Don Pardo or Howard Reig

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 12:00 AM\']
Kudos JC for the research! Yes, the amazing and legendary chime machine. For those unfamiliar, NBC's 3 note signature (G-E-C for General Electric Corporation) was not struck with a mallet by hand like a high school principal doing the public address announcements. It was generated by a huge rotating drum device. Weird, wild, wacky stuff!

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[/quote]

Oh, the things you learn. So that's how the NBC chimes came about, with those three notes. I never knew that. Thanks, Randy!

[TwoInchQuad]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 26 2005, 09:00 PM\']

And to the earlier comment about Mel Brandt being the voice on the peacock "living color" show open, I know there were several versions of that animation and voice-over before they settled on the one that was burned into our memory. But is anyone familiar with which of those were voiced by staff announcer Bill Hanrahan?

[/quote]

I don't know about Mr. Hanrahan, but there was also a version of the voiceover of the bird done by Ben Grauer, prior to Mel Brandt, if I'm not mistaken.

-Kevin

[mystery7]

Historical References:

NBC Chime Machine: http://users.adams.net/~jfs/chimes.htm
NBC Peacock Opens: http://www.kingoftheroad.net/KARD_html/kard4.htm
(Opens are from the GREAT site of Kris Trexler, also featuring a photo tour of Wichita's KARD TV circa 1964).

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'mystery7\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 12:44 PM\']Historical References:

NBC Chime Machine: http://users.adams.net/~jfs/chimes.htm
NBC Peacock Opens: http://www.kingoftheroad.net/KARD_html/kard4.htm
(Opens are from the GREAT site of Kris Trexler, also featuring a photo tour of Wichita's KARD TV circa 1964).

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[/quote]
Priceless.  Thanks for that.  Down the road, I'd say this is archive-worthy.  

Doug

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'TwoInchQuad\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 03:56 AM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 26 2005, 09:00 PM\']

And to the earlier comment about Mel Brandt being the voice on the peacock "living color" show open, I know there were several versions of that animation and voice-over before they settled on the one that was burned into our memory. But is anyone familiar with which of those were voiced by staff announcer Bill Hanrahan?

[/quote]

I don't know about Mr. Hanrahan, but there was also a version of the voiceover of the bird done by Ben Grauer, prior to Mel Brandt, if I'm not mistaken.

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[/quote]

Mr. Hanrahan also announced for both Huntley-Brinkley and "Nightly News" before his retirement and replacement by Mr. Feig.

I wonder what they're going to do with the announcers' lounge in New York, now that there are no more staff announcers...    Are there still staff announcers in Burbank?  (It seems like the guy who does the billboards on "The Apprentice" could be a staffer.)

[Tony]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 12:00 AM\']NBC's 3 note signature (G-E-C for General Electric Corporation)
[/quote]
That strikes me as a bit odd, since GE would not acquire RCA (NBC's original parent company) for several more years.
Or were the chimes done for just the sponsor originally, and they became so identified with the network that they stuck?

[JCGames]

In the early days of NBC, the announcer on a particular program would read off the callsigns of the stations carrying the program. This got too cumbersome, so it was decided to create a sound effect to alert the stations as to when to ID themselves. Several employees of NBC came up with the idea of using a set of dinner chimes to serve as a coordinating signal. Originally the chimes were rung manually by the announcer, who would do this after saying "This program has reached you from the New York studios of the National Broadcasting Company". The chime sequence was originally 7 notes, but after awhile it was reduced to the soon-to-be-familiar 3 notes G-E-C(the story that GEC referred to General Electric is an urban legend I believe). The manual ringing of the chimes became inadequate after a few years though, and NBC asked a Captain Ranger, the inventor of the electric organ, to develop an electromechanical device that would play the chimes in a consistant manner. The device was developed and installed at all of NBC's facilities in NY, Chicago and the coast. I understand that the original chime machine is on display at the NBC studio tours at 30 Rock.

[Adam Nedeff]

[quote name=\'Tony\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 07:20 PM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 12:00 AM\']NBC's 3 note signature (G-E-C for General Electric Corporation)
[/quote]
That strikes me as a bit odd, since GE would not acquire RCA (NBC's original parent company) for several more years.
Or were the chimes done for just the sponsor originally, and they became so identified with the network that they stuck?

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[/quote]

Neither. NBC was originally owned by General Electric, then transferred over to RCA, then reacquired in the 1986 merger.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Mar 27 2005, 07:17 PM\']... NBC was originally owned by General Electric, then transferred over to RCA, then reacquired in the 1986 merger.

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[/quote]
Thank you!

The history of broadcasting is great reading. It involves a lot of politics, partnering and patent fights among entities such as RCA, Lee DeForrest, AT&T, GE, Guglielmo Marconi, Reginald Fessenden, Westinghouse, Philco, Bell Laboratories, The United Fruit Company (yes, you read right).

And there's one giant sweetheart deal between the government and "General" David Sarnoff after World War I in which the Navy turned over its research and patents to GE to keep America a leader in wireless communication. In the deal GE created a new subsidiary called the Radio Corporation of America; RCA later became a separate entity. But make no mistake about it, NBC's chimes proclaim the name of the parent company, the General Electric Corporation.

We now rejoin our regularly scheduled broadcast already in progress.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Tony]

I must thank Messers. Nedeff and West for clarifying my question.  I didn't know that RCA started as a subsidiary of GE.

Just goes to show that, unlike some on this forum that I could mention but won't, I don't know everything.

EDIT: Adam's surname misspelled.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Mar 26 2005, 12:09 PM\']... There was also Mel Brandt, the voice behind the famous "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC" open who also announced on SNL's 1981-82 season (Pardo would return the following year). He probably retired many years ago.

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[/quote]
Not that I had any doubts, but your facts as well as the comments by Uncamark and TwoInchQuad are all confirmed by author David Schwartz who writes:

>>Ben Grauer did the original Peacock opening from 1957 to 1962.  When it was re-done in 1962, Mel Brandt re-did the voice-over.<<

A peacock feather in all your caps, and that should put the bird to bed   ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[chris319]

I do happen to think that Pardo's best days are clearly behind him. There were times last season and this where it just seemed like he was straining to get the cast's names out.

At last year's Game Show Congreff we heard a recorded message from Don Pardo which paid homage to Bill Cullen. Pardo sounded ageless, but he was speaking ad lib and was not competing with an opening theme and applause to get announce copy out. On the tape he complained of having a touch of laryngitis but who could tell? We also heard from Betsy Palmer who sounded equally ageless, and from Kitty Carlisle who sounded damn good for someone of her years.

Think now -- when the late Johnny Carson did an interview which ran a little long, what did Ross Tompkins play on the piano to nudge things along?

[mmb5]

And don't forget the four-note chime, which was a signal to NBC news staffers to get your butt into work, there's some bad stuff going on.

http://www.old-time.com/misc/chimes.html


--Mike

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Mar 28 2005, 06:12 PM\']Think now -- when the late Johnny Carson did an interview which ran a little long, what did Ross Tompkins play on the piano to nudge things along?

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[/quote]

Usually when faced with the station breaks--affiliates didn't like going late.  

I recall at least once when Johnny ignored Ross and kept going, Doc cued the whole band to play the chimes melody.  That got his attention.

[JCGames]

Yes, the fourth chime. It actually went on the air at least once--on D-Day, 6/6/1944, around 330am ET. The duty announcer in the wee hours that historic day gave the network ID and then the chime sequence E-G-C-C came on; it sounded a little like the opening notes of the song Over There.