Let’s begin with a few important facts. RCA stands for the Radio Corporation of America – world leader in radio-television and electronics.

RCA is a symbol of pioneering and progress, dating back to the day of its formation, December 1, 1919.

For four decades, RCA has played a prominent role in developing and extending the usefulness. of electronics for the public, industry, and national security.

RCA’s activities today encompass virtually all phases of the electronic arts and sciences: research and engineering, development, design and application, manufacturing and distribution, d o m e s t i c and foreign sales, worldwide radio communications, radio and TV broadcasting, “Victrola” phonographs and recordings, technical training and servicing.

These activities are conducted through 21 divisions and wholly-owned subsidiaries.

RADIO CITY

Highest of the towering steel and stone structures comprising New York’s Radio City, the RCA Building serves as headquarters for the Radio Corporation of America. The address is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, New York.

The 70-story building itself, constructed during the tense 1930’s rises as a prodigious achievement, an inspiring demonstration of American courage, vitality, and resource-fulness that came at a crucial and reassuring moment in the life of the nation. On the 53rd floor of the RCA Building are. the Executive Offices of RCA and the RCA Board Room. Officials of the Corporation on duty here include Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board; Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, President; and Frank M. Folsom, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board.

RCA’s progress has steadily gathered momentum. It began with only 457 employees, In 1947, the total reached 40,000. Today RCA and its subsidiaries employ approximately 85,000 men and women, with a total domestic payroll of more than $330,000,000.

THE U.S. NAVY REQUESTS

Formed at the suggestion of the United States Navy to provide America with an independent international radio communications service, RCA has its roots deeply embedded in the history of radio. The first big step to bring radio into commercial use, it will be remembered, was taken by Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless, when he transmitted signals across the Atlantic for the first time in 1901. RCA’s initial move was to acquire the properties, patent rights, and good will of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. On March 1, 1920, RCA transmitted its first commercial trans-Atlantic messy, opening the first direct radio service between the United States and Europe.

RCA’s Charter covered five major activities: To send and receive signals, messages, and communications; to create, install, and operate a system of communication which may be international; to improve and promote the art and business of electronic communication; to radiate, receive, and utilize electromagnetic waves; to create and manufacture consumer goods, and to hold patent rights in radio, electronics, and other fields.

Thus the foundation was laid for RCA’s growth not only in the vital area of international communications, but in pacing and extending the radio art through broadcasting, manufacturing and application of inventive genius.

BIRTH OF RADIO BROADCASTING

The birth of radio broadcasting as a service to the American people was foreseen as early as 1916 by General Sarnoff. He urged that steps be taken to make radio a household utility, like the piano and phonograph.

RCA brought that plan to fruition in the early 1920’s and, under General Sarnoff’s direction, the National Broadcasting Company was formed in 1926 as the nation’s first radio network. Foreseeing also the possibility of enormous benefits to the public through a combination of radio science and recorded music, he initiated the move in 1929 through which RCA acquired the Victor Talking Machine Company, with its decades of prestige and achievement in the phonograph and recording field, and the revered trademark of the little terrier “Nipper” listening to “His Master’s Voice.”

The transaction brought into RCA the colorful and magnificent history of Victor – the company of the great pioneer Eldridge Johnson, who had introduced the “Victrola” and brought to the public the voices of such immortals as Caruso, Scotti, Calve, Lucia, Melba, and Tetrazzini, and the artistry of Fritz Kreisler, Sousa, Toscanini, and Paderewski.

Radio “electronized” the phonograph and recording techniques, giving new vitality and growth to an industry that had suffered losses in popularity during the fast rise of broadcasting.

THE CORPORATION EXPANDS

Victor’s plants and facilities at Camden, N.J., provided RCA with an important manufacturing setup, which was enhanced the same year of purchase by the acquisition of radio tube and radio equipment rights and facilities from the General Electric and Westinghouse Companies.

In 1934, the various RCA units engaged in the manufacture and sale of products were unified as the RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc., and eight years later this company was merged into RCA as the RCA Victor Division.

To keep pace with the continued growth of RCA, a further realignment of organizational structure occurred in 1954. Under this move, all manufacturing activities were grouped into two separate categories, namely, Consumer Products and Electronic Products. Sales and Services also were regrouped for more efficient operation.

An overall view of RCA’s achievements since its formation reveals impressive advances through engineering research and pioneering, major contributions to progress in time of war and peace, continuous efforts to extend the usefulness of electronics for the public, industry, and national defense. It also reveals the immensity of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

In meeting these challenges, every member of the RCA family can share in the crystallizing promises of. this, the most promising of all industries in the world today.