antenna. And Marconi didn't have the funding to build something like that. Marconi won that race across the Atlantic. In one of his publicity stunts, he was able to relay “Marconigrams,” as he called them, from celebrities in London to celebrities at a dinner party in New York. But, that wasn't enough to impress stock traders who relied on wired telegrams – the messages took ten minutes to arrive, with pre-arranged help in expediting them as they traveled to and from coastal locations on wired connections. And radio waves are easier to transmit at night than during business hours, when radiation from the sun interferes with wireless signals. As the Titanic sank, Marconi rose But in 1912, the day before Marconi Company investors were to vote on whether to further fund the company, the Titanic sank. Using Marconi's wireless technology, an ocean liner, the Olympic, fielded a message from the Titanic, over 500 miles away, which included coordinates, and said, “We have struck an iceberg.” Another ocean liner, the Carpathia, came to the rescue. Thanks to Marconi's wireless technology, of the Titanic's 2,223 passengers, 706 survived. What followed sounds like the third act of a great movie: When Marconi arrived at a lecture that had already been scheduled, there was a crowd overflowing out the building. He received a standing ovation, including from the once-skeptical Thomas Edison. And the vote of Marconi shareholders, on whether to issue another $7 million in stock to build stations for intercontinental telegraphs, was a no-brainer. David Sarnoff: The early days of an innovator Working at Marconi at that time was the young David Sarnoff, who had started at Marconi after being fired for taking the day of Rosh Hashanah off work at Marconi's rival company, the Commercial. A Russian immigrant, Sarnoff's father had recently become unable to work, so he had set off to support the family as an office messenger boy, at only fifteen. Being a telegraph operator was a hot tech job at the time. David Sarnoff bought a used telegraph key, so he could spend his evenings practicing his coding skills – his Morse-coding skills. He worked his way up until he was managing Marconi's New York office, but then transferred to what seemed like a step down – as an inspector in the engineering department. Edwin Armstrong's signal amplifier It was as chief inspector David Sarnoff met Edwin Armstrong, who demonstrated to him an amazing signal amplifier. From a Marconi station in New Jersey, Armstrong's amplifier turned signals from an Ireland station from barely audible, to loud and crisp. They were then able to listen in on signals from competitor Poulsen Wireless, as their San Francisco station communicated with their Portland station. They were even able to listen to Poulsen's Hawaii station, despite the fact Poulsen's own San Francisco station – the breadth of a continent closer – could barely pick up the signal, amidst a Hawaiian thunderstorm. Sarnoff thought he had found the key technology that would help Marconi dominate wireless telegraphy, and free it from having to share its revenue with rival cabled networks. Instead, Guglielmo Marconi himself refused to believe the results of the story, and another executive publicly chided Sarnoff within the company for conducting the unauthorized experiments, which he believed merely drove up the prices of inventors' patents. Edwin Armstrong becomes Major Armstrong Armstrong ended up selling the patent for his amplifier to AT&T. Through the use of that amplifier and other wireless-technology inventions, Edwin Armstrong achieved the rank of Major Armstrong in WWI. During WWI, Britain and Germany cut one another's cables, making wireless communication even more important. The British military took over Marconi's wireless stations within their empire. Armstrong helped intercept Germany's wireless communications. RCA, born from a patent pool But during the war, the way wireless technology patents were split up amongst companies became a problem. It was impossible to build useful devices without using a variety of innovations, and thus infringing on other companies' patents. The Navy used its wartime powers to allow American manufacturers to use any wireless patents they wanted, without consequence. Once the war was over, the military sought to maintain this freedom of innovation, and – as a matter of national security – keep the American radio industry out of foreign hands. They struck a deal to cut off the American portion of the British Marconi company, and pool together patents from AT&T, Westinghouse, G.E., and – interestingly – United Fruit Company, who had patents for communications systems on their Central American banana plantations. The name of this new company: RCA. Its general manager: David Sarnoff. Sarnoff's radio Sarnoff had pitched to his bosses at Marconi, in 1915, a “Radio Music Box.” Far more complex than moving a piece of metal, voice had first been transmitted over radio waves in 1906, and The Navy had done “radio telephone” calls, but nobody had thought of using radio to transmit to a wide audience. His pitch described a box with amplifier tubes, and what he called a “speaking telephone.” He wrote, “There should be no difficulty in receiving music perfectly when transmitted within a radius of 25 to 50 miles. Within such a radius there reside hundreds of thousands of families.” Sarnoff had already experimented with the concept by transmitting music, to a boat cruising around Manhattan, from a phonograph in Marconi's New York office. Sarnoff's bosses at Marconi had ignored his radio music box pitch, but once he was in charge at RCA, he was free to pursue the idea. Sarnoff hadn't gotten much support for his ideas at Marconi, but he had learned the value of a well-crafted pseudo-event. The upcoming boxing match between the American, Jack Dempsey, and the Frenchman, Georges Carpentier was the perfect opportunity to show the value of using radio waves to broadcast sound to a large audience. The pseudo-event that launched radio As was customary for big events at the time, if you wanted an update, you could gather near a telegraph station, where someone would announce a text-message update of the event. In Paris, a flare was to be released from a plane after the fight: white if Dempsey won, red if Carpentier. But if you truly wanted to know what was happening, you had to be one of the ninety-one thousand people there in the stadium. So, the rich and famous were flocking to New York. 300 rooms were booked at the Plaza, 500 at the Waldorf Astoria, and 800 at the Biltmore. Actress Mary Pickford took her yacht all the way from Hollywood, through the Panama Canal, and some came in the 1921 version of a private jet: a private train car. But for the first time, people who couldn't be at the fight could get blow-by-blow updates. RCA teamed up with amateur radio operators, who rented out auditoriums and received a voice broadcast from ringside, via “radiophone.” This helped solve the chicken-and-egg problem of getting mass-audience radio started. You couldn't get people to buy receivers if they hadn't experienced a broadcast – and if there was nothing being broadcast – and it wasn't worth broadcasting if nobody had receivers. By getting a lot of people together for a global event everybody was already talking about, it was worthwhile to do a broadcast, and people got to see the potential of radio. Radio in its infancy Over the next three years, secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover granted licenses to 600 radio stations – small ones that broadcast across a particular city or county. There were no radio stations or programs in much of rural America. But Sarnoff was pushing the adoption of higher-powered AM transmitters that could broadcast to multi-state regions. This idea was opposed by the smaller stations that didn't want their audiences stolen, and also by AT&T. AT&T's raw deal in radio AT&T believed that since radio involved transmitting the voice, they, as the phone company, should be in charge of it. They also didn't want to lose revenue: For AM radio programs to be syndicated from one station to another, they had to be sent over AT&T's phone lines, as they would come out distorted if transmitted wirelessly. Additionally, AT&T felt duped from the negotiations over the RCA patent pool, which Sarnoff had been in charge of. Sarnoff had proposed that AT&T get the rights to sell radio transmitters, while RCA would sell radio receivers. This didn't seem like a bad deal in 1920, before the Dempsey/Carpentier fight, but now it looked like a raw deal, indeed. In 1924, RCA's AM radio sales were over $50 million, while AT&T had a measly market of 600 radio stations. Most of those stations ignored AT&T's patents and built their own transmitters, and AT&T wasn't successful in getting the revenue that was rightfully theirs. The first radio ad The radio broadcasting industry was experimenting with business models. AT&T ran the first radio ad in 1922. For fifty dollars, a suburban housing development got to broadcast on an AT&T station. Herbert Hoover called advertising-funded radio “the quickest way to kill broadcasting.” He wanted instead to fund radio broadcasts by placing a surcharge on the sale of each consumer radio receiver. David Sarnoff was on his side, which was odd, since an advertising-funded model would make his radios cheaper to consumers. Divvying up the radio waves There were also fights over who could broadcast on what frequency. The Radio Act of 1912 had been passed, after amateur telegraphers' messages had interfered with one another while communicating about the Titanic sinking. Hoover tried to regulate the frequencies some stations were broadcasting on, but it turned out the 1912 act had only regulated airwaves at least six-hundred meters long – the technological limit at the time. Some stations protested by deliberately overlapping their broadcasts, resulting in an hour of unpleasant squelches, followed by a message to support the passing of a law to regulate the airwaves. The Federal Radio Commission was formed in 1927, for that purpose. In 1934, it became the FCC, overseeing all types of electronic communications. How AM held back FM Sometimes, an inferior technology dominates, as VHS did over Beta, but sometimes, despite the best efforts of entrenched interests, the better technology prevails, as did eventually FM radio, over AM. AM radio signals are imprinted sounds on waves that vary according to amplitude, or the height of the waves. Thus “AM,” for “amplitude modulation.” FM radio waves are varied according to the frequency of the waves, or their width. Engineers in the radio industry and academia once thought frequency modulation wouldn't work. A 1922 paper from AT&T claimed to prove mathematically that it “inherently distorts without any compensating advantages whatsoever.” But Major Armstrong was pushing hard for the FM method. Armstrong once again conducted a demonstration for Sarnoff. His “little black box” that transmitted an FM signal had vastly superior sound quality than an AM radio. Sarnoff let Armstrong run tests with FM equipment from RCA's offices atop the Empire State Building – the tallest in the world at the time. The FM signal delivered better sound quality than AM with one twenty-fifth the signal power. FM threatened existing AM interests There was a lot at stake in switching to FM: It could deliver better sound quality, and – since signals could be transmitted on a variety of frequencies – it could add thousands of stations to the dial. But, there were already tens of millions of AM radios, and hundreds of expensive radio station transmitters that would become obsolete. A benefit to RCA, however, would be that with clearer signals, they would no longer have to pay AT&T for use of their phone network for syndicating content. Y2K of the 1940s: The bogus sun-spot scare In 1941, the FCC approved a band of FM stations between 42 and 50 MHz. At the start of WWII, Major Armstrong pushed the military to switch to FM, and waived any licensing fees, increasing adoption. After the war, there was a controversy about sunspots: They work in an eleven-year cycle, and in FCC proceedings, one engineer rose a stink about how the next time sunspots came around, they would interfere with stations on the existing FM band. Despite the fact nearly every expert disagreed with that prediction, the FCC moved the FM dial to the current 88 to 108 MHz band. This made $75 million worth of devices soon-to-be worthless, and pissed off hundreds of thousands of FM early adopters. (When the strongest sunspots in two centuries came along, the old FM band worked fine.) The stifling of FM radio continued. The FCC eventually cut FM broadcasts from a 150 mile radius to a 50-mile radius, which may not sound like much, but translates to a ninety-percent cut in coverage area. Conveniently, this meant FM stations could no longer send programs to neighboring markets through the air, and had to instead pay to use AT&T's expensive and low-fidelity telephone wires. AM radio interests had also taken over most FM stations, where they simply rebroadcast their AM programs. There was little incentive to buy an FM set, and by 1946, nine of ten radio manufacturers weren't bothering to make them. All of this was enough to prompt Major Armstrong to file an antitrust suit against RCA, claiming David Sarnoff was conspiring to stifle the FM radio industry. The bold bets Sarnoff made in TV David Sarnoff was very focused on making television work around that time. He made some bold bets that helped NBC, a spin-off from RCA, be the first on the air. Searching for office space during the Great Depression, Sarnoff had decided to move RCA and NBC into the expensive 30 Rockefeller Plaza, aka “30 Rock.” He pissed off shareholders by building elaborate radio studios. He had special wires installed in NBC's studios – for transmitting TV signals around the building – that weren't used for another twenty years. He had a giant studio built, with rotating stage, to work with television cameras that didn't even exist. Overall, he spent $50 million on television research over the course of twenty-five years, and it took a long time to pay off. Battles over TV airwaves The FCC's poor decisions continued in the proliferation of television. Despite warnings from engineers such as Major Armstrong, they allocated VHF channels so poorly, only one or two stations worked in most cities. They had to learn from their mistakes and start over with UHF stations. But UHF wavelengths were so short, the lower the channel number a station had, the further and more clearly their signal could travel. So, stations fought over the smaller-numbered of the sixty-eight channels. The television satellite David Sarnoff was there, once again, innovating in television. There was a battle over the color standard, and Sarnoff and RCA's NSTC standard was finally adopted by the FCC in 1953. “Relay-1” was the first American communications satellite, launched in 1962. It helped bypass AT&T's cables for syndicating programs, thus doubling RCA's revenue. Some events had previously been broadcast via airplane to expand coverage area. Relay-1's first trans-Pacific broadcast was supposed to carry to Japan an address from President Kennedy. Instead, it carried coverage of his assassination, and footage of the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. There's your The Network summary As you can see, The Network covers a lot of the early history of wireless communications. It also does it with an engaging narrative style. There is of course much more. Read it to find out: Why there's no channel one. How Lyndon B. Johnson's wife Lady Bird built her media empire with some suspiciously favorable treatment from the FCC. The visions that Sarnoff had late in life for fiber optics, the internet, and e-books. Whether Major Armstrong's suicide at 63 had anything to do with his legal battles against David Sarnoff and RCA. If you've enjoyed this summary, you'll no doubt enjoy The Network. Thank you for having me on your podcasts! Thank you for having me on your podcasts. Thank you to David Elikwu at The Knowledge. As always, you can find interviews of me on my interviews page. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon » Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-network-scott-woolley/
David Sarnoff from Loeb Leadership joins Tracey Nobis in this episode of Lived Experiences.
EPISODE 58 | Atlas Sank - Titanic Conspiracies The lure of the sea is an ancient one, and perhaps no sailing vessel has garnered more attention than the RMS Titanic. It's a story we all know, or think we know - a classic tale of ship meets iceberg. But what if that's not the story? What if the iceberg is an innocent patsy and something else was the cause, like a fire, or a U-boat, or a cursed mummy? Maybe the Titanic never really sank at all. Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. #ConspiracyClearinghouse #sharingiscaring #donations #support #buymeacoffee You can also SUBSCRIBE to this podcast. Review us here or on IMDb! SECTIONS 02:13 - What We Know - the official story, mistakes were made 11:26 - What We Think We Know - Unsinkable, SOS, David Sarnoff, Nearer My God to Thee, watertight doors, official findings, J. Bruce Ismay (Freemason, crossdessing coward) 20:01 - Shape of Things to Come - The Samson, premonitions of doom, William T. Stead and woo woo 24:30 - I Want My Mummy - the cursed mummy of the priestess of Amen-Ra 32:24 - Does the Pope Swim in the Woods? - The No Pope Theory 34:54 - There's a Hole in the Boat in the Bottom of the Sea - Frank Ruehl and German U-boats 38:13 - I'm the King of the World! - The Switch Theory, JP Morgan, the Federal Reserve, QAnon finally embraces anti-Semitism Music by Fanette Ronjat MORE INFO Encyclopedia Titanica How did the Titanic sink? Timeline of events 10 mistakes that caused the sinking of the Titanic Five Titanic myths spread by films Titanic: Sinking of myths Seven shameful lies about the Titanic catastrophe David Sarnoff And The Titanic Myth Titanic: Dark Secret Fire and Ice: The Titanic's Top 10 Weirdest Conspiracy Theories 5 wild conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic One Month After the Titanic Sank, the Washington Post Suggested a Mummy's Curse Was to Blame The Unlucky Mummy The British Museum's Cursed Mummy The No Pope Myth Did a German U-Boat Sink the Titanic? The Wild Conspiracy Theory That the Titanic Never Sank The Titanic Never Sank And Other Conspiracy Theories The Titanic: the Fraud that Keeps on Giving The Titanic Switch Theory: Exposed Fact Check-J.P. Morgan did not sink the Titanic to push forward plans for the U.S. Federal Reserve Fact-checking QAnon conspiracy theories: Did J.P. Morgan sink the Titanic? Follow us on social for extra goodies: Facebook (including upcoming conspiracy-themed events) Twitter YouTube (extra videos on the topic, Old Time Radio shows, music playlists and more) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, the 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award & 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists. PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it's a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it's going. It's Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER.
On the February 13th, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show, Mel Brooks was the guest for an interview not long after the debut of Young Frankenstein. During the chat, Mel told a hilarious story of a prank he pulled on top level NBC brass David Sarnoff and Pat Weaver while employed as a writer for Sid Caesar.
Back in July of 1935, head of RCA David Sarnoff asked friend and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong to remove his experimental FM equipment from RCA's Empire State Building Laboratory. RCA wanted to test its TV system. ___________ Armstrong saw FM as a revolutionary new communications service that would make AM obsolete. Sarnoff thought it an important advancement and wanted it to be TVs audio supplement, but he didn't see FM as a new core technology. Without the backing of Sarnoff, Armstrong decided to pursue FM development on his own. He got a license from the FCC, and built a station in Alpine, New Jersey. In 1938 he began broadcasting classical music and other test frequencies. Armstrong broadcast from station to station over the length of the East Coast, with virtually no signal deterioration. ___________ By the end of 1940, the FCC had received over five-hundred applications for FM licenses. Commercial FM broadcasting was authorized to begin on January 1st, 1941. Armstrong struck patent-licensing deals with all major radio manufacturers except RCA. They agreed to pay Armstrong two percent of all earnings from the sale of FM receivers and related equipment. ___________ When RCA engineers soon countered with their own version of an FM system, Armstrong sued. Sarnoff, wanting to avoid litigation, offered Armstrong one million dollars for a non-exclusionary license to use the FM technology. Armstrong refused. It led to the end of their close friendship. ___________ During World War II, construction restrictions limited the growth of FM. In the interest of national advancement, Armstrong turned over his patents to the government for the duration of the War. ___________ Although the Germans had the superior Panzer tanks, they were AM equipped. U.S. Sherman tanks were equipped with FM. The German's communication systems often jammed. As the War wound down, the FCC investigated spectrum allocation. It was feared that the lowest layers of the earth's atmosphere could cause bad FM interference. Both Armstrong and other scientists felt this was baseless. ___________ Then, both RCA and AT&T spearheaded a campaign to shift the FM band to higher frequencies. It also required radio stations to lease equipment from the companies. ___________ On June 27th, 1945, The FCC shifted the FM band. Today, FM operates between eighty-eight and one-hundred eight megahertz. It made more than fifty FM radio station transmitters and five-hundred thousand receivers obsolete. It nearly terminated FM radio broadcasting for more than a decade. The industry turned to TV and AM expansion. ___________ Meanwhile, unwilling to pay Armstrong the royalties he sought, RCA began developing FM circuits of its own. It also meant RCA owed Armstrong no royalties for the sale of their TV sets, which all used FM. RCA convinced other TV manufacturers to do the same. In 1948, Armstrong filed suit against RCA and NBC, accusing them of patent infringement and deliberately impairing his invention's value. ___________ Although he was confident the suit would be successful, the protracted legal maneuvering impaired his finances, especially after his primary patents expired in late 1950. Armstrong lacked the capital of the giant corporation. He ran out of money in 1952, and relied on credit to pay his lawyers. ___________ Armstrong now wanted to settle. He asked for three-point-four million dollars over a ten year period. In December of 1953, RCA offered him two-hundred thousand dollars. Armstrong rejected the offer. ___________ In a fit of rage in November of 1953, Armstrong hit his wife Marion. She fled their New York City apartment. Bankrupt and ashamed by his actions, on the evening of January 31st, 1954, Armstrong wrote an apology note to his wife. He then opened a window in their thirteenth floor apartment, and stepped out. He was sixty three. David Sarnoff claimed no responsibility for Armstrong's actions.
At 7PM eastern time on December 19th, 1948, Jack Benny signed on from NBC's KFI in Los Angeles. By then his move to CBS was a done deal. The episode was his penultimate on NBC. There were hard feelings from the National Broadcasting Company. David Sarnoff said “leadership built on a foundation of solid service can't be snatched overnight by a few high-priced comedians. Leadership is no laughing matter.” But if Sarnoff was mad, he'd only himself to blame. Benny would have happily stayed at NBC, but felt slighted by Sarnoff, who'd never met Benny in person, and elated with William Paley. Between 1935 and 1948, Benny's rating had never been lower than 20.4, and ten times he'd had a top-five rated show. His departure from NBC would leave an un-fillable void, despite Sarnoff's sarcastic comments.
It's the BBC's 99th birthday! Well it was on the day this episode landed. So for episode 37, here's the podcast's story so far... Between season 2 (covering the BBC in 1922) and season 3 (the BBC in 1923), we're on a run of specials. So here we summarise EVERYTHING we've learned so far. 36 episodes condensed into one. Condensed, yet also extended - because we recorded a shorter version of this episode for The History of England Podcast. So to lure in folks who've heard that already, I've added a ton of new stuff, including some brand new bits. By which I mean, very old bits. As well as hearing the voices of: First teenager to listen to the radio in his bedroom GuglielmoMarconi First major broadcast engineer Captain HJ Round First voice of the BBC Arthur Burrows First regular broadcaster Peter Eckersley First slightly terrifying boss John Reith …You'll now also hear from: First broadcast singer Winifred Sayer First BBC pianist Maurice Cole (the most wonderful accent, “off" = "orff") First BBC singer Leonard Hawke (although WE know from episode 28 that the Birmingham and Manchester stations broadcast music the day before - but the BBC didn't know that) That's a lot of firsts. Plus more recent voices - hear from these marvellous experts: Professor Gabriele Balbi of USI Switzerland Marconi historian Tim Wander (buy his book From Marconi to Melba) Radio historian Gordon Bathgate (buy his book Radio Broadcasting: A History of the Airwaves) SHOWNOTES: This podcast is NOTHING to do with the present-day BBC - it's entirely run, researched, presented and dogsbodied by Paul Kerensa You can email me to add something to the show. eg. Send your ‘Firsthand Memories' - in text form, a time you've seen radio or TV being broadcast before your eyes: a studio, an outside broadcast - what were your behind-the-scenes insights? Or record your ‘Airwave Memories' (AM) - a voice memo of 1-2mins of your earliest memories hearing/seeing radio/TV. Be on the podcast! My new one-man play The First Broadcast is now booking for dates in 2022. Got a venue? Book me for your place. Here's one - The Museum of Comedy. Join me, in April or in November on the very date of the BBC's 100th birthday! Thanks for joining us on Patreon if you do - or if you might! It supports the show, keeps it running, keeps me in books, which I then devour and add it all to the mixing-pot of research for this podcast. In return, I give you video, audio, advance writings, an occasional reading from C.A. Lewis' 1924 book Broadcasting From Within etc. Thanks if you've ever bought me a coffee at ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Again, it all helps keep us afloat. Like our British Broadcasting Facebook page, or better still, join our British Broadcasting Century Facebook group where you can share your favourite old broadcasting things. Follow us on Twitter if you're on the ol' Twits. I have another podcast of interviews, A Paul Kerensa Podcast, inc Miranda Hart, Tim Vine, Rev Richard Coles and many more. Give us a listen! Please rate and review this podcast where you found it... and keep liking/sharing/commenting on what we do online. It all helps others find us. My mailing list is here - sign up for updates on all I do, writing, teaching writing, stand-up, radio etc. My books are available here or orderable from bookshops, inc Hark! The Biography of Christmas. Coming in 2022: a novel on all this radio malarkey. Archive clips are either public domain or used with kind permission from the BBC, copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Oh yes they are. Next time: What Marconi Thought of Broadcasting - plus 1920s adverts, voiced by listeners... APPROX TRANSCRIPT: Marconi himself appeared on the BBC in 1936, playing himself in a reconstruction of when he first sent Morse code across the Atlantic in 1901... Those are Marconi's last recorded words before he died, there with his assistants Pagett and Kemp, though Kemp was played by an actor. They're recreating the moment when they sent Morse Code from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, 2000+ miles away. Prior to that 255 miles was the wireless record. Marconi was always outdoing himself. As a teenager he'd sent radiowaves across his bedroom – a transmitter and receiver ringing a bell. Then outside, asking his assistant across a field to fire a gunshot if the wireless signal reached him. Then over water. Then... in 1896 the 21yr old Marconi came to England. The Italian army weren't interested in his new invention, so he thought he'd try the influential engineers of London. I think it's that decision that set London and the BBC as the beating heart of broadcasting a couple of decades later. There was a magical moment where Marconi strode into Toynbee Hall in East London, with two boxes. They communicated, wirelessly, and he simply said: “My name is Gooly-elmo Marconi, and I have just invented wireless.” That's a drop mic moment. If they had a mic to drop. Others played with this technology. In December 1906, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden managed to make a very faint speech broadcast for ships near Brant Rock Massachusetts – making the first entertainment show for radio. He played a record, Handel's Largo, played O Holy Night on violin, and read from Luke's gospel, chapter 2. Well it was Christmas Eve. This was actually my way in to this whole radio story. I wrote a book on the history of Christmas, called Hark! The b of C. So I researched Fesseden's Christmas entertainment first... and also the first BBC Christmas of 1922. When I read that the Beeb had 35,000 listeners at that point, but 4 employees, I had to know who these 4 employees were! I started digging. When I discovered that 2 of those people had an on-air feud, one of them was John Reith, an arguably immoral moralist, and the 4th was soon sacked by him... I thought, there's a book in this. So as I research and write that, I'm podcasting as I go on the BBCentury. I love that this medium of podcasting owes so much to those early pioneers... and I'm no engineer. For me, it's all about the characters. We'll get to the BBC pioneers soon enough, but Marconi, he was one of those characters. Through the 1910s, business was booming for Marconi, but he still saw radio as a two-way thing – we ‘radio' for help. Marconi took the credit for radio's use in catching criminals – Dr Crippen, who'd escaped on a ship across the ocean. And saving lives, onboard Titanic. Soon every major vessel carried radios and a Marconi operator – for a fee of course. He made his money in sending messages, the world over, between two people. The broadcast aspect was an accident – a pitfall of radio being too ‘leaky'. So the first listeners were actually called ‘listeners-in' – the messages weren't intended for them. So it was at a more amateur level – the radio hams – who'd be experimenting with ‘broadcasting'. Britain's first DJ, technically, was a woman called Gertrude Donisthorpe in WWI. Her husband Horace was the eager experimenter, an army wireless trainer by day, and at night the couple would cycle to a field near Worcester, he'd set up one side, her on the other, and she'd play records and recite rhymes just for her audience of 1 – her husband, to see if it worked. She'd cycle across the field to see if it had, often finding he'd cycled off to tell her via a different route. As they progressed, they started transmitting limited wireless concerts for some local troops. And they were popular. Radio amateurs enjoyed what they heard, when they could hear it. There was demand for wireless entertainment... just not much supply. But the engineers like those at the Marconi Company, were continually strengthening and improving the technology. Marconi's right-hand man Captain Round for example... No fan of red tape... this Churchill lookalike, round face, cigars and no-nonsense... joined 1902, genius... designed radios... especially for aircraft... Jutland direction-finding... But Captain Round is a name to watch. After the war, 1919, just months from the birth of broadcasting, The Marconi Company still had no real interest in radio as an artform or entertainment or anything other than point to point messaging. Apart from one person, their Head of Publicity, Arthur Burrows... In 1918 Burrows wrote: “There appears to be no serious reason why, before we are many years older, politicians speaking, say, in Parliament, should not be heard simultaneously by wireless in the reporting room of every newspaper office in the United Kingdom. . . . The field of wireless telephone, however, is by no means restricted to newspaper work. The same idea might be extended to make possible the correct reproduction in all private residences of Albert Hall or Queen's Hall concerts or the important recitals at the lesser rendezvous of the musical world. . . . There would be no technical difficulty in the way of an enterprising advertisement agency arranging for the interval in the musical programme to be filled with audible advertisements, pathetic or forcible appeals—in appropriate tones—on behalf of somebody's soap or tomato ketchup.” We'll come back to Arthur Burrows. Around the same time in America, future radio mogul David Sarnoff sent a memo referring to a “radio music box”, that could “listeners-in” could have in their homes, playing the music broadcast by wireless stations, that were cropping up, especially in America, and a steadily increasing rate. In Britain, Captain Round of the Marconi Company continued to experiment. Rightly medalled after the war, he switched his attention from using radio to find enemy ships, to using radio to transmit the human voice further and stronger than ever before. This meant tests. Now the nature of radio, the quirk of it, is that it's not private. You can't experiment without anyone with a set listening in – and since the war there were more and more ex wireless operators and amateur radio “hams”. So as Round experimented, in Chelmsford at the end of 1919, with his assistant William Ditcham, across Britain and even into Europe, people heard him. Ditcham had to read out something into his microphone – just the candlestick part of an old telephone. Ditcham would begin by addressing those listening – the ‘leaky' nature of these radio experiments meant the engineers actually used those cheekly listening in to find their range and signal strength. So Ditcham would begin: “MZX calling, MZX calling! This is the Marconi valve transmitter in Chelmsford, England, testing on a wavelength of 2750metres. How are our signals coming in today? Can you hear us clearly? I will now recite to you my usual collection of British railway stations for test purposes... ...The Great Northern Railway starts Kings cross, London, and the North Western Railway starts from Euston. The Midland railway starts from St Pancras. The Great Western Railway starts from...” Railway timetables! And they were a hit. Mr Ditcham became an expert is this new art of broadcasting, before the word was even invented. He noted: “Distinct enunciation is essential and it's desirable to speak in as loud a tone as possible!” Word spread. Letters to newspapers said how much radio amateurs were enjoying Ditcham and Round's wireless experiments... but the content could do with being a bit more exciting. How about a newspaper? So in January 1920, William Ditcham became our first broadcast newsreader, literally reading the news, from a paper he'd bought that morning. Well, he'd sit on it a day, and read yesterday's paper... The press might have a problem with their copyrighted news being given away for free. And thus begins the rocky relp between broadcasters and the press. It's worth keeping them on side... In Jan 1920, there are 2 weeks of ‘Ditcham's News Service' – that's Britain's first programme title. That gains over 200 reports from listeners-in, as far as Spain, Portgula, Norway... up to 1500 mi away. So the transmitter is replaced, from 6kw to 15kw. Ditcham ups his game too. Throws in a gramophone record or two. 15mins of news, 15mins of music. A half hour in total – that seems a good length for a programme – really it was what the licence allowed, but it's clearly stuck – at least till Netflix and the like mean programme length has becoame a little more variable, a century later. Then in Feb, there's live music – just a few fellow staff at the Marconi Works in Chelmsford, including Mr White on piano, Mr Beeton on oboe and Mr Higby on woodwind. At Marconi HQ, Arthur Burrows, that publicity director who wrote of possible wireless concerts and ketchup sponsors, he gets behind this in a big way. He heads to Chelmsford, supports Ditcham and Round, and even joins the band. And you know who else joins the band... ...from the neighbouring works building – Hoffman's Ball Bearings - a singer, Miss Winifred Sayer. Now as she's not a Marconi employee, she needs to be paid... so she's radio's first professional Previous broadcasts had been a little luck of the draw, but this one, well it would be nice to tell people it's going to happen. So Captain Round sends out the first listings – the pre Radio Times, radio... times... you can hear Winifred Sayer and the band: 11am and 8pm, Feb 23rd till March 6th That memo goes out to all the Marconi land stations and ships at sea. The first song Winifred sang was called Absent – she later called it a “punch and judy show”, and enjoyed her ten shillings a show. As she left, the MD of Marconi's said to her: “You've just made history.” So, we have radio, right? Not so fast! The fun is just beginning... The press, you see, were worth keeping on side. The Daily Mail got wind of this. Arthur Burrows, that publicity chap and radio prophet, he became friends in the war with Tom Clarke, now editor of the Daily Mail. And the Mail loved a novelty. They'd sponsor air races and car dashes and design-a-top-hat competitions. Radio was right up their fleet street. But they'd need a bigger singer than Winifred Sayer from Hoffman's Ball Bearings. They wanted to see how big an audience there'd be for broadcasting – a word just coming into use, a farming term, about how you spread seed, far and wide, scattershot, never quite knowing how far it reaches, and whether it will be well received and grow into something. So the Daily Mail fund one of the world's biggest singers: Dame Nellie Melba – of Peach Melba fame. She was over in England at the Albert Hall doing some shows, so for a thousand pounds – enough to buy a house – she came to Chelmsford. Outside broadcasts didn't exist at the time, given the size of the kit. Ditcham and Round prepared the Chelmsford Works building, although that involved a small fire, a carpet Melba rolled away as soon as she saw it, and a microphone made from an old cigar box and a hat rack. Arthur Burrows gave Madame Melba a tour when they weren't quite ready... She took one look at the 450ft radio mast and said “Young man if you think I'm going to climb up there, you are greatly mistaken.” She broadcasts on June 15th 1920, and it's a huge hit, despite a shutdown just before finishing her last song. Captain Round makes her do it again, without telling her of the shutdown, by simply asking for an encore. Arthur Burrows gives the opening and closing announcements, instead of William Ditcham, because this has been Burrows' dream. Broadcast radio concerts. So what next? It spanned Britain, reached Madrid, parts of the Middle East... But it's too successful. The Air Ministry finds planes couldn't land during the concert. It dominated the airwaves. So despite a few extra professional concerts from Chelmsford that summer – opera stars like Lauritz Melchior, and Dame Clara Butt – the govt step in and shut all radio experiments down. Arthur Burrows finds himself at sea, literally, that summer, demonstrating radio to the press on the way to an interionational press event... but without govt backing, journalists now see radio as maybe a means to communicate newsroom to newsroom. Ditcham's news and Melba's music seem to be all that broadcasting amounted to. For 18 months, nothing. Radio amateurs, and indeed Arthur Burrows at Marconi, petition the PostmasterGeneral to reconsider. And finally... it worked. Because while the ether had fallen silent in Britain, it continued in Holland, a bit in France, and in America radio is booming. Not wanting to be left behind, the British govt say ok, you can have one radio station. The Marconi Company is granted a permit. But much to Burrows dismay... the job lands on the desk of another person I want to introduce you to... Peter Eckersley Eckersley was with the Designs Dept of the Aircraft Section of Marconi's. His team had helped create air traffic control; Eckersley had been there in the war for the first ground to air wireless communication, and now in their spare team, his team in a muddy field in the village of Writtle in Essex, not far from Chelmsford, would have to fit this broadcasting malarkey in in their spare time, for an extra pound a show, not much. It was odd. Radio amateurs wanted it. Burrows the Marconi publicity guy wanted it. Eckersley and his team couldn't give two hoots about it – in fact they celebrated when the govt banned radio 18 months earlier, as finally the airwaves were clear for them and their serious work, instead of constant blinking opera from Chelmsford. But it's Eckersley's job, to start Britain's first regular radio station: 2MT Writtle. And from Feb 14th 1920, for the first few weeks it sounds pretty normal. They play gramophone records, chosen by Arthur Burrows at head office. Burrows has arranged a sponsorship deal – not with ketchup with a gramophone company, who provide a player so long as it's mentioned on air. Peter Eckersley's team of boffins break the gramophone player. There was a live singer – the first song on the first regular broadcast radio show was the Floral Dance, though the Times called it only “faintly audible”. It is not a hit. For 5 weeks this continues, bland introductions to records, a live singer or two. And Peter Eckersley, the man in charge, goes home each night to hear the show his crew put out on the wireless. Until week 6, when he stays, for a pre-show gin and fish and chips and more gin at the pub. Then he... runs down the lane to the hut and reaches the microphone first! And he starts talking...... Eckersley talks and talks and mimics and carouses... He plays the fool, plays the gramophone records, off-centre, or covered in jam... ...the strict licence meant closing down for 3mins in every 10, to listen for govt messages, in case they have to stop broadcasting. Eckersley doesn't shut down for 3mins. The licence limited them to half an hour. Not Eckersley. Over an hour later, he stops. And sleeps it off. Next day, his team gather round and tell him what he said. Our man Arthur Burrows gets in touch. A stern admonishment! Burrows' dream of broadcasting, had been dashed on the rocks by Eckersley, a man drinking, on the rocks. But accompanying Burrows' angry missive came a postbag of listener fanmail. “We loved it” they said. “Do it again.” Burrows was a lone voice against Eckersley's antics, so the following Tuesday, and every Tuesday in 1922, Peter Eckersley seized the mic again and again. Demand for radio sets boomed. Ports stopped receiving ships when Peter Eckersley was on. Parliament even closed their sessions early to hear him. He was our first radio star. And he helped spawn an industry. Burrows is still fuming, but there is no greater demand for radio. So he applies for a 2nd licence, for a London station – let's do this radio thing properly. 2LO in London is granted that licence, and Burrows isn't taking any chances – HE will be the primary broadcaster. Poetry readings, sports commentary, opening night boxing match. Later in the summer, garden party concerts. And as Burrows is a publicity and demonstration man, many of these broadcast concerts are for private institutions, charity events, a chance to show what broadcasting can do. Other wireless manufacturers other than Marconi's express an interest, they ask the PMG for a licence to broadcast too. MetroVick in Manchester, they want in, so the PMG says fine. Kenneth Wright is the engineer at MetroVick who gets the job of launching in Manchester. Wright continues in Manchester... Eck continues in Writtle in Essex... Burrows continues in London... But Eckersley mocks Burrows. In fact people write to Arthur Burrows saying how much they enjoy his broadcasts on 2LO London, but could he stop broadcasting every Tuesday evening for the half hour Eckersley's on, cos listeners want to hear Eckersley lampoon Burrows. For instance, Burrows played the Westminster chimes in the studio – this is 18mths before Big Ben's chimes would be heard on the BBC. So Eckersley outdoes Burrows by finding all the pots, pans, bottles and scrap metal he can, and bashing it all with sticks. Messy chaos! He loved it. He's another, retold by Eckersley and Burrows themselves, some 20 years apart... You see, both would close their broadcasts with a poem. All through the spring and summer of 1922, each broadcast is still experimental. Official broadcasting hasn't quite yet begun – because no one knows if there's a future in this. In fact the Marconi Company largely thought all this was one big advert to show consumers how easy wireless communication is, and how they should all pay Marconi's to help them send point-to-point messages. But the bug grows. The press want in. The Daily Mail apply for a licence for to set up a radio station. They're turned down – it would be too powerful for a a newspaper to have a radio station. It only took Times Radio 100 years... In Westminster, the PostGen is inundated by applications for pop-up radio stations. He can't just keep licensing all of them. What is this, America?! Arthur Burrows... In May 1922, the PostGen says to the wireless manufacturers, look. I can't have all of you setting up rival radio stations. But I will licence one or maybe two of you. Get together, chat it through, work out how you can work together. For a while, it looks like there will be two british Broadcasting companies – a north and a south. Kenneth Wright... ...but after weeks, even months of meetings, primareily with the big 6 wireless firms, an agreement is struck. ...You may wonder where Reith is in all this. Wasn't he meant to be the fella who started the thing!? He arrives when the BBC is one month old. For now, he's leaving a factory management job in Scotland, settling down with his new wife, having moved on from a possibly gay affair with his best friend Charlie... and he's about to try a career in politics. He's never heard of broadcasting at this stage. But for those who have, in the summer of 1922, Parliament announces there will be one broadcasting company, funded by a licence fee..... One British Broadcasting Company. Marconi, MetroVick, Western Electric, General Electric and so on... each will have one representative on the board of this BBC, and then broadcasting can continue, they'll all sell wireless radio sets, and to fund the operation, there'll be a licence fee. The name ‘BBCo' is coined by one of the wireless manufacturer bosses in one of those meetings, Frank Gill, who notes in a memo before the name ‘broadcasting company', the word ‘British'. A few lines down, he's the first to write the word ‘pirates' regarding those broadcasting without a licence. But there's one more hurdle to conquer – news. That takes some time to iron out with the press, and finally it's agreed that us broadcasters will lease the news from them, for a fee, and no daytime news, to ensure readers still bought papers. The press and the broadcasters still have an uneasy relationship, so whenever you see the newspapers having a pop at the BBC, know that the Daily Mail sponsored the first ever broadcast with Dame Melba, they were turned down for a radio station when they applied, and for years they were annoyed this radio upstart was trying to steal their readers. With the starting pistol sounded, Arthur Burrows gets his dream: he's convinced his employer, the Marconi Company that radio isn't just about sending messages to individuals, it's about reaching many listeners... or better still, it's still about reaching individuals, just lots of them. Flash forward to Terry Wogan's sad goodbye from his Radio 2 Breakfast Show. “Thank you for being my friend.” Singular. Radio – even podcasts like this – still speak to one listener at a time. I make a connection with you. Arthur Burrows and Peter Eckersley, were among the first to realise that. But which of them would launch or join the BBC? The wild unpredictable Eckersley, who created demand for radio, and was still mocking Burrows in his field hut in an Essex village? Or the straight-laced Arthur Burrows, who's prophesied broadcasting for years? I think we know the answer to that. Playing it safe, The Marconi Company kept 2LO as part of this new British Broadcasting Company, as well as 2ZY Manchester under MetroVick, and a new station in Birmingham, 5IT, run by Western Electric. Marconi's would also build new stations, in Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, and more, growing in reach and ambition. But it starts in London, on November 14th 1922, with a souped-up transmitter, rebuilt by good old Captain Round, the Marconi whizz who helped start it all. Arthur Burrows is before the mic, achieving his dream, to see broadcasting come to fruition. There are no recordings of that first broadcast, but we recreated it... The next day, the Birmingham station 5IT launches – they quickly bring in the first regular children's presenters, Uncle Edgar and Uncle Tom. An hour after they launch, Manchester 2ZY starts under the BBC banner, with more children's programming there, plus an early home for an in-house BBC orchestra. When the jobs go out for the this new BBC, bizarrely after it's actually launched, there are just 4 employees hired before the end of the year, and Burrows is first, a shoo-in for Director of Programmes. John Reith applies for General Managership, having tried a bit of politics, but been pointed towards the BBC advert by his MP boss. On arriving, one of the first things he says is: ‘So what is broadcasting?' As for Peter Eckersley, he continues at 2MT Writtle, every Tuesday evening into January 1923. The only non-BBC station to share the airwaves till commercial, pirate or... well there's Radio Luxembourg but that's for a future episode. But Eckersley too is ultimately convinced to join the good ship BBC. And all it takes is an opera, broadcast live from the Royal Opera House in January 1923 – one of the first outside broadcasts. A penny drops for Eckersley, and he realises the power and potential of this broadcasting lark. Reith convinces him to stop his frivolous Tuesday show in Essex, and offers him a job as the BBC's first Chief Engineer. And here Eckersley prospers, giving us new technology, nationwide broadcasting, the world's first high-power long-wave transmitter at Daventry, he brings choice to the airwaves, with a regional and national scheme. Without Burrows, without Eckersley, without Reith, British broadcasting would look very different. There's one other name, among many, I'm particularly enthusiastic about: Hilda Matheson. An ex-spy who becomes the first Director of Talks, who reinvents talk radio and gives us the basis for Radio 4 and speech radio and indeed podcasting, you could argue, as we know it. She's a fascinating character – part of a gay love triangle with the poet Vita Sackville West and Virginia Woolf. She's the only BBC employee allowed to bring a dog to work. And so much more, we'll unpack on the British Broadcasting Century podcast, plus the Pips, the Proms, the Radio Times, and everything else you know and love, tolerate or loathe about British broadcasting today.
This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 96: Halloween On The Air (1943 - 1953) ___________ One summer day in 1948, Willam S. Paley received a proposal from Lew Wasserman and Taft Shreiber—President and VP of The Music Corporation of America. They asked if CBS would be interested in buying The Amos N' Andy Show, then airing on NBC. At the time, U.S. Citizens were taxed 77% of all income over $70,000. However, if the duo behind Amos N' Andy, Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden incorporated and sold their show to the network, they would be taxed under capital gains laws at 25%. NBC wouldn't allow the deal. But William Paley jumped at the chance. Amos n' Andy moved over on October 10th. Shortly after, Lew Wasserman phoned again. He asked if CBS would be interested in purchasing The Jack Benny Program. Benny organized his activities into a corporation. Paley and Wasserman negotiated an agreement for CBS to buy it for $2.26 Million. NBC sent president Niles Trammel to California with orders to keep Benny at NBC. When William Paley heard that Trammel was on his way to California, he called Benny directly to arrange an in-person meeting. Benny invited him to Los Angeles. Paley and CBS counsel Ralph Colin set up shop at the Beverly Hills Hotel. RCA head David Sarnoff was there as well, to help ensure Niles Trammel would secure the deal. NBC responded with a major counteroffer. Lew Wasserman intervened. CBS matched the counteroffer, and an impressed Jack Benny signed it. Sponsor American Tobacco was uneasy. Paley convinced them to back the move by offering compensation for every rating point Benny's show lost. As all of this was happening, The Jack Benny Program broadcast live on the evening of Sunday, October 31st, 1948.
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Dr. Deirdre Evans-Pritchard about her media literacy project “Screentime: An Interactive Exhibition.” In support of her project, Evans-Pritchard, an art historian & film studies scholar at the University of Maryland, Global and Executive Director of the DC Independent Film Festival, received a Henry Belin du Pont Research Grant from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, & Society. Are screens neutral carriers of information, or do they reshape messages and reshape society, too? In “Screentime,” Evans-Pritchard considers the contrasting values assigned to television by businessman David Sarnoff, famous for running RCA & NBC, and for evangelizing television, and media critic Marshall McLuhan, who insisted that the medium was the message. This twentieth-century debate rings ominously in the ears of early-twenty first-century Americans embroiled in their own controversies over the role media play in ordering, and disordering, society. Research in the Hagley collections sheds light on this past moment with striking significance to the present. For more Hagley History Hangouts, and to learn more about the Center for the History of Business, Technology, & Society, visit us online at hagley.org.
When the 1939 World’s Fair opened in Flushing Meadows, David Sarnoff was there to share the spotlight with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City. Sarnoff announced, via a single mobile NBC television camera unit connected from a coaxial cable to a transmitting van, which was placed fifty feet from the speakers’ platform, that NBC TV was ready to go on the air. In the background, it showed the Fair’s symbols—The Trylon and the Perisphere, swept across the Court of Peace, panned the gathering throng, and captured the arrival of the president’s motorcade. This same camera captured the first television close-up: Mayor La Guardia. Never the bashful sort, he casually strode up and ogled it.
This is the first of four parts recorded in January of 2010 at Portsmouth Community Radio as part of my Audio Theater program there that I did for 13 years. This in the introduction to the series and it mentions David Sarnoff (photo bottom left), Marconi (photo bottom right) and the Titanic... Morse Code... before voices were heard on radio.... This and the 3 remaining parts can be found in "The History of Radio" playlist.
On the February 13th, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show, Mel Brooks was the guest for an interview not long after the debut of Young Frankenstein. During the chat, Mel told a hilarious story of a prank he pulled on top level NBC brass David Sarnoff and Pat Weaver while employed as a writer for Sid Caesar.
At 7PM eastern time on December 19th, 1948, Jack Benny signed on from NBC’s KFI in Los Angeles. By then his move to CBS was a done deal. The episode was his penultimate on NBC. There were hard feelings from the National Broadcasting Company. David Sarnoff said “leadership built on a foundation of solid service can’t be snatched overnight by a few high-priced comedians. Leadership is no laughing matter.” But if Sarnoff was mad, he’d only himself to blame. Benny would have happily stayed at NBC, but felt slighted by Sarnoff, who’d never met Benny in person, and elated with William Paley. Between 1935 and 1948, Benny’s rating had never been lower than 20.4, and ten times he’d had a top-five rated show. His departure from NBC would leave an un-fillable void, despite Sarnoff’s sarcastic comments. ———————— All this week at https://www.patreon.com/TheWallBreakers I'll be publishing full episodes from Breaking Walls Episode 110: Christmas Week 1948—The CBS Talent Raids (https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers/bw-ep110-christmas-week-1948the-cbs-talent-raids?in=thewallbreakers/sets/breaking-walls-the-wall) These full episodes will be available with show notes to all Patreon subscribers for $1 per month. I'll post one show in the normal Breaking Walls show feed, and 4-5 additional ones on Patreon. Happy Holidays!
Have you ever come up with a brilliant idea, only to have someone else take the credit for it? How about an idea that would change the world forever?Follow on Facebook and check out my Webpage.Say G'day at rippingyarnsfromhistory@gmail.com drop me an email.If you think this Ripping yarn was worth a cuppa, I'd be extremely grateful Buy me a cuppaSupport the show (https://ko-fi.com/rippingyarnsfromhistory)
Breaking Walls is a once-per-month audio documentary on the history of American Network Radio Broadcasting, focusing on people, places, and events from the Golden Age of Radio. http://thewallbreakers.com/ To find out more about James Scully: http://thewallbreakers.com/jamesscully/ I personally recommend listening to episodes in this order to get the full story of the beginning of Radio Wave, and the beginning of the three major networks NBC, CBS, ABC. EP75: We Are Echoes—The Birth Of Radio (1887 - 1912) EP76: Over There—The War for Radio’s Airwaves (1912 - 1922) EP77: The Birth Of The Radio Networks—From NBC To CBS To Mutual Broadcasting (1922 - 1934) EP82: Depression, War, And The Birth of ABC (1932 - 1946) EP83: Sarnoff & Paley: Tainted Friendships, Tall Tales, Talent Raids, and TV (1934 - 1952) .................. Okay so I'm going to copy and paste from James Scully's page for the high lights .... because truly I can not beat his own words for his own podcast. Highlights: • How the Titanic’s Sinking changed Guglielmo Marconi’s business • The Radio Act of 1912 – What it portended • Charles Herrold and KCBS San Francisco • Lee Deforest sells out to AT&T • Edwin Howard Armstrong invents regeneration, and later the superheterodyne receiver • War comes to Europe • The Navy takes over wireless • How World War I caused radio technology to boom • AT&T, Westinghouse, General Electric, and the newly formed RCA make a deal • David Sarnoff’s Rise to power • KDKA and the birth of regular broadcasting ..... If you are interested in learning about the history of the Radio; going as far back as learning about the waves that make Radio possible then James is the best person to listen too. He makes learning about the actual beginning of wireless telegraphy; and building the very first radio into a story .... he brings to life the men and the women whom strive to bring the beginning of sharing of information beyond the newspaper; or telegraph. He uses background music and sounds that is highly fitting for the time period.
There is an intersection of crisis dramatically affecting how we work and interact with our colleagues and our employees. Additionally with alternative work arrangements, effective communication is challenging. Join me with my guests Pat Ferrara from Westminster Consulting and David Sarnoff from the Sarnoff Group as we talk about the leadership skills necessary to remain effective.
As organizations are caught in the midst of Covid-19 across geographies, it is time to reflect on how the pandemic is impacting companies, their ongoing digital transformation efforts, and successful opportunities for innovation, while others are forced to play catch-up. In this podcast episode, Jason Stoughton, a veteran technologist, AI enthusiast, author and entrepreneur, talks to Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff professor of Business Administration and co-director of the Laboratory for Information Science at Harvard and of the Digital Initiative at Harvard Business School, and Bret Greenstein, Senior Vice President and Global Head of the AI & Analytics Practice at Cognizant. The content of this episode is a reproduction of Jason Stoughton’s podcast episode titled ‘Digital Transformation: Covid-19 Changes Everything’ that was originally posted on www.thepulseofai.com.
Join me in this engaging and insightful conversation with Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff professor of Business Administration and co-director of the Labratory for Information Science at Harvard and of the Digital Initiative at Harvard Business School, and Bret Greenstein, Senior Vice President and Global Head of the AI & Analytics Practice at Cognizant, where he leads over 26,000 associates worldwide focused on Data and AI based transformation We talk about how the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting companies, accelerating their digital transformation, opportunities for innovation in this time of crisis and examine how various companies are succeeding based on their previous digital transformation efforts while still others are forced to play catch-up. This is a must listen for business leaders seeking to deploy data and analytics to build resiliency and business success in this time of crisis.
On the February 13th, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show, Mel Brooks was the guest. The interview took place not long after Young Frankenstein debuted. During the interview, Mel told a hilarious story of a prank he pulled on top level NBC brass like David Sarnoff and Pat Weaver while he was employed as a writer for Sid Caesar.
While Philo Farnsworth was building gizmos out of a loft in San Francisco, the Radio Corporation of America was already plotting domination of the yet-to-be television industry under the leadership of a man named David Sarnoff. Sarnoff recognized television’s virtually limitless potential, and he was determined to bring it to the masses — with or without the help of Philo Farnsworth. Sarnoff would rely on inventors like Vladimir Zworykin, who had also figured out how to transmit pictures electronically through his patented Iconoscope. At least, in theory. The missing piece wouldn’t fall into place until Zworykin visited Farnsworth’s lab — setting off a court battle to claim ownership of one of the most iconic inventions of the 20th century.Support us by supporting our sponsors.Policy Genius - Visit policygenius.com to compare rates today!Peloton - You can enjoy a 30 day home trial at onepeloton.com. Use the promo code: INNOVATIONS.
This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 96: Halloween On The Air (1943 - 1953) ___________ One summer day in 1948, Willam S. Paley received a proposal from Lew Wasserman and Taft Shreiber—President and VP of The Music Corporation of America. They asked if CBS would be interested in buying The Amos N’ Andy Show, then airing on NBC. At the time, U.S. Citizens were taxed 77% of all income over $70,000. However, if the duo behind Amos N’ Andy, Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden incorporated and sold their show to the network, they would be taxed under capital gains laws at 25%. NBC wouldn’t allow the deal. But William Paley jumped at the chance. Amos n’ Andy moved over on October 10th. Shortly after, Lew Wasserman phoned again. He asked if CBS would be interested in purchasing The Jack Benny Program. Benny organized his activities into a corporation. Paley and Wasserman negotiated an agreement for CBS to buy it for $2.26 Million. NBC sent president Niles Trammel to California with orders to keep Benny at NBC. When William Paley heard that Trammel was on his way to California, he called Benny directly to arrange an in-person meeting. Benny invited him to Los Angeles. Paley and CBS counsel Ralph Colin set up shop at the Beverly Hills Hotel. RCA head David Sarnoff was there as well, to help ensure Niles Trammel would secure the deal. NBC responded with a major counteroffer. Lew Wasserman intervened. CBS matched the counteroffer, and an impressed Jack Benny signed it. Sponsor American Tobacco was uneasy. Paley convinced them to back the move by offering compensation for every rating point Benny’s show lost. As all of this was happening, The Jack Benny Program broadcast live on the evening of Sunday, October 31st, 1948.
In this episode we tackle some big questions about the future.What is it?How do we think about it?How do I get a job as a "futurist"?As leaders for change, how do we orient ourselves towards it?And if you're wondering why the image for this post is a piece of repaired pottery, you'll need to listen to the episode.Kintsugi, Centuries Old Japanese Method of Repairing Pottery with GoldTranslated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi, which means “golden repair”) is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Beautiful seams of gold glint in the cracks of ceramic ware, giving a unique appearance to the piece.https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/“As you imagine the consequences of peripheral trends in the future, go beyond the first-degree impact. For example, consider the driverless cars that Google, BMW, and others are working on. Obviously cars without drivers could change driving patterns, which could affect auto manufacturers. Presumably they will crash less frequently, which could enable dramatically different designs that are much lighter weight, affecting material companies. Lighter cars will get much better mileage, affecting gas companies. If cars don’t crash, why would we need auto insurance, at least in its current form? And what about local governments that earn revenue from handing out speeding tickets? Or urban planners that allocate prime real estate to parking lots? Finally, consider employment implications. One million people in the U.S. work as truck drivers. What happens when they are displaced by robots?” Read more here.Famous Quotes about the Future'The Bomb will never go off; I speak as an expert in explosives."- - Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."-- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923 "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957 "But what is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip. "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981 This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us" -- Western Union internal memo, 1876. "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"-- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible" -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.) "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper" -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind." "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out" -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible" -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895. "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this" - - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads . "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy" -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859."Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value" -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France ."Everything that can be invented has been invented"-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899. "The super computer is technologically impossible.It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University "I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." -- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox. "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977Listen here.Find the podcast on itunes here.
Tim Sarnoff, the grandson of former RCA leader David Sarnoff, talks about the legacy of the firm that popularized radio, TV, recorded music and broadcasting, with Jefferson Graham.
Great leaders - in business, government or society, know that when it comes to others, there is always more than meets the eye. Earl Nightingale once shared a story that reminds us to look beyond what we think is obvious. It seems that the NBC orchestra was about to be formed, David Sarnoff, chairman of the board of NBC, gave one directive: “Do not hire away any players from existing orchestras.” The people in charge managed to put together a superb orchestra -- all except for the first clarinetist. When the great maestro Toscanini was about to arrive from Italy to take over the orchestra, Sarnoff was asked how the problem should be handled. Should Toscanini be left to find about the first clarinetist himself? - or - should they be up front and tell him? Sarnoff said, “Let’s tell him.” His associates said, “You tell him.” Accordingly, a group went down to meet the boat as it arrived in New Your City. In his stateroom, Toscanini greeted Sarnoff and said, “That’s a fine orchestra you got together -- very fine, all except for the first clarinetist.” Sarnoff was taken aback and asked, “Maestro, how did you find out?” Toscanini then said, “I have been listening on a little short-wave radio I had in Milan, and I could tell.” Yes, he could hear the first clarinetist on a little radio in Milan. Toscanini then said, “Take me to the studios.” There the orchestra was rehearsing, and a special dressing room was waiting for him. He sent for the clarinetist, who arrived convinced that he was about to be fired. Toscanini said to him, “You are a good clarinet player, but there are certain things that you do wrong.” Then he began to work with him. The upshot was that the clarinetist stayed with the orchestra for 17 years and became one of the worlds best. As is human nature, we tend to judge people based on who they are today. We fail to take the time and see them as they could be. With the right encouragement, patience, mentoring and a lot of training, you could play a role in helping them become the person you are looking for. I grew up in Chicago and during summers, I would take the Illinois Central Train to attend weekend seminars at the University of Chicago. During one of those seminars, the instructor quoted a story about Dr. Robert Hutchins, who was chancellor of the University of Chicago back in the 1940s and ’50s. It seems a group was having a discussion about adult education, and someone made the comment that you can’t teach old dog new tricks. To which Dr. Hutchins responded, “Human beings are not dogs, and education is not a bag of tricks.” When it comes to creativity and innovation, there are some who believe that all that is required is to search, find and then learn the “bag of tricks” of creativity to be successful. Or worse -- that everyone should already know the tricks and should be able to walk through the door and perform. This is far too much to expect of a person. A recent Adobe study points out that only 25% of the workforce feel they are skilled and are applying creativity and innovation as part of their job. We need to move beyond the idea that there is a “bag of tricks” and instead educate our people so that they can gain confidence in their ability to be creative - to be innovative. Why don’t you take on the role of teaching others how to be more creativity - more innovative? When you are the student, you learn something but you don’t completely “get it” until you try to teach it to others. When you try to teach something to someone else, you have to take that mess of information and organize it in a way that someone else can understand. In the process, you expand your own understanding and as a result, become better at creativity and innovation. As the lyric from the Phil Collins song, Son of Man, goes, “In learning you will teach and in teaching, you will learn”. In each of us is a deep reservoir of ability, even genius, that we consistently fail to take advantage of. It takes knowledge, practice and time to bring that ability to the surface. Investing in your teams' creative abilities will have a return that far exceeds any other investment you can make. As Dr. Edward de Bono says... There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. So - who is the clarinetist in your orchestra that has the hidden ability to be world-class?
RCA and CBS were in a race to define the standard for color television. CBS won. Or did it? How did RCA and David Sarnoff push a different approach to color television? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
Welcome to Blackbird9's Breakfast Club's Wednesday Podcast, Talmudic Vision Killed The Family Star. Tonight we will continue to look at Post World War II Psychological Warfare via the new Mass Media Communications of Radio and Television. https://www.blackbird9tradingposts.org/2018/12/05/talmudic-vision-killed-the-family-star-blackbird9/In the First Hour we cover the chaotic events brought on by the teachings of the Frankfurt School Marxists. Their mission has always been to establish a Greater Israel ruled by globalism under the direction of Talmudic Noahide Law and at the same time force all other nations to surrender their independent sovereignty. In our Second Hour, Talmudic Vision Killed The Family Star, the continued to examine the implementation of Post World War II Psychological Warfare using the new mass media tools. From the warnings of Saint John to children against False Idols in 100 A.D., to the Free Speech guarantees of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1791, to Thomas Edison's first phonograph in 1877 and motion picture Kinetoscope in 1889, to Guglielmo Marconi's first radio transmission in 1901, to the tale of wireless operator David Sarnoff and the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, to founding of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, to Konrad Lorenz psychological research on imprinting, to the founding of National Broadcasting Company in 1939, to Alan "Moondog" Freed's coining of the phrase Rock and Roll in 1951, to the debut of The Monkees TV show in 1966, to the launching of MTV in 1981, the host examines how synthetic jewish controlled media not only created the mythos of The Teenager but used basic Psychological Warfare tactics to turn this new demographic against the Traditional Family and Community systems.
Welcome to Blackbird9's Breakfast Club's Wednesday Podcast, Talmudic Vision Killed The Family Star. Tonight we will continue to look at Post World War II Psychological Warfare via the new Mass Media Communications of Radio and Television. https://www.blackbird9tradingposts.org/2018/12/05/talmudic-vision-killed-the-family-star-blackbird9/In the First Hour we cover the chaotic events brought on by the teachings of the Frankfurt School Marxists. Their mission has always been to establish a Greater Israel ruled by globalism under the direction of Talmudic Noahide Law and at the same time force all other nations to surrender their independent sovereignty. In our Second Hour, Talmudic Vision Killed The Family Star, the continued to examine the implementation of Post World War II Psychological Warfare using the new mass media tools. From the warnings of Saint John to children against False Idols in 100 A.D., to the Free Speech guarantees of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1791, to Thomas Edison's first phonograph in 1877 and motion picture Kinetoscope in 1889, to Guglielmo Marconi's first radio transmission in 1901, to the tale of wireless operator David Sarnoff and the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, to founding of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, to Konrad Lorenz psychological research on imprinting, to the founding of National Broadcasting Company in 1939, to Alan "Moondog" Freed's coining of the phrase Rock and Roll in 1951, to the debut of The Monkees TV show in 1966, to the launching of MTV in 1981, the host examines how synthetic jewish controlled media not only created the mythos of The Teenager but used basic Psychological Warfare tactics to turn this new demographic against the Traditional Family and Community systems.
In Breaking Walls Episode 83, we focus the radio industry of the 1930s and 40s—especially on the career of David Sarnoff, as RCA’s network, NBC begins to lose its grip on the top spot in the broadcasting industry while they introduce Television. We’ll also focus on the introduction of new talent to the industry, and the CBS talent raids of 1948-1949. Highlights: • David Sarnoff announces the birth of TV at The 1939 World’s Fair • Edwin Howard Armstrong Invents FM • Television Experiments in the 1920s and 1930s • Sarnoff and Armstrong’s Crumbling Friendship • How World War II Stopped Television’s Commercial Expansion • William S. Paley’s Plan to make CBS the #1 Network • The Rise of Arthur Godfrey • Sarnoff’s Court Battles • The Death of Edwin Howard Armstrong • The CBS Talent Raids of 1948-49 • Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis • The Simple Art of Macabre The WallBreakers: http://thewallbreakers.com Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts. To support the show: http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers Special thanks to our Sponsors: • Join The Party https://www.multitude.productions • Twelve Chimes, It’s Midnight https://twelvechimesradio.blogspot.com • The Fireside Mystery Theatre https://www.firesidemysterytheatre.com The reading material used in today’s episode was: • The General: David Sarnoff & The Rise of the Communications Industry - by Kenneth Bilby • The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio - by John Dunning • Empire: William S. Paley & The Making of CBS - by Lewis J. • The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio - by Christopher H. Sterling • The Network - by Scott Wooley • As well as an article on Martin & Lewis from the August 2018 issue of SPERDVAC’s Radiogram, by Michael Hayde Selected Music featured in today’s Episode was: • Mr. Lucky, by Si Zentner • Begin the Beguine, by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra • Seance on a Wet Afternoon, arranged by John Barry I’d also like to thank Walden Hughes and John and Larry Gassman. Listen to their shows on the Yesterday USA radio network, and if you’re going to be in California this November, SPERDVAC - The Society To Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy—will be having their next convention this coming November 1st through 3rd at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 3131 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa, CA. For more information, please go to SPERDVAC.com A Special Thank you to: Ron Baron Ryan Kramer Christian Neuhaus Aimee Pavy Rebecca Shield WallBreakers Links: Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers Social Media - @TheWallBreakers URL - thewallbreakers.com Online Store - jamesthewallbreaker.com/shop/
"A Sconset Beach Story" tells the story of a young Jewish immigrant named David Sarnoff who went to work at a Marconi wireless station where he was present when the distress call from the Titantic came in. Sarnoff's ambition gave us the development of radio and television, and he later became the president of NBC. Take a look at our first 1001 Book at Kindle! (And leave a review): https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Short-Stories-Fireside-Collection-ebook/dp/B07CRW2RZ9/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1525854517&sr=8-4&keywords=kindle+books+1001+classic+short+stories
In Breaking Walls Episode 76, we pick up our story on the history of American dramatic radio after the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912. The time between 1912 and 1922 saw three competing interests battle for control of the wireless airwaves as wireless telegraphy transitioned into radio broadcasting. These three interests were big private business, individual HAM radio operators, and the US Government. Highlights: • How the Titanic’s Sinking changed Guglielmo Marconi’s business • The Radio Act of 1912 - What it portended • Charles Herrold and KCBS San Francisco • Lee Deforest sells out to AT&T • Edwin Howard Armstrong invents regeneration, and later the superheterodyne receiver • War comes to Europe • The Navy takes over wireless • How World War I caused radio technology to boom • AT&T, Westinghouse, General Electric, and the newly formed RCA make a deal • David Sarnoff’s Rise to power • KDKA and the birth of regular broadcasting • Todays’ introduction music of Metamorphosis No. 2 was arranged for harp and vibraphone by David DePeters and played by Elizabeth Hainen. You can pick up her album, Home: Works for Solo Harp on iTunes and Amazon, and listen on Spotify and Pandora. Her website is ElizabethHainen.com and she is on youtube @Elizabethhainenharp The WallBreakers: http://thewallbreakers.com Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts. To support the show: http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers Special thanks to our Sponsor The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society http://www.ghoulishdelights.com/series/themorls/ The reading material for today’s episode was: Inventing American Broadcasting 1899-1922 by Susan J. Douglas Empire of the Air by Tom Lewis A Pictorial History of Radio’s First 75 Years by B. Eric Rhoads Hello Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio by Anthony Rudel & The Network by Scott Woolley A Special Thank you to: Rebecca Shield and Nancy Pop who’s website is - http://www.nancympop.com WallBreakers Links: Patreon - http://patreon.com/thewallbreakers Social Media - @TheWallBreakers URL - http://thewallbreakers.com Online Store - jamesthewallbreaker.com/shop/
Ask any of the 20 and 30 somethings working in tech in San Francisco and Silicon Valley and I assure they think they are inventing the world. But the fact is that most, including some that have become household names, are merely leaving footprints in the shadow of David Sarnoff. David Sarnoff born in 1891, had a visionary understanding of everything from the telegraph to the future of the internet. And just as Steve Jobs had Wozniak, Sarnoff had Edwin Armstrong. Not surprisingly, that relationship ended in an even worse way. That story, the idea of everything old being new again and that history does repeat itself, is at the heart of .The Network: The Battle for the Airwaves and the Birth of the Communications Age, by Scott Woolley My conversation with Scott Woolley:
Bob Lundquist – Part I http://wwwx.dowling.edu/library/new/BobLundquist1.mp3 Download audio Bob Lundquist – Part II http://wwwx.dowling.edu/library/new/BobLundquist2.mp3 Download audio Robert Lundquist was station engineer at the vast RCA transmitting station at Rocky Point known the world over as Radio Central. In this two-part interview he provides a crash course in the history, development, and technology of radio. You'll also hear about the history of RCA, David Sarnoff, Guglielmo Marconi, and the role of Sputnik in the demise of Radio Central. Among the memories Bob shares are the the day in 1978 when Governor Hugh Carey accepted the property (along with the RCA station in Riverhead) on behalf of New York State, along with the time he had to decide the fate of Marconi's shack, an important relic of Long Island's radio history. Further Research: Rocky Point Historical Society Radio Central Amateur Radio Club The World's Greatest Radio Station More on Marconi's Shack Rocky Point Pine Barrens State Forest Long Island Radio & TV Historical Society
Découvrez ce que le Titanic, la radio et le podcasting ont en commun à travers David Sarnoff, un des pionniers de la radio. Animé à l'aide du carburant de la semaine: la bière Le Coup de Grisou. Joignez-vous au groupe FaceBook de QuébecBalado Visitez mon profil sur FaceBook Suivez mes Tweets sur Twitter Envoyez-moi vos […] The post QuebecBalado045 | Le Titanic appeared first on Le Québec en Baladodiffusion.
David Sarnoff Library, Director, Alex Magoun, will discuss Sarnoff's legacy; how the early days of developing TV technology are similiar or different from today's work with digital and interactive TV; various interesting projects at the Library including the recreation of the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast; The Farnsworth Invention; and his book, "Television: The Life Story of a Technology," which talks about all of the above. Host is Tracy Swedlow, www.itvt.com InteractiveTV Today.
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