Some Little Known Early History Of ABC Radio & Television
The address on this letterhead is not the only surprise you are in for! I had heard that ABC had offices and facilities at NBC’s headquarters, but now we have a piece of that history thanks to Steve Finkelmeyer.

As mentioned in today’s first post, ABC got it’s start when NBC was forced to sell it’s Blue Network and there will be more on that later, but first, a note on this 30 Rock location. On July 30, 1943 NBC announced the sale of the Blue Network to ABC. Shortly after, ABC took over the Blue space, which was shared with the NBC Red network space inside 30 Rock. It’s not know exactly when ABC was able to move to a new location, but Frank Merklein who joined NBC in 1947 has told me that they were there for at least a year after he started and were on the third floor. There was a similar shared location at NBC in Los Angeles.

Before we get to some interesting ABC Television history, I have to wonder about the relationship of the network’s first phone number (as seen on the letterhead), and their now famous “Circle 7” O & O station logo. I’ll bet there is a connection and will try and find it, but if anyone knows, please share that with us.

The new American Broadcasting Company had it’s hands full when it took over NBC Blue in radio, and although TV was a must too, ABC was generally slow to move into television broadcasting. After the war freeze was lifted in late 1945, they won approval to build five television stations; the first, WJZ-TV in New York was completed in the summer of 1948. WJZ-TV was followed by stations in Chicago and Detroit later in 1948; and San Francisco and Los Angeles during 1949–all five stations were assigned to broadcast on channel 7.

Interestingly, until those stations were built, ABC TV had to lease time and studio facilities from other stations including the DuMont network’s New York flagship WABD, as well as other stations in Philadelphia (WPTZ) and Washington.

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