[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 1 2003, 11:37 AM\']
In fact, NBC operated two networks: NBC Blue, headed by station WJZ, and NBC Red, headed by WEAF. This situation arose, due to NBC then owning two stations in New York (WEAF and WJZ). WEAF and the 'Red' Network became the flagship network and offered most of the established shows--and advertisers, and the 'Blue' Network carried most of the sustaining shows (e.g., shows without regular sponsors). How did they arrive at the names 'Red' and 'Blue'? The felt tip marker pen used to trace the routes of the WJZ-headed stations was blue, and as you may have already guessed, the marker used to trace the WEAF-headed stations was red. This was a confusing situation for everyone but NBC and its sponsors and advertisers, and that was just fine by NBC, thank you.
Man, I fancy myself to be something of a radio historian, and I didn't even know some of that. Good question, and a very nice find by jalman of a perfect link. Jalman, you've \"won\" a game show home game from my extras pile. E-mail me at ottinger@acd.net for the details.[/quote]
WHOA!!! Not so fast!!
A wonderful job of finding a website with the story, but as we all know, not everything on the WWW is true or completely accurate. Despite how old some people think I am, I was not there when the Red and Blue were both operated by NBC (by court decree they \"blew off\" the Blue), or for the beginning of ABC when Sarnoff sold the lesser of his 2 networks to Mr. Noble, the owner of the company that made Lifesavers candy. But here's the story on the naming of the Red and Blue that I've heard on several occasions from different sources. This is the kind of crap I ask old-timers during breaks on the sets:
In the day, programs were distributed to affiliates via telephone lines. As anyone who has seen old telephone termination points can attest, before the current punch-on tool was used, the termination points were blocks of copper screw posts, each with a nut that screwed down to tighten the wires.
AT&T's carefully formatted and supervised practice of the day was for installers to mark and \"protect\" the connections of priority customers whose service should not be interrupted or temporarily shorted by the use of a screwdriver on an adjacent termination post. That protection was provided by placing a small, non-conductive \"cover\" over the priority termination point. It was spiral in shape like a tiny Slinky toy, and it could be screwed down over the nut; it protruded past the end of the screw post for protection. I've seen these termination blocks and these \"covers\" many times at old telco installations in the older buildings in New York. I bet some still exist where the service first enters the building. They also still exist at older telco central office installations.
Because NBC had more than one service on many of these blocks, AT&T denoted one from the other by using \"covers\" of different colors... red and blue!
The only other story I heard was that it was a simple naming differentiation made by NBC. Much like the Ringling Brothers' Circus which STILL uses \"red\" and \"blue\" to differentiate between the two shows that tour simultaneously to different cities. The circus also uses \"red\" to denote the show with their star performers.
Still believe the original posted story? Ask your parents or grandparents when they first saw a felt tipped marker. They didn't exist before the late 1950s, and were not common until well into the 60s ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
P.S. Matt, tell us what I won!
