Happy Birthday, David Sarnoff! Born February 27, 1891

On February 27, 2015 - TV History

Happy Birthday, David Sarnoff! Born February 27, 1891

It is fitting, that on the eve of my release of The History Of NBC’s New York Studios presentation, we celebrate the 124th birthday of the man who started it all.

Love him, or hate him, he made history and brought the art of seeing at a distance, tele – vision, into something real. From Vladimir Zworykin to Pat Weaver, Sarnoff had a gift for finding the right people at the right time to lead RCA and NBC.

Although Weaver called him “General Fangs”, even he, grudgingly admitted that Sarnoff was a visionary. Below is a photo of David Sarnoff with his mentor, Guglielmo Marconi in 1918. By this time, he managing the commercial international wireless business of American Marconi in New York. The next year, he would become General Manager of the new GE subsidiary, The Radio Corporation of America.

Tomorrow, you can read the full history of Sarnoff’s efforts, and RCA’s creation in the introductory section of Volume 1 of The History Of NBC’s New York Studios. On Sunday, I will post Volume 2. Those will be the only posts over the weekend, but I think you’ll have plenty to digest as the full report is 200 pages and among the hundred or so photos has about 40 or 50 links to rare video clips.

Happy Birthday General! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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5 Comments

  1. Kevin T. Doherty February 28, 2015

    I admired the General. Too bad his sone undid much of what he accomplished, including this symbol. He ignored the new “block letters”:

  2. David Breneman February 28, 2015

    Sarnoff is a fascinating character. A real bare-knuckles competitor, but as someone who started out in poverty, he also felt an obligation to the employees of RCA to see them through the Depression. He was obsessed with “The RCA’s” success. An ego as big as all outdoors, but not too proud to be a suck-up, as he is in this picture sporting a cane for no reason other than because Marconi used one.

  3. Tori Lexi Kensington February 27, 2015

    I have met the daughter of the only one at NBC who ever threw “The General” out of a control room which was on the air at the time. What a story that is!

  4. Kevin West February 27, 2015

    I’d forgotten we shared a birthday. Happy Birthday, David!

  5. Jarbas Jam Mesquita February 27, 2015

    Thank you Bob