| HISTORY OF THE MAJOR BROADCASTING NETWORKS | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| September 12, 1924 Earliest broadcasts, National Defense Day Ceremonies heard over the following stations: WCAP, WEAF, WOAW, WFAA, KLZ, KGO November 1, 1926 National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was formalized. Two separate Networks were established. The Blue Network and the Red Network. The N.Y. station WJZ owned and operated the Blue Network. The N.Y. station WEAF owned and operated the Red Network. September 18, 1927 The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) started in N.Y. and was owned and operated by station WABC. July 16, 1929 Don Lee Network became part of CBS. September 30, 1934 The Mutual Broadcasting System began. It didn't own a radio station but started in Detroit over WXYZ. It later was owned by WOR in N.Y. The more quality radio programs were heard on the other major networks December 29, 1936 The Don Lee Network switched to become part of the Mutual Broadcasting System. June 14, 1945 The government forced NBC to sell one of its two broadcasting networks. They sold off the Blue Network which became the American Broadcasting Company.. The Red Network reference was dropped in favor of the National Broadcasting Company name. November 2, 1946 WEAF turned into WNBC. Also, WABC changed its call letters to WCBS so as not to be confused with the ABC Network. Why this took 19 years is anybody's guess March 8, 1953 WJZ turned into WABC. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
