NBC Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- NBC Studios was also a previous name for NBC's production division, which is now Universal Media Studios, formerly NBC Universal Television Studio.
NBC Studios are the two television studio facilities belonging to the National Broadcasting Company, with one of them being located inside the GE Building at Rockefeller Center in New York City, and the other located in Burbank, California, just outside of Los Angeles.
A third NBC production facility, the NBC Tower, is located in Chicago, Illinois. NBC Studios was also the name of the network's production arm (previously NBC Productions), before it was incorporated into the television operations of Universal Pictures, forming the NBC Universal Television Studio, now known as Universal Media Studios.
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[edit] The New York Studios
Located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (on 49th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues) in Manhattan, the historic GE Building houses the headquarters of the NBC television network, its parent General Electric, and its local owned & operated television station, WNBC (Channel 4).
The first NBC Radio City Studios began operating in the early 1930s, and tours of the studios began in 1933.
Because of the preponderance of radio studios, that section of the Rockefeller Center complex became known as Radio City (and gave its name to Radio City Music Hall). Even into the present decade, tickets for shows based at 30 Rock bear the legend "Radio City."
Among the shows produced there are/were:
- The Caroline Rhea Show (2002-2003)
- Dateline NBC (1992-present)
- Football Night in America (2006-present)
- Huntley-Brinkley Report (1956-70; split broadcast between NBC's New York City and Washington, D.C. headquarters)
- Last Call with Carson Daly (2002-2005; moved to Burbank in 2005)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-present)
- Late Night with David Letterman (1982-1993)
- Live at Five (1980-2007)
- NBC Nightly News (1970-present; preceded by The Huntley-Brinkley Report)
- NBC Sports studio productions (such as pregame, halftime/between innings, and postgame shows for MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, Notre Dame football, college basketball, and sports news updates
- Saturday Night Live (1975-present)
- The Phil Donahue Show (1985-1996)
- Jeopardy! (original version hosted by Art Fleming, 1964-75)
- Concentration (daytime version, 1958-73)
- The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996-2002)
- Today (1952-present)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1972; moved to Burbank in 1972)
Some other New York originated programs were produced elsewhere in New York City, including:
- Colonial Theater*, 1887 Broadway at 62nd Street (original version of The Price is Right hosted by Bill Cullen, 1953-1963; Colgate Comedy Hour)
- Hudson Theater, 141 W. 44th Street (Tonight hosted by Steve Allen, 1954-1957).
- Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 W. 54th Street at Sixth Avenue (The Perry Como Show, Concentration primetime 1961)).
- 67th Street Studios, 101 W. 67th Street (the Home show with Arlene Francis 1954-1957, Concentration primetime 1958), now demolished and the site of the Millennium Tower.
- Century Theater, 232 Seventh Avenue at 59th Street (Caesar's Hour with Sid Caesar, 1954-1957).
- Brooklyn Studios* (now JC Studios), 1268 E. 14th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn (many 1950s color "Spectaculars" such as Peter Pan; it is also where the soap opera Another World was produced from 1964 until its cancellation in 1999. Current home of CBS soap As the World Turns).
- International Theater, 5 Columbus Circle (Admiral Broadway Review 1949), demolished 1954.
- Ambassador Theater, 215 W. 49th Street.
- Center Theater, 1236 Sixth Avenue at 49th Street (Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle; Your Show of Shows, 1950-1954), demolished 1954.
- Uptown Studios (now Metropolis Studios), 105 E. 106th Street at Park Avenue.
- New Amsterdam Roof Theater, 214 W. 42nd Street.
- *Equipped for color production.
These facilities are no longer used by NBC.
[edit] The Burbank Studios
NBC's West Coast production center is located at 3000 West Alameda Avenue in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, just a few miles northeast of the Hollywood area.
Although the first phase of this project was completed in September of 1952 and a few black-and-white programs were broadcast from there for two and a half years, the facility was officially dedicated on March 27, 1955. It was known back then as NBC Color City, since a recently-completed studio at the complex is said to be the first TV studio equipped exclusively for color broadcasting. (However, photographs exist in the Library of American Broadcasting which show RCA monochrome cameras in Burbank Studio 1.)
In fact, it was the first major color television studio in the country to be built from the ground up. Today, it houses the network's local owned & operated station, KNBC (Channel 4), the network's Los Angeles bureau, as well as the Telemundo network's local owned & operated station, KVEA (Channel 52), and Spanish independent station KWHY (Channel 22). It also houses the Master Control for KNTV (NBC11) San Jose, KNSD (NBC 7/39) San Diego, as well as Telemundo owned-and-operated stations in San Jose, Fresno, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson.
The studios of Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Company (includes rival network ABC) are located nearby in the same neighborhood.
This studio facility was responsible for producing some of the best remembered game and variety shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, and it rivals CBS Television City as the premier television production facility on the West Coast.
[edit] Move to Universal City
In mid-October 2007, the network announced that it intends to move most of its operations by 2011 from Burbank to a new complex across the street from Universal Studios in Universal City [1]. It would retain an office presence at the current Burbank site, though most of the studio complex will be sold. The park and ride lot for the Metro Red Line Universal City Station, currently occupies the future site of NBC West Coast.
[edit] Program history
Programs produced here over the years include:
- Access Hollywood (1996-present)
- Blockbusters (1980-1982, 1987)
- Bullseye (1980-1982; first six months originated from here)
- Card Sharks (1978-81)
- Chain Reaction (1980)
- Chico and the Man (1974-78)
- Classic Concentration (1987-91)
- C.P.O. Sharkey (1976-78)
- Days of Our Lives (1965-present)
- The Dean Martin Show (1965-74)
- Designing Women (aired on CBS, 1986-93; originated from here, 1986-1987)
- The Don Rickles Show (1968-69)
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003-2008; moves to Warner Brothers Studios for season 6)
- Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special (1968 NBC-TV special)
- An Evening With Fred Astaire (1958 NBC-TV special)
- The Facts of Life (aired on NBC, 1979-88; originated from here, 1987-1988)
- Family Feud (current syndicated version originated from here, 2000-03)
- Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965)
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (aired on NBC, 1990-96; originated from here 1993-96)
- Generations (1989-91)
- Go (1983-1984)
- The Gong Show (1976-80)
- High Rollers (1978-80)
- Hollywood Squares (original version hosted by Peter Marshall, 1966-80, and briefly the John Davidson version in 1986.)
- Hot Potato (1984)
- In the House (1995-99; aired on NBC from 1995-96; originated from here throughout its run)
- It Could Be You (1956-61)
- It's Anybody's Guess (1977)
- John Davidson Show (1980-1981)
- Last Call with Carson Daly (2005-present)
- The Midnight Special (1972-83)
- The Nat King Cole Show (1956-57)
- Password Plus (1979-82)
- Punky Brewster (1984-88; aired on NBC from 1984-86; originated from here throughout its run)
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968-73)
- Sale of the Century (1983-89 on NBC, 1985-86 on syndication)
- The Sammy Davis Jr. Show (1966)
- Sanford and Son (1972-77)
- Santa Barbara (1984-93)
- Scrabble (1984-90, 1993)
- Super Password (1984-89)
- Supermarket Sweep (aired on Lifetime, 1990-98; PAX [now Ion], 2000-2004; originated from here 2000-2004)
- Time Machine (1985)
- To Tell The Truth (1990-91 on NBC; syndication 2000-02)
- The Tonight Show (1972-present; moving to Universal Studios in 2009 once Conan O'Brien succeeds as host)
- This Is Your Life (1958-61, previously broadcast from the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood)
- Truth Or Consequences (1960-65; previously broadcast from the old NBC Hollywood Radio City facilities)
- Tomorrow (off-and-on from 1973 until 1981)
- Twenty One (2000)
- Wheel of Fortune (NBC version, 1975-89; syndicated version, 1983-89)
- You Bet Your Life/The Groucho Show (1960-61; previously filmed at the old NBC Hollywood Radio City facilities)
It is one of the few television-specific studio facilities in Hollywood that offers tours to the general public.
[edit] NBC Tower
The network's Chicago-based studio center is located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. This building opened in 1989, after the network moved its offices and its owned and operated station, WMAQ-TV (Channel 5) from the 20th floor of the Merchandise Mart, where it had been based since 1930.
WMAQ and NBC are the primary tenants of this building, along with Telemundo's Chicago-based owned & operated station WSNS (Channel 44), but there are other companies that conduct business here, including CBS Radio's WSCR-AM (670), which was WMAQ's sister station as WMAQ-AM (which had also been in the Tower from 1990-2000 before their conversion to WSCR; WSCR moved to the Tower and WMAQ's former studios in 2004).
In addition to housing these entities, the studios were/are home to the following shows:
- Kwik Witz (1996-1999)
- The Jenny Jones Show (1991-2003)
- The Jerry Springer Show (1991-present; has originated from here since 1993)
- Judge Mathis (1999-present)
- Sports Action Team (2006-present)
- The Steve Wilkos Show (2007-present)
- Merv Griffin's Crosswords (2007-present, pilot shows only)
- iVillage Live (2007)
