Yup, and Radio Disney. ABC will continue to produce the radio newscasts for Cumulus distribution under a minimum 10 year contract, renewable after that.
Why there was no NBC Records
- Thread starter AM Matt
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Actorman
Well-Known Member
Actually, this discussion is quite timely...
NBC is technically owned by NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal was originally jointly owned by GE (which owned NBC) and Vivendi (which owned Universal). NBCUniveral was subsequently purchased by Comcast in January of 2011. In the deal, GE retained 49% ownership with the agreement that it would sell its remaining ownership to Comcast at some point in the future. Just yesterday (3/19/13) Comcast finalized a $16.7 billion dollar deal to buy the remaining 49% from GE.
The original sale to Comcast was actually parodied on the sit-com 30 Rock where they did a whole series of episodes about GE selling NBC to a media conglomerate called "Cabletown."
NBC is technically owned by NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal was originally jointly owned by GE (which owned NBC) and Vivendi (which owned Universal). NBCUniveral was subsequently purchased by Comcast in January of 2011. In the deal, GE retained 49% ownership with the agreement that it would sell its remaining ownership to Comcast at some point in the future. Just yesterday (3/19/13) Comcast finalized a $16.7 billion dollar deal to buy the remaining 49% from GE.
The original sale to Comcast was actually parodied on the sit-com 30 Rock where they did a whole series of episodes about GE selling NBC to a media conglomerate called "Cabletown."
Matt Clark Sanford, MI
Actorman
Well-Known Member
Is NBC part of the Republic/Universal CD label??
No. The Republic/Universal music label is part of Universal Music Group (UMG) which is separate from NBCUniversal. They were once all part of the same company, but the music division was broken off as a separate subsidiary when GE purchased the television/movie division in the deal I spoke of above. Vivendi retained (and still has) ownership of the music division and it was not part of the deal with GE.
Basically, anything "Universal" that's television or movie related is NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast) and anything "Universal" music related is Universal Music Group (owned by Vivendi). At least until one or both of them merge with or get aquired by someone else.
It's kind of hard to keep track of all of it, especially when they continue to use same names, logos, etc. even when they are no longer affiliated.
On a side note... Funny you mentioned "The Bugaloos." I bought a vintage "Bugaloos" lunch box on eBay just a few weeks ago. I love that old Sid & Marty Krofft stuff!!
The relationship between NBC and Universal (or more accurately, Universal's longtime parent company MCA) had been more than a little incestuous for decades. There's a story; some say apocryphal though others swear by it; that an MCA exec was invited to attend a late-50's/early 60's NBC meeting on planning the new fall schedule. One of NBC's biggest big shots handed an incomplete schedule to the MCA man. He filled in all the blank slots with MCA-owned shows, handed it back and said "There's your fall schedule." No questions asked.
(MCA's TV division was then called Revue Productions. Revue initially bought Universal City as real estate, leasing back part of its facilities to Universal for their own use; then within a couple years gobbled up Decca Records, then Universal's owner, and the film company with it. When they made that move, the anti-trust laws...remember those?...required MCA to sell off its talent agency/management business.)
KentTeffeteller
Well-Known Member
Note there was a US Peacock Records label. Well known for Blues, R&B, and the World's Finest Spirituals.
Bobberman
Well-Known Member
I sure remember that particular peacock "In Living Color on NBC" And the old time NBC Chimes ( keep in mind i was born in the 60s.) It was so much fun watching tv way back when. And sadly (with the exception of my video library and occasional youtube viewing.) The thrill was gone for me by 2001.and I Cut off cable for good.
Actually those xylophone-looking chimes would be inaccurate-sounding. The correct notes are G E C, but those bars, assuming they sound the correct notes and you played them in "letter" order, would go C, E, G.
If you go by the order in which mallet instruments are made, though, one could argue that the tones should go from lowest to highest.
I'd think that unlikely, since back in the days that the NBC chimes were instituted, the network was owned by the RCA Corporation. But it seems like a happy coincidence!
I'm not sure of the link with the chimes, but General Electric was instrumental in organizing RCA in 1919, in creating an American monopoly on long-distance radio communications for the U.S. military. GE was forced to sell its interest in RCA in 1930 by an anti-trust suit.
RCA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »
I recently read that those NBC chimes have become a godsend to enthusiasts and engineers restoring old radio broadcasts. Many of these shows have been passed down in multi-generation amateur-made tapes, recorded on machines whose speed accuracy was not the best. (I've heard radio shows so far off speed that Jack Benny sounded like Darth Vader!) Now, by using a "pitch shifter" to bring the NBC chimes back on key, the rest of the show falls into line.
)
Bobberman
Well-Known Member
Improper pitch was alwwys my biggest gripe especially when it came to cassettes but thankfully when i transferred my tapes to CDR i had a source player that played back everything properly and a few which had the pitch discrepancies i had a cd player with pitch control to make corrections to get everything sounding right.
mr_mjb1960
New Member
NBC only pressed Transcription records,for broadcasting only.
mr_mjb1960
New Member
No,more like SONY Music's property now.Is NBC part of the Republic/Universal CD label??
mr_mjb1960
New Member
The Chimes are in these chords,exactly:"G-E-C"! In fact,it was an Anti-Trust Lawsuit that made GE Separate itself from NBC,in 1930.
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mr_mjb1960
New Member
But they did! In fact,RCA's prez General David Sarnoff opened NBC at New York's 1939 World's Fair with an opening speech!I'd think that unlikely, since back in the days that the NBC chimes were instituted, the network was owned by the RCA Corporation. But it seems like a happy coincidence!
mr_mjb1960
New Member
The earliest stations was WEAF,and WJZ,before changing to WNBC (WEAF) and WABC (WJZ),sometimes referred to as The "Red" and "Blue" Networks!
Acapulco 1922
Member
The "pre-Fox"-network: METROMEDIA...had a record label in the '70s (I think, Bobby Sherman was the only act on it!).
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