NBC TV Network Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers
In the world of television, what is NBC?
A: The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language
commercial terrestrial radio and television network.
It is a flagship property of NBC Universal, a
subsidiary of whom?
A: Comcast.
Where is the network headquartered?
A: At 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with additional major offices
near Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network",
in reference to its what?
A: Its stylized peacock logo, introduced in 1956 to promote the company's
innovations in early color broadcasting.
When did it become the network's official emblem?
A: In 1979.
Founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America
(RCA), NBC is the oldest “what” in the United States?
A: Major broadcast network.
At that time who was the parent company of RCA?
A: It was General Electric (GE).
In 1932, GE was forced to sell RCA and NBC as a result
of what?
A: Antitrust charges.
In 1986, control of NBC passed back to whom?
A: General Electric (GE) through its $6.4 billion purchase of RCA.
GE immediately began to do what?
A: To liquidate RCA's various divisions but retained NBC.
Following the acquisition by GE, who served as chief
executive officer of NBC?
A: Bob Wright.
Wright remained in that position until when?
A: Until his retirement in 2007, when he was succeeded by Jeff Zucker.
In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its
entertainment assets with GE, forming what?
A: NBC Universal.
Who purchased a controlling interest in the company in
2011?
A: Comcast.
Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBCUniversal
and was replaced as CEO by whom?
A: Comcast executive Steve Burke.
RCA in late 1926 announced the creation of a new
division known as the what?
A: The National Broadcasting Company.
The division's ownership was split among whom?
A: RCA (a majority partner at 50%), its founding corporate parent General
Electric (which owned 30%) and Westinghouse (which owned the remaining 20%).
NBC officially started broadcasting on what date?
A: November 15, 1926.
On April 5, 1927, NBC expanded to where?
A: The West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network, also known as
the Pacific Coast Network.
This was followed on October 18,
1931 by the debut of
what?
A: The NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network.
In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for
shortwave radio stations, called what?
A: The NBC White Network.
In 1927, NBC moved its operations to where?
A: 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
In 1930, General Electric was charged with antitrust
violations, resulting in the company's decision to do what?
A: Divest itself of RCA.
The iconic three-note NBC chimes came about after what?
A: Several years of development.
Where was the three-note sequence, G-E'-C', first
heard?
A: Over Red Network affiliate WSB in Atlanta, with a second inversion
C-major triad as its outline.
An executive at NBC's New York headquarters heard the
WSB version of the notes during the networked broadcast of a
Georgia Tech
football game and did what?
A: He asked permission to use it on the national network.
NBC started to use the chimes sequence in
1931, and it
eventually became the what?
A: The first audio trademark to be accepted by the U.S.
Patent and Trademark
Office.
A variant sequence with an additional note, G-E'-C'-G,
known as "the fourth chime", was used during what?
A: During significant events of extreme urgency (including during World War
II, especially in the wake of the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor; on
D-Day and during disasters).
The NBC chimes were mechanized in 1932 by whom?
A: Rangertone founder Richard H. Ranger.
What was their purpose?
A: To send a low-level signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by
the various switching stations manned by NBC and AT&T engineers, and to be
used as a system cue for switching individual stations between the Red and
Blue network feeds.
In 1934, the Mutual Broadcasting System filed a
complaint to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), following the
government agency's creation, claiming what?
A: That it ran into difficulties trying to establish new radio stations in a
market largely controlled by NBC and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).
In 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into
what?
A: The monopolistic effects of network broadcasting.
A report published by the Commission in
1939 found that
NBC's two networks and its owned-and-operated stations did what?
A: Dominated audiences, affiliates and advertising in American radio.
This led the Commission to file an order to RCA to do
what?
A: Divest itself of either NBC Red or NBC Blue.
After losing on final appeal before the U.S. Supreme
Court in May 1943, RCA sold Blue Network Company, Inc., for $8 million to
whom?
A: The American Broadcasting System, a recently founded company owned by
Life Savers magnate Edward J. Noble.
Noble wanted a better name for the network and so did
what?
A: He acquired the branding rights to the "American Broadcasting Company"
name from George B. Storer in 1944.
When did the Blue Network become ABC officially?
A: On June 15, 1945, after the sale was completed.
In the late 1940s, rival CBS gained ground by allowing
radio stars to do what?
A: To use their own production companies to produce programs, which became a
profitable move for much of its talent.
In the early years of radio, stars and programs
commonly did what when their short-term contracts expired?
A: Hopped between networks.
During 1948 and 1949, beginning with the nation's top
radio star, Jack Benny, many NBC performers – including Edgar Bergen and
Charlie McCarthy, Burns and Allen and
Frank Sinatra did what?
A: Jumped to CBS.
In addition, NBC stars began migrating to what?
A: Television, including comedian Milton Berle, whose Texaco Star Theater on
the network became television's first major hit.
