RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, RCA became an independent company after the partners were required to divest their ownership as part of the settlement of a government antitrust suit.
This article is about the former RCA Corporation. For information on use of the RCA trademark since 1986, see RCA (trademark). For the electrical connector from RCA commonly used to carry audio and video signals, see RCA connector. For other uses, see RCA (disambiguation).Company type
October 17, 1919 as Radio Corporation of America. The name changed to RCA Corporation on May 9, 1969.
1987
Acquired by GE in 1986, various divisions sold or liquidated, and Trademark rights sold to Thomson SA in 1988.
General Electric
RCA (owned by Talisman Brands)
RCA Records (owned by Sony Music Entertainment)
NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast)
David Sarnoff (first general manager)
GE (1919–1932, 1986–1987)
Technicolor SA[a] (trademark rights only, 1987–2022)
Talisman Brands d.b.a Established Inc. (trademark, since 2022)
An innovative and progressive company, RCA was the dominant electronics and communications firm in the United States for over five decades. In the early 1920s, RCA was at the forefront of the mushrooming radio industry as a major manufacturer of radio receivers, and the exclusive manufacturer of the first superheterodyne sets. The company also created the first nationwide American radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). RCA was also a pioneer in the introduction and development of television, both black and white and especially color television. Throughout most of the company's existence, RCA was closely identified with the leadership of David Sarnoff. He became general manager at the company's founding, served as president from 1930 to 1965, and remained active as chairman of the board until the end of 1969.
During the 1970s, RCA's seemingly impregnable stature as America's leader in technology, innovation and home entertainment began to weaken as the company attempted to expand beyond its main focus of the development and marketing of consumer electronics and communications into a diversified multinational conglomerate. Additionally, RCA began to face increasing domestic competition from international electronics firms such as Sony, Philips, Matsushita and Mitsubishi. RCA suffered enormous financial losses in the mainframe computer industry and other failed projects including the CED videodisc system. Though the company was rebounding by the mid-1980s, RCA never regained its former eminence and was reacquired by General Electric in 1986; over the next few years, GE liquidated most of the corporation's assets. Today, RCA exists as a brand name only; the various RCA trademarks are currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment and Vantiva, which in turn license the RCA brand name and trademarks to several other companies, including Voxx International, Curtis International, AVC Multimedia, TCL Corporation and Express LUCK International, Ltd. for their various products.
Phonographs and records[edit]
The rapid rise of radio broadcasting during the early 1920s, which provided unlimited free entertainment in the home, had a detrimental effect on the American phonograph record industry. The Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, was then the world's largest manufacturer of records and phonographs, including its popular showcase "Victrola" line. In January 1929, RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company; this acquisition became known as the RCA Victor division of the Radio Corporation of America, and included ownership of Victor's Japanese subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), formed in 1927 and controlling interest in The Gramophone Company Ltd. (later EMI Records) in England.
RCA's acquisition of the Victor company included the western hemisphere rights to the iconic Nipper/"His Master's Voice" trademark.[26] RCA Victor popularized combined radio receiver-phonographs, and also created RCA Photophone, a movie sound-on-film system that competed with William Fox's sound-on-film Movietone and Warner Bros.' sound-on-disc Vitaphone. Although early announcements of the RCA and Victor merger stressed that the two firms were linking equally to form a joint new company, RCA initially had little true interest in the phonograph record business. The management of RCA was interested essentially in Victor's superior sales capabilities through the record company's large network of authorized distributors and dealers, as well as the extensive, efficient manufacturing facilities in Camden, New Jersey. Immediately following the purchase of Victor, RCA began planning the manufacture of radio sets and components on Victor's Camden assembly lines, while decreasing the production of Victrolas and records.[27]
The entire phonograph record industry in America nearly foundered after the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequent Great Depression. During the nadir of the record business in the early 1930s, the manufacture of phonographs and records all but ceased; extant older phonographs were now obsolete and many had been relegated to the attic or basement. RCA Victor began selling the first all-electric Victrola in 1930 and in 1931 the company attempted to revitalize record sales with the introduction of 331⁄3 revolutions-per-minute (rpm) long play records, which were a commercial failure during the Great Depression, partly because the Victrolas with two speed turntables required to play them were exorbitantly expensive, and also because the audio performance of the new records was generally poor; the new format used the same groove size as existing 78 rpm records,[28] and it would require the smaller-radius stylus of the later microgroove systems to achieve acceptable slower-speed performance. Additionally, the new long-play records were pressed in a pliable, vinyl-based material called "Victrolac" which wore out rapidly under the heavy tonearms then in use.[29]
In 1934, following the debacle of its long-play record, RCA Victor introduced the Duo Jr., an inexpensive, small, basic electric turntable designed to be plugged into radio sets. The Duo Jr. was sold at cost, but was practically given away with the purchase of a certain number of Victor records. The Duo Jr.'s rock-bottom price helped to overcome the national apathy to phonographs, and record sales gradually began to recover.[30] Around 1935, RCA began marketing the modernistic RCA Victor M Special, a polished aluminum portable record player designed by John Vassos that has become an icon of 1930s American industrial design.[31] In 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45 rpm "single" records, as a response to Columbia Records successful introduction of its microgroove 331⁄3 rpm "LP" format in 1948. As RCA Victor adopted Columbia's 331⁄3 rpm LP records in 1950,[32][33] Columbia then adopted RCA Victor's 45 rpm records.[34]
Motion pictures[edit]
RCA also made investments in the movie industry, but they performed poorly. In April 1928, RCA Photophone, Inc., was organized by a group of companies including RCA to develop sound-movie technology. In the fall of 1927, RCA had purchased stock in Film Booking Office (FBO), and on October 25, 1928, with the help of Joseph P. Kennedy, the Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation (RKO) studio was formed by merging FBO with Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation (KAO), a company whose holdings included motion picture theaters. The theaters in which RKO had an interest provided a potential market for the RCA Photophone sound systems. RCA ownership of RKO stock expanded from about one quarter in 1930 to about 61% in 1932.[35] However, as with most movie studios during the Great Depression, RKO encountered severe financial problems, going into receivership from early 1933 until 1940. RCA sold its holdings in the studio to raise funds for its basic operations.
Separation from General Electric[edit]
After years of industry complaints that the cross-licensing agreements between RCA, GE, and Westinghouse had in effect created illegal monopolies, the U.S. Department of Justice brought antitrust charges against the three companies in May 1930.[36] After much negotiation, in 1932 the Justice Department accepted a consent agreement that removed the restrictions established by the cross-licensing agreements, and also provided that RCA would become a fully independent company. As a result, GE and Westinghouse gave up their ownership interests in RCA, while RCA was allowed to keep its factories.[37] To give RCA a chance to establish itself, GE and Westinghouse were required to refrain from competing in the radio business for the next two and one-half years.[38]
Re-acquisition and breakup by General Electric[edit]
In December 1985, it was announced that General Electric would reacquire its former subsidiary for $6.28 billion in cash, or $66.50 per share of stock.[55] GE's acquisition of RCA was the largest non-oil company merger in history up to that time and was completed on June, 9, 1986. Despite initial assurances that RCA would continue to operate as a mostly autonomous unit, it was revealed that GE's main motivation in purchasing RCA was to acquire the corporation's defense-related businesses and the NBC Television Network. Over the next few years, GE proceeded to sell off most of RCA's remaining assets (after the 2011 sale of NBCUniversal to Comcast, the only former RCA unit which GE retained was Government Services). In 1987, GE disposed of its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann, and the company was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group. RCA Global Communications Inc., a division with roots dating back to RCA's founding in 1919, was sold to the MCI Communications Corporation; also in 1987, the NBC Radio Network was sold to Westwood One.[56]
In 1988, the rights to manufacture consumer electronics products under the RCA and GE brands was acquired by Thomson Consumer Electronics, in exchange for some of Thomson's medical businesses, which still manages the RCA trademarks today. Also in 1988, its semiconductor business (including the former RCA Solid State unit and Intersil) was bought by Harris Corporation.[57] That same year, the iconic RCA Building, known as "30 Rock" at Rockefeller Center was renamed the GE Building.
In 1991, GE sold its share in RCA/Columbia to Sony Pictures which renamed the unit "Columbia TriStar Home Video" (later further renamed to Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment). This merger surpassed the Capital Cities/ABC merger that happened earlier in 1985 as the largest non-oil merger in business history.[58]
Sarnoff Labs was put on a five-year plan whereby GE would fund all the labs' activities for the first year, then reduce its support to near zero after the fifth year. This required Sarnoff Labs to change its business model to become an industrial contract research facility. In 1988, it was transferred to SRI International (SRI) as the David Sarnoff Research Center, and subsequently renamed the Sarnoff Corporation. In January 2011,
Sarnoff Corporation was fully integrated into SRI.[59]
In 2011, GE sold its controlling interest in the National Broadcasting Company, by this time part of the multimedia NBC Universal venture that included TV and cable, to Comcast, and in 2013, Comcast acquired the remaining interest.[60]
Nipper atop the old RCA distribution building, Broadway, Albany, New York
Stained glass Nipper window at RCA Victor Building 17 in Camden NJ.
One of 4 Nipper stained glass windows seen from inside the "Nipper Tower" in the old RCA Victor Building 17.[73]
![One of 4 Nipper stained glass windows seen from inside the "Nipper Tower" in the old RCA Victor Building 17.[73]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/RCANipperGlass.jpg/320px-RCANipperGlass.jpg)
RCA trademarks displayed on the back of Dimensia TV, the 1980s
Two vacuum tube cartons, displaying different generations of the RCA logo
RCA Radio ad, circa 1945.
RCA Radio x551, Early '50s AC/DC tabletop radio
AR-88 communications receiver
RCA Studio B recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee; known in the 1960s for being part of the Nashville sound.
Grace Bradt and Eddie Albert in a 1936 NBC television program The Honeymooners-Grace and Eddie Show using an early RCA camera.
![First U.S. commercial TV set, the RCA Victor TRK 12 (1939)[74]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/RCA_Victor_TRK_12_%281939%29%2C_Wolfsonian-FIU%2C_Miami%2C_Florida%2C_USA_-_20130910.jpg/180px-RCA_Victor_TRK_12_%281939%29%2C_Wolfsonian-FIU%2C_Miami%2C_Florida%2C_USA_-_20130910.jpg)
![1954 RCA CT-100 TV[75]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/RCA_CT-100_screenshot.jpg/359px-RCA_CT-100_screenshot.jpg)
1954 RCA TK-41C dolly-mounted color broadcast camera
1954 RCA TK-11/TK-31 television camera
RCA Universal Remote RCU403, c. 2002–2003
RCA AutoShot VHS Camcorder, c. 1998
