NBC is spending a year celebrating the 100th anniversary of its launch as a radio network on Nov. 15, 1926. On New Year’s Day 1927, NBC carried the first coast-to-coast live broadcast of a sporting event: the Rose Bowl football game between Stanford and Alabama, which ended in a tie.
A century later, NBC is the U.S. home of the Olympics, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. The guiding philosophy hasn’t changed.
“How do we entertain people?” says Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports.
The Sunday Night Football Gamble
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and its companion studio show, “Football Night in America.” The decision was the brainchild of former NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol.
“The goal was to create a Sunday night destination and make ‘Sunday Night Football’ the most important game of the week,” says Sam Flood, executive producer and president of production for NBC Sports.
The Center Field Camera
In the 1950s, baseball was America’s favorite sport, and NBC was the first to bring it to radio and TV with nationwide reach. Harry Coyle, an NBC Sports staff director, had a brainstorm in 1955.
“That was an NBC innovation where Harry Coyle said, ‘Let’s put a camera in center field,'” Cordella notes.
Making the Olympics Bigger
Molly Solomon, executive producer and president of NBC Olympics and Paralympics, has been with NBC Sports for 36 years. She rose to her current post in 2019.
“We constantly ask ourselves the question: How can we make the best seat in the house even better,” Solomon says.
The Price of the Games
In 1963, NBC spent $1 million to outbid ABC for the rights to the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games. Fifty years later, NBCUniversal committed $7.75 billion for U.S. rights to Summer and Winter Games from 2022 to 2032.
With 23 months to go before the Los Angeles Summer Games, Cordella anticipates “the biggest sporting event of our lifetimes.”
Live, Live, Live
Time zone issues are usually the biggest problem NBC faces in covering live Olympic events. That won’t be an issue in 2028.
“The LA28 Games are going to be live, live, live,” Solomon says. “We’ve been planning LA28 since 2020, and it’s unlike any Olympics that we’ve ever designed.”
Firsts That Shaped Broadcasting
NBC’s history is full of firsts. Here is a sampling:
- May 18, 1929 — Clem McCarthy calls the Kentucky Derby on NBC radio for the first time.
- August 1936 — NBC radio covers the Berlin Summer Olympics, including Jesse Owens’ four gold medal wins.
- April 1941 — The first-ever NBC Sports division is created under Bill Stern.
- Sept. 30, 1947 — NBC broadcasts the first World Series on TV.
- Jan. 1, 1954 — NBC televises NBA games for the first time.
- July 12, 1955 — A center field camera is added to a baseball telecast for the first time during the All-Star Game.
The World Cup Effect
Cordella points to the sense of community Americans felt in June and July when the World Cup soccer tournament unfolded across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“We saw what happened with the World Cup domestically and how the country coalesced around that event — and that’s just one sport,” Cordella observes.
What Comes Next
The network has been innovating for a century. The next test arrives in Los Angeles.
“We’re making sure that we are going to create the most compelling presentation in the history of media because this will be the greatest media event in a generation. No pressure.” — Molly Solomon
NBC’s run of firsts shows no signs of stopping.
Source: variety.com
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