18 Facts About NBC Blue

Red and NBC Blue Networks shared a common pool of engineers and facilities, and would on occasion, broadcast the same events.

On May 20,1927, both of the NBC Blue networks covered the return of Charles Lindbergh to America from his trans-Atlantic flight, star announcer Graham McNamee doing the honors.

On occasion, shows would make brief stops at NBC Blue before moving elsewhere, such as the Lux Radio Theatre and Will Rogers' program, both of which would move to CBS.

At some level, the NBC Blue Network was known in the late 1920s and early 1930s for its children's programming.

McLeod has noted that as of 1938, NBC had 23 stations in its core "Basic Red" group, and 24 in its "Basic Blue" group, with 107 stations that could be Red or Blue depending on the needs of a sponsor; the relative ratings for NBC Red programs versus NBC Blue counterparts suggests that sponsors chose to use Red more often than Blue.

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Radio historian Elizabeth McLeod has suggested, aside from a brief period where NBC Red and NBC Blue had different chime-sequences in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the two networks were *not* differentiated for many years, which would certainly be consistent with the roster of shows described above.

NBC History Files at the Library of Congress lend support to the notion that NBC was gradually groping for a way to differentiate the Red Network from the Blue Network.

One season in the early 1940s, a high-profile sponsored program on the NBC Blue was The Cavalcade of America, a show dramatizing historical events which was sponsored by DuPont.

In 1943, after the NBC Blue Network had been spun off, a promotional publication noted that:.

NBC began to specifically identify the networks, contrary to its general practice, and began to divide personnel and facilities; eventually, it formed a separate corporate entity for the Blue Network on January 8,1942, "Blue Network Company, Inc " From this date on, while NBC still maintained ownership of the Blue Network, it was for most purposes an entirely separate network.

However, with the ruling from the Supreme Court, NBC was now spurred to take vigorous action to sell the Blue Network.

One of the significant issues surrounding the sale of the NBC Blue Network involved the network's practices regarding "controversial" topics and proponents.

Noble was forced to divest himself of New York station WMCA, which he had owned since 1940, but his American Broadcasting System, Inc, the entity formed to be the parent of the NBC Blue Network, acquired WJZ, additional stations in Chicago and San Francisco, as well as land-line leases, certain studio facilities and leased studio facilities, and the affiliation system.

The Blue Network retained the rights to broadcast the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts; Milton Cross was the host for NBC, Blue, ABC, CBS, and the opera's own broadcasts from 1931 through 1975.

In certain respects, the NBC Blue made attempts to grab the spotlight with unusual broadcasts.

The NBC Blue Network gave him and partner Don Prindle a comedy series, Niles and Prindle, which is referenced in the special as being scheduled for a debut the following month.

Finally, a major priority of the NBC Blue Network was to form a new identity, one that would mark a break with the past.

The NBC Blue Network applied for a construction permit for a TV station in the upper VHF band, but all such applications were shelved during the war years.