Re: [ARSCLIST] NBC chimes and routing

[Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Ross wrote:
> Without a lot more research, I can't add much to the configuration of 
> AT&T lines for the NBC radio networks, but I do know that the 
> pre-satellite NPR network lines were split into  "round robin" loops...[that] allowed any station on that part of the network to
> originate programming to the whole network with a simple patch at the 
> nearest AT&T program operating center.

NBC did something similar on the west coast in their early days. I 
really don't remember all the details (they are spelled out quite 
clearly on at least two sites that deal with NBC's West Coast network as 
it applies to San Francisco), but the gist of it was that NBC 
programming from the west coast originated in San Francisco during the 
1930s and was carried in a one-way loop that terminated in Los Angeles. 
San Francisco could receive programming from the east for circulating on 
this loop, and could originate both for the loop and for the east coast 
(but not the latter while receiving programming), but other stations on 
this loop could not feed back to San Francisco.

That's why until the very late 1930s anything on the network from 
Hollywood had to go straight to Chicago for network feeding - apparently 
it was more convenient to do it that way than to try to route it to San 
Francisco where the network origin point was.

The rest of the NBC network was not like this, but was rather splayed 
out much like a railroad, with any station capable of feeding the 
network should it be necessary. This was usually reserved for important 
diplomatic speeches or very special events; all standard programming for 
NBC originated at the handful of stations owned by the network that were 
designated as studio points of origin in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, 
San Francisco, and Washington.

Michael Shoshani
Chicago