The NBC chimes are a sequence of three tones played on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcasts. Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three-note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early as 1929. The chimes were originally employed as an audible programming cue, used to alert network control engineers and the announcers at NBC's radio network affiliates. They soon became associated with NBC programming in general, and are an early example of an "interval signal" used to help establish a broadcaster's identity with its audience.
In 1950 the NBC chimes became the first "purely audio" service mark granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They continue to be used as an audio signature by the NBC TV network and its affiliates, and also on the NBC Sports Radio network and at the opening of the hourly NBC News Radio broadcasts.
Definition
The NBC chimes sound mark is currently assigned to NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Its official description, as recorded by its registration at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is:"NBC Chimes sound trademark", Serial No. 72349496, Registration No. 0916522 (trademarks.justia.com)
History While general information about the origin of the NBC chimes is well documented, precise details about the earliest developments are not as clear, and in some cases researchers have come to differing conclusions. It is particularly difficult to establish exactly when the initial, longer, versions were pared down to the final three-tone sequence.
"General Electric Company" folklore A commonly suggested explanation for the chimes' "G-E-C" sequence is that it comes from the initials of the General Electric Company (GE). In 1987, Robert C. Wright, the president and C.E.O. of NBC, testified before the U.S. Congress that "Not everyone knows that GE was one of the original founders of RCA, NBC's former parent, and that the notes of the famous NBC chimes are G-E-C, standing for the General Electric Company.""Statement of Robert C. Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Broadcasting Company, Inc.", Television Network Mergers Hearings before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One hundredth Congress, first session, April 28, 29, and 30, 1987, Volume 4, page 180. References to this purported link date back to at least 1945."This Report Comes to You by Way of San Francisco" by Jack Van Wart, Broadcast Engineers' Journal, August 1945, page 16. (americanradiohistory.com) The author claimed that "The correct information is that they are G E C which were originally intended to stand for General Electric Co." However, this was over a decade after the NBC chimes were adopted, and NBC's own early historical reviews make no mention of this supposed origin.
In 1919, General Electric founded NBC's parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). At the time the NBC chimes were being developed, GE was still RCA's largest shareholder and also held 30% of NBC's stock. As part of an antitrust case settlement, in late 1932 GE agreed to relinquish its RCA and NBC holdings. Fifty-four years later, RCA was repurchased and made defunct by GE, which rechristened the RCA Building to the "GE Building", and later the "Comcast Building" after GE divested itself of NBC. The small handheld chimes commonly used when the NBC chime sequence was being developed had only four tones: G, F, C and E. Given these limited choices, it was most likely only a coincidence that the adopted sequence matched GE's initials, and while useful as a mnemonic for remembering the notes' correct sequence, there is little evidence actually supporting any link.
Early radio station audio signatures Because radio is sound oriented, it was a natural development for stations to independently adopt a variety of audio signatures, which in some cases took the form of chimes. Examples existed from the earliest days of organized broadcasting, including at least three by the summer of 1923: WSB in Atlanta, Georgia claims it was the first station to sound a musical identification at the end of programs, using a four-bar xylophone given to station manager Lambdin Kay by a performer, Nell Pendly. A three note signature, E-G-C, was developed, based on the first three notes from the chorus of the World War One classic "Over There"."Three Famous Notes of Broadcasting History - The NBC Chimes" by Bill Harris, 1996 (radioremembered.org) WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky. Station manager Credo Fitch Harris, who wrote in his memoir "what devil put the idea in my head to begin with, may never be known", in 1922 had eight metal chime bars constructed so that he could play — "with fear and trembling, lest the do-dad I struck with hit the wrong thing" — the chorus of "My Old Kentucky Home" at station sign-offs.Microphone Memoirs by Credo Fifth Harris, 1937, pages 79-80. KFI in Los Angeles, California. The caption on a 1923 photograph of the station's studio mentioned the "electric chimes which open and close the program"."Voices You Have Heard", Wireless Age, September 1923, page 22.
Introduction of the NBC chimes What differentiated the NBC chimes from these earlier identifying sounds, at least in the beginning, is their use for network communications and coordination. Later they would also become a signature sound representing the network, but their primary initial purpose was to help ensure smooth network operations. In 1932,"New Tone Signals Replace N. B. C. Chimes", Washington (D.C.) Star, September 18, 1932, Part 2, page 4. NBC stated that: "The purpose of the chimes... is to synchronize local station identification announcements and to serve as a cue to engineers at relay points all over the country to switch various branches of the networks on or off as the programs change every 15 minutes.""Chimes of NBC to Change Tone by Electrical Device", (Portland) Oregonian, September 18, 1932, Section 4, page 2. This reflected the organization of the network schedule, which was divided into 15 minute program blocks. In addition, effective May 11, 1927, the Federal Radio Commission's General Order No. 8 specified that each station was "directed to announce its call letters and location... not less than once during each 15 minutes of transmission"."General Order No. 8: Plan to Check Frequencies" (adopted May 5, 1927), Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission For the Fiscal Year 1927, General Orders Adopted, page 14. The use of the NBC chimes as network switching cues eventually allowed the network to save money on infrastructure costs. Until 1933 it was common practice to run a second line that used telegraphic signalling to provide networking communication. After that date the normal policy was to eliminate this second line and send the networking cues over the program lines."FCC Scans NBC Program Coverage", Broadcasting, December 15, 1938, page 57.
Information about the early development of the NBC chimes is very sparse, although work began shortly after the first NBC network broadcast on November 15, 1926. A 1950 internal NBC memo, "NBC Chimes: First Use of the famous NBC Chimes", states that "The use of chimes for identifying NBC was first conceived by Phillips Carlin," and this memo has a timeline entry for December 22, 1926 that states: "Chimes purchased from Lesch Co for $48.50"."NBC Chimes Documents, 1950-1978" (eyesofageneration.com) Phillips Carlin was a well-known NBC announcer, who had experience employing chimes in radio broadcasts dating back to at least 1924. At that time he was the announcer for the Silvertown Chimes program, which was broadcast over the "WEAF chain" network originating in New York City. (WEAF was owned by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). In 1927, after the RCA bought out AT&T's radio operations, the WEAF chain was reorganized as the NBC Red Network.) A contemporary review of this show noted that each program opened with "the soft ringing of chimes", followed by Carlin's announcement that "The Silvertown Chimes have rung out their greeting. Each week they have announced an hour of music, a program of dance so delightful that it drives all thoughts of care away.""The Sound of the Silvertown Chimes" by Golda M. Goldman, Radio in the Home, June 1925, pages 5-6, 30-31 (lib.uchicago.edu)
A 1942 NBC account of the origin of the chimes gave additional credit for their refinement to NBC chief engineer O. B. Hanson and Ernest LaPrade, an NBC orchestra leader. This account also states that there was an ongoing evolution during the developmental period, as the chime sequence originally consisted of seven notes, which, according to Ernest LaPrade, proved difficult to play correctly, so the sequence was shortened to five, then four, and finally three notes. The notes were manually played on four-bar chime sets manufactured by the J.C. Deagan Company of Chicago."The NBC Chimes: Part 1" by Bobby Ellerbee (eyesofageneration.com) Additional reports state that the initial sequence was G-C-F-E-G-C-E, which became G-C-G-EAccording to the "NBC Chimes: First Use of the famous NBC Chimes" memo, the four-note sequence was actually G-G-G-E. and then just G-E-C. November 29, 1929 is sometimes reported to be the date that the three-tone sequence was adopted;"The Fourth Chime: Why NBC's Familiar Signal Changed on D-Day", June 6, 2014 (nbcnews.com) however, the longer intervals were still in use until 1931, according to surviving network recordings."Origin and Evolution of the NBC Chimes" by Michael Shoshani (nbcchimes.info)
The use of signalling tones to indicate the end of a program would be unique to the NBC networks. The CBS Radio network, founded in 1927, never adopted anything similar, instead keying its network switching to the standard phrase "This is the Columbia Broadcasting System"."Practical Effect of Proposed Rules", Broadcasting, May 19, 1941, page 24. Initially NBC had two national networks, the NBC Red Network and the NBC Blue Network, however the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was unhappy with this and worked to eliminate the common ownership. In late 1942 Phillips Carlin became vice president of programming at the soon-to-be independent Blue network, which later became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). One of his first decisions was whether to adopt "a new set of chimes (as distinguished from the NBC chimes now in use)","Plan Theater Dates for Blue Net Sustainers", The Billboard, March 7, 1942, page 7. and the choice was to instead end their use on the Blue network."No More Bells For Blue", The Billboard, December 5, 1942, page 6. However, the remaining NBC network operations considered the chimes to be an important part of their corporate identity. In 1942, NBC estimated that the average listener heard the tones 16 times a day, while annually there were nearly 20 billion impressions worldwide."The NBC Chimes", NBC Transmitter, January 1942, page 14.
Additional origin explanations
Once the NBC chimes became established, a few claimants appeared who stated they were the original inspiration for the practice. However, like the earliest days of the NBC chimes history, there is very little information available to evaluate these claims. One assertion is that the three notes really did stand for "General Electric Company", because it had been the practice to play the keys G-E-C on a piano at WGY, a GE-owned station in Schenectady, New York."WSB Atlanta—Precursor to the NBC Chimes?" by Michael Shoshani (nbcchimes.info)