Among the small business that launched their own radio stations for purposes of marketing, the first large business to give it a whirl was, naturally, RCA — the Radio Corporation of America. RCA itself was the spawn of four different companies: General Electric, AT and T (still without the ampersand), Westinghouse and United Fruit. To entice people to purchase and use radios, they first need content for those radios. So was born the National Broadcasting Company.

On this day, September 9, NBC launched, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RCA. It would soon have a sister network, with the two differentiated as NBC-Red and NBC-Blue.

By the 1930s RCA  spun off as an independent entity, with a lineup of stations and programs unmatched. From that perch they launched research into the nascent technology of television. RCA research and development in the field of television was led by Vladimir Zworykin (who later lost a $1 million patent infringement battle with Philo Farnsworth), and by 1939 RCA had their first network television broadcast.