Quote:
Originally Posted by wa2ise
Story I heard had it that Sarnoff, at the time friendly with Armstrong, asked him to develop a noise free radio receiver. Armstrong came up with FM, not what Sarnoff had in mind, as FM would require all new transmitters in a new radio band. Sarnoff wanted a noise free AM receiver (he was the CEO, not an engineer...). And Sarnoff saw this new FM radio system as a competitor to has baby: Television. Maybe if Armstrong mentioned to Sarnoff that if television used FM for the sound, Sarnoff and RCA would have a killer app. But this is Monday morning quarterbacking... Anyway, Sarnoff was mad when the FCC mandated FM for TV sound, as he didn't want to pay patent licensing to Armstrong. Armstrong's widow eventually prevailed in the lawsuit, but Armstrong suicided before then. Not a high point in RCA corporate history...
|
Not to mention that being the CEO of RCA meant that Sarnoff was also in control of NBC, and the introduction of FM had the potential of reducing the domination of radio that NBC held at the time.
RCA (whose hold on radio was so strong that business people referred to the company simply as "Radio") got in on the ground floor of a huge business, and its NBC had the lion's share of the clear-channel AM stations as its affiliates, squeezing out would-be new networks (such as ABS). The introduction of FM, on which every new station would be allowed full-time operation, could have born new competition for NBC's Blue and Red on what was then radio's prime time - evenings, unless NBC were to go the exhausting effort of starting several radio networks and affiliating all of the new FM stations with them. Quash FM, and NBC's hold would be secure.