NBC Created as RCA Establishes Radio Broadcasting Monopoly

Radio Corporation of America created the National Broadcasting Company through acquisition and merger of the WEAF and WJZ station chains, establishing the first major commercial radio broadcasting network in the United States. RCA owned 50 percent of NBC, with General Electric holding 30 percent and Westinghouse 20 percent, forming a corporate conglomerate that controlled a substantial portion of American radio broadcasting. David Sarnoff, who led RCA from shortly after its 1919 founding, created NBC as a new subsidiary after RCA bought AT&T’s telephone group network. The network initially operated Red and Blue divisions, with the Red Network emphasizing sponsored entertainment and the Blue Network focusing on educational content. When federal investigators threatened antitrust charges in 1923 against RCA, Westinghouse, AT&T, and GE for conspiring to restrain trade in the radio industry, Sarnoff suggested splitting off NBC to satisfy regulators while preserving the patent-sharing monopoly. The concentration of radio broadcasting under corporate control established a pattern for mass media consolidation that would shape American public discourse for decades.